Mary Hatakka

Email:

Telephone: +97126075205 

College: College of Social Sciences and International Studies
Discipline: Education
Department: Postgraduate Studies
Research Centre/Unit: Dubai

I am working on my EdD thesis focusing on the challenges that first year international engineering students face regarding academic literacy skills, studying in an English- medium environment. I have published or co-authored four papers, peer reviewed a few papers and presented papers at regional conference in the Arabian Gulf area and at international conferences. I have an MA in TESOL from the University of Helsinki, Finland including a one year teacher training course.

As a TESOL and academic literacy skills instructor in tertiary education, I have mainly taught in polytechnics or engineering departments in higher education. For the past eight years I have worked as a Communications lecturer at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where I have also co-taught with engineering instructors on pre-design and Senior Design courses, assisting students in enhancing their oral and written communication skills. Prior to that I worked in the German University in Cairo, Egypt and the Higher Colleges of Technology in Sharjah, UAE, in the Middle East, and in Europe in the engineering department of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia Italy and for several years at the Helsinki Polytechnic in Finland.

As far as textbook publishing goes, I co-authored a series of five intermediate level textbooks on English for technical purposes in use in Finland, and an advanced one on the same topic for courses run at the University of Modena, Italy.

My current research interests include acquisition of academic literacy skills, academic and professional communication, critical thinking and cross-cultural matters, as well as ways in which students can be socially and academically engaged in learning in higher education.