Document Analysis of English Language Course Outlines in Pakistani Universities: Exploring the Needs of Undergraduates in the EFL Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47067/ramss.v4i2.133Keywords:
Undergraduates, English as Foreign Language, Skills Based ProficiencyAbstract
Being proficient in English opens several doors of opportunities all over the globe and this ability is especially important for students who are about to enter their professional lives. The main objective of this qualitative research was to analyze the Basic English course outlines of private Pakistani universities to examine the inclusion of skills-based strategies for the effective teaching and learning of English language skills at the undergraduate level which was conducted through document analysis. Another purpose of this study was to explore the needs of undergraduate English language students regarding their English language course for which a questionnaire was administered. The findings of the document analysis showed that the content of the English language outlines mostly included grammar and focused very little on language skills necessary for the development of proficiency. The responses of the undergraduates in the questionnaire clearly expressed their weaknesses in English skills and the need for developing proficiency. Based on the findings, this study recommends developing an effective skills-based English language course outline for the undergraduate level.
References
Ahmed, A. (2016) Teaching English Language as a foreign language in Punjab. International Journal of EFL Research.1(1), 1-7. http://www.multidisciplinaryjournals.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/FULL-PAPER-TEACHING-ENGLISH-AS-A-FOREIGN-...pdf
Ahmad, I., & Arif, M. S. (2020). Teachers' Perception of English Language Teaching at Tertiary Level Education in Pakistan. Pakistan Social Science Review, 4(1), 191-203. https://pssr.org.pk/issues/v4/1/teachers-perception-of-english-language-teaching-at-tertiary-level-education-in-pakistan.pdf
Allen, M. (Ed.). (2017). The SAGE encyclopedia of communication research methods. Sage Publications. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483381411.n608
Amin, M. (2019). Developing Reading Skills through Effective Reading Approaches. International Journal of Social Science and Humanities, 4(1), 35-40. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2557919
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative research journal.
Chen, (2011). Becoming global citizens through bilingualism: English learning in the lives of university students in China. Educational Research International, (2011), 1-9. http://doi:10.1155/2011/805160
Creswell, J. W. (2014). A Concise Introduction to Mixed Methods Research. SAGE Publications.
Durga, V. S. S., and C. S. Rao. "Developing students’ writing skills in English: A process approach." Journal for Research Scholars and Professionals of English Language Teaching 6, no. 2 (2018): 1-5. http://jrspelt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Satya-writing-skills.pdf
Grier, A. S. (2005). Integrating Needs Assessment into Career and Technical Curriculum Development. Journal of Industrial Teacher Education, 42(1), 59-66.
Haidar, S., & Fang, F. (2019). Access to English in Pakistan: a source of prestige or a hindrance to success. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 39(4), 485-500. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2019.1671805
Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching. Harlow: Pearson Longman.
Hou, Y. A. (2018). A Study of the Role of Strategy in Foreign Language Learning. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 8(05), 151. DOI: 10.4236/ojml.2018.85016 Oct. 9, 2018
Irfan, H. (2017). The Postgraduate Students and their Teachers’ Perceptions of the Use of Pakistani English in Pakistani Universities. Journal of Research, 11(1), 38-48. http://www.ue.edu.pk/jrre
Jabeen, I. (2013). English language teaching: Implementing collaborative language learning approach in federal colleges of Pakistan (Doctoral dissertation, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES ISLAMABAD). http://173.208.131.244:9060/xmlui/handle/123456789/3866
Karimi, S., & Dastgoshadeh, A. (2018). The effect of strategy-based instruction on EAP students’ reading performance and reading autonomy. Cogent Education, 5(1), 1527981. DOI: 10.1080/2331186X.2018.1527981
Kecira, R., & Shllaku, A. (2014). Skills Segregation versus Skills Integration in FLT. In ICRAE 2014 Conference-Paper Proceeding.
Krosnick, J. A. (2018). Questionnaire design. In the Palgrave handbook of survey research (pp. 439-455). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Le, T. M. (2019). Teaching Listening Skills for English Non-Majored Students at Ba Ria-Vung Tau University: Difficulties and Solutions. DOI: 10.9790/0837-2404072837
Lodhi, M. A., & Akash, A. (2019). Identifying language learning gaps of ESL students at intermediate level in Pakistani colleges. Bellaterra Journal of Teaching & Learning Language & Literature, 12(1), 44-64. https://www.raco.cat/index.php/Bellaterra/article/view/353986
Long, M. (2005). Second language needs analysis. Cambridge University Press.
Mahboob, A. (2017). English Medium Instruction in Higher Education in Pakistan: Policies, Perceptions, Problems, and Possibilities. English Medium Instruction in Higher Education in Asia-Pacific, 71.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51976-05
Manan, S. A. (2019). Myth of English teaching and learning: a study of practices in the low-cost schools in Pakistan. Asian Englishes, 21(2), 172-189. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2018.1503041
Naved, Z. (2020). 6 reasons why knowing English is important in today’s world. Owlcation. http://www.owlcation.com/humanities/importanceofenglishlanguages
Omona, J. (2013). Sampling in qualitative research: Improving the quality of research outcomes in higher education. Makerere Journal of Higher Education, 4(2), 169-185. DOI: 10.4314/majohe. v4i2.4
Pennycook, A. (2016). Politics, power relationships and ELT. The Routledge handbook of English language teaching, 26-37.
Rose, H. (2019). The future of English in global higher education: Shifting trends from teaching English to teaching through English. CALR Journal, 9. http://web.aou.edu.lb/research/Documents/Article_1_by_Dr_Heath_Rose.pdf
Sabirova, D. R., & Khanipova, R. R. Y. (2019). Innovative approaches to teaching and learning english as second and english as foreign language in multilingual education. Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews, 7(6), 45-48. doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2019.7610
Scrivener, J. (2011). Learning teaching: The essential guide to English language teaching. Oxford: Macmillan Education.
Saldaña, J. (2013). The coding manual of qualitative researchers (2. ed.). Los Angeles, London, New Delhi.
Shabbir, M., & Ibrahim Khalid, M. (2016). Humanizing Research Culture System through Quality Assurance Practices in the Universities of Pakistan. Bulletin of Education and Research, 38(1), 235-250. https://sujo-old.usindh.edu.pk/index.php/SUJE/article/view/2325/1980
Sharjeel, M. Y., & Qazi, W. (2012). Why does Testing English Language Skills Really Matter? Issues and Challenges in Pakistani Higher Education. Journal of Educational Research, 15(1), 93. https://search.proquest.com/openview/93790f50787de8cbcff860363d61ba45/1
Wah, N. N. (2019). Teaching Listening Skills to English as a Foreign Language Students through Effective Strategies. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD), 3(6). https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29 246.pdf
Yasmin, M., & Sohail, A. (2017). Realizing learner autonomy in Pakistan: EFL teachers’ beliefs about their practices. International Journal of English Linguistics, 8(2), 153-162. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v8n2p153
