“We TRAINED HARD . . . . . but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized . . . . I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.” [Petronius Arbiter - 210 BC] Are we doomed to repeat the same organization faux pas over and over again? Does this remind us of what was said by ancient Greeks like Petronius above or of a lesson to be learned from the Myth Sisyphus who was doomed to rolling the rock up the mountain over and over again? An escape from this vicious ESL policy development cycle may lie in questioning some core instructional assumptions, such as: (a) Replacing westernized texts with authentic Omani texts will greatly enhance student English proficiency (b) The difference gap between what stakeholders want; specifically, that of the Ministry and many Instructors is irreconcilable. (c) Possible incongruence in the system’s Curriculum Philosophy is not that important

“We TRAINED HARD . . . . . but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized . . . . I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while ...