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With the increasing demand for English language proficiency in today’s global environment, comes a need for trained English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teachers. Many countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are establishing bachelor and master degree programs in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages (TESOL). The majority of students in these programs are nonnative speakers of English. While these new graduates should be able to fill the growing demands for English teachers in tertiary and non-tertiary institutions within the UAE, they and other experienced nonnative English speaking teachers (NNEST) are often not hired. Most often this is due to a nonnative speaker bias, the view that only native English speaking teachers are better suited to teach English. This bias extends particularly to the teaching of oral and aural skills. There is a belief that accented English is difficult for students to comprehend especially in academic listening which implies that nonnative teacher accent can hinder ESL/EFL student listening success. However, current research has not provided empirical evidence to verify or disprove this opinion. Current research on nonnative speakers and listening comprehension has been based on teacher and student self-perceptions and attitudes towards nonnative speaking teachers (Butler, 2007; Flowerdew, 1994; Friedrich 2000; Huang, 2004; Major et al., 2002; McKenzie, 2008; Moussu, 2002). However, there is little quantitative data to support if and how these attitudes and perceptions may or may not correlate to EFL student listening performance. This thesis will attempt to resolve this deficiency. Another issue this thesis will undertake which has not been examined widely is the effect of nonnative speaker accent on academic listening. Various studies have been conducted on student difficulty in comprehending academic lectures from native and nonnative speakers (Ferris & Tagg, 1996; Flowerdew & Miller, 2005; Huang, 2004; Lynch, 1994; Powers, 1985; Richards, 1983; Vogely, 1995). Yet, currently, the literature is sparse on the influence of nonnative speaker accent as a factor, or effect, in the listening comprehension of L2 students’ understanding of academic lectures. Further, existing research in NNESTs is also missing empirical or quantitative evidence which proves or disproves the prevailing theory that native inner circle English accents are significantly better for EFL student academic listening comprehension. Thus, another goal of this thesis is to provide evidence to disprove this assumption. Finally, this research will provide qualitative data to understand how students view accent as it relates to their academic achievement and prospective careers. This thesis will propose new empirical data relating to nonnative speaker accent and listening comprehension in ESL/EFL. It will provide evidence that there is no significant effect of accent on academic listening test scores for EFL students enrolled in a university foundations program at UAE University. In this research, six EFL professionals (from China, Egypt and the USA) and 108 EFL students participated in the study. The female students were between 18-20 years old, from the UAE, and studying at the Under Graduate Requirements Unit at UAE University in Al Ain, UAE. All students responded to a pre-test questionnaire in a Likert scale format. A week later, the students listened to one recording, took a corresponding exam, and answered a post-test survey. Two to three days later, 18 randomly selected students were interviewed. The interviews consisted of open-ended questions. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Analysis of the quantitative data shows that the majority of participants considered native speakers of English easier to understand, specifically in terms of pronunciation and understandability, but had no opinion as to whether a non-native speaker was easier to understand than a native speaker. As per the listening test scores, there were no significant differences between the six groups of students who had listened to six different speaker accents. Analysis of the interviews shows that students have no bias against nonnative English teachers. In fact, several students favored Arab nonnative English speaking teachers to translate vocabulary and complex ideas from English to Arabic. These students also demonstrated an unrealistic grasp of their need to understand the varieties of English they will encounter in their future workplaces.

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Faculty of Science 0207022d / The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a country that has developed rapidly over the past thirty years. Future development is going to be hampered by the enormous shortage of fresh water in the country. It is critically important that a strategic management plan for water resource management be developed to avoid a water crisis for the population and environment. The first step in managing water resources is to understand the sources and sinks of fresh water. Clearly, one of the most important sources of water to any environment is precipitation and the atmospheric processes and characteristics that promote or diminish the likelihood of rainfall over an area. The synoptic circulation of a region, as well as the thermodynamic structure of the atmosphere, are important for both frontal and convectively activated rainfall. In the past little detailed research has been conducted over the UAE and surrounding regions to classify and characterise atmospheric processes. This study represents the first attempt to develop a synoptic circulation climatology for the region. Synoptic circulation patterns have been classified at both the surface and 500 hPa layer over a period of seven years (1995-2001). In addition, the UAE is located under the descending limb of the Hadley circulation. As in other parts of the globe, this has severe implications for the vertical thermodynamic structure of the atmosphere. Atmospheric stability over the UAE has been evaluated for the period of seven years. The implications of descending air have been determined with respect to the thermodynamic structure of the atmosphere as a function of time and space. Vertical Radiosonde data collected over the same seven year period at the Abu Dhabi International Airport have been analysed to determine the frequency of occurrence and nature of absolutely stable layers in the atmosphere. Six circulation patterns that dominate the flow at both the surface and in the upper atmosphere at 500 hPa have been identified from the synoptic climatology. The dominant circulation pattern at the surface and upper atmosphere are the Siberian high and the Subtropical high, respectively. The Siberian high occurs at the surface predominantly during the winter season with a maximum frequency of occurrence in January (48%). The Subtropical high occurs in the upper atmosphere throughout the year, however, it is dominant during the summer months occurring 80 % of the time in August. Absolute stable layers are a permanent feature of the atmosphere over the UAE. A maximum of six layers have been identified in the atmosphere at a given time. Surface inversions occur throughout the year. Absolute stable layers have been identified at 850, 700, 600, 500 and 400 hPa. The surface inversions as well as the layers at 850 and 700 hPa have a distinctly seasonal pattern of occurrence. The absolute stable layers at the remaining pressure layers do not vary significantly with season. The surface and 600 hPa layers are by far the most dominant in the atmosphere and certainly have the most important control on vertical movement and accumulation of pollutants in the atmosphere.

This study investigated the potential of the daylighting systems used in the indigenous architecture of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), located in Dubai (latitude 25° N longitude 55° E). The analysis tested the lighting performance of three daylighting systems under UAE climatic conditions. The purpose of this research was to investigate the daylighting performance of three of the most common daylighting systems found in the indigenous buildings of the UAE, traditional windows (Dreeshah), gypsum decorative panels and wind tower (Barjeel). The lighting performance of each of the three lighting systems was examined. The lighting performance parameters examined were illuminance level, light distribution, uniformity, and glare. IESNA standards, CIBSE guidelines and LEED 2.2 daylighting credit and recommendations were used as the minimum recommended level for all analyzed variables. On-site measurements (illuminance and luminance) were conducted to compare measured versus simulated measurements inside the space. Desktop Radiance 2.0 Beta was used as the lighting performance analysis tool under clear sky conditions. Results have shown that the gypsum decorative panel performs better than the other two systems in terms of light uniformity and distribution, regardless of a lower illuminance level. The double panel window prototype has poor lighting performance in terms of glare, light distribution and uniformity. Wind tower performed well under the area of the wind tower itself. Apart from that it also had a poor lighting performance in terms of glare, light distribution, and uniformity.

This study investigated the potential of the daylighting systems used in the indigenous architecture of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), located in Dubai (latitude 25° N longitude 55° E). The analysis tested the lighting performance of three daylighting systems under UAE climatic conditions. The purpose of this research was to investigate the daylighting performance of three of the most common daylighting systems found in the indigenous buildings of the UAE, traditional windows (Dreeshah), gypsum decorative panels and wind tower (Barjeel). The lighting performance of each of the three lighting systems was examined. The lighting performance parameters examined were illuminance level, light distribution, uniformity, and glare. IESNA standards, CIBSE guidelines and LEED 2.2 daylighting credit and recommendations were used as the minimum recommended level for all analyzed variables. On-site measurements (illuminance and luminance) were conducted to compare measured versus simulated measurements inside the space. Desktop Radiance 2.0 Beta was used as the lighting performance analysis tool under clear sky conditions. Results have shown that the gypsum decorative panel performs better than the other two systems in terms of light uniformity and distribution, regardless of a lower illuminance level. The double panel window prototype has poor lighting performance in terms of glare, light distribution and uniformity. Wind tower performed well under the area of the wind tower itself. Apart from that it also had a poor lighting performance in terms of glare, light distribution, and uniformity.

An important question in the analysis of fertility is does the type of marital union matter? Is women's fertility affected by their marital union type? Does being in a monogamous or polygynous union have any effect on the number of children women will have? What is the nature of this difference? Does the social setting play a role? And, what kind of role does it have? Most studies, especially those based on African societies, where polygyny is most prevalent, note that female fertility is negatively associated with polygyny. This dissertation examines the polygyny-fertility relationship among married women in a different social setting, namely in an oil-rich country, that is, the United Arab Emirates. Using data from the 1999 National Family Survey for the Characteristics of the Native Households in the UAE, I was able to examine the effect of fertility using two statistical methods to model my dependent variables: Logistic Regression and Negative Binomial Regression. My findings show that when controlling for numerous biological and social variables, polygyny has a positive effect on women?s current fertility, which is the likelihood of having a baby in the past 12 months, but a negative effect on women?s cumulative fertility, which is the children ever born to them. However, when the number of wives in the union was introduced into the models, polygyny effect on women?s current and cumulative fertility has disappeared, i.e., polygyny no longer has a significant effect on women?s fertility. I discuss the implications of these findings for UAE national policy to increase the fertility of UAE women, an important consideration given that UAE nationals comprise only 20 percent of the UAE population in 2005.

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This dissertation in Middle Eastern Studies explores the creation of national identity through visual media in the contemporary United Arab Emirates. Within a framework of cultural and media studies the thesis analyses how forms of representation are negotiated by Emirati media producers. The research tests the applicability of cultural theories developed by Appadurai and Eickelman in the context of the Gulf Region. The UAE media industry is considered within a network of global media companies. The local industry's interaction with global media production companies illustrates a constructed divide between local and global identities. This creates specific patterns of media making and influences local audience perceptions of different narratives and representations. The research uses qualitative methods, based on interviews and focus groups conducted between September 2009 and April 2010 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The interviewees were Emirati media professional and Students of Media Communication. They discuss how media producers and television presenters try to reconcile their notions of what a national media should be with the restrictive structure of the industry. The interviews demonstrate the challenges of a government-controlled national media for the development of a public dialogue on national identity and confirm that the state-controlled television and film industry, does not account for the diversity of the Emirati community of nationals. The criticism of Emirati representation in the media is accompanied by a feeling of stagnation and inability to change the existing patterns. It results in their turning away towards commercial media. Going beyond an analysis of restrictive media praxis, the research provides an inside perspective on the complex issue of contemporary Emirati identity.