Kolej universiti islam antararabangsa Selangor, Malaysia. ACCEPTANCE OF ABSTRACT FOR PRESENTATION AT THE 2ND GLOBAL SUMMIT ON EDUCATION 2014 (GSE 2014) (original) (raw)
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Teaching and learning of English as a foreign language is not only challenging, but using English as medium of instruction is also crucial. When it comes to the places where English in not a lingua franca (a link language), the challenges simply double and both the teachers and learners face many problems due to the fact that the target subject (biology) is difficult and the medium of teaching (English) is also not easy. Teaching of English as a subject as well as a medium of instruction (teaching) in the Gulf region in general and Saudi Arabia in particular catches attention of many researchers and scholars especially when the issue is particularly related to poor achievement. Teaching of English at preparatory level (foundation year) at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah serves two purposes: first, it lays and strengthens the foundation of general English that they carried forward from schooling. Second, the learners are made proficient in English during the foundation year so that they can pursue their specialties later. Despite the fact that English in Saudi Arabia is generally taught at school levels also, the achievement is far below the expectations from the viewpoint of English teachers at Biological/medical/health related subjects. Moreover, 'Englishes' at these departments are known as specific, and teaching/learning is somewhat different from the context of general English. Therefore, the present article is intended to explore the teachers' perception and factors contributing to the difficulties in learning general as well as specific English. In addition, it focuses on sort of remedial teaching required to prepare the students at biology department.
Exploring scientific language in biologists’ academic course of English
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The article is devoted to the questions connected with teaching English to students of nonlinguistic specialties. For example, teaching professionally focused reading and writing scientific articles and organization of listening on professional topics. In these cases, as it is mentioned teacher must choose teaching materials carefully and very often use discursive analysis. The methods used in the article are questionnaire and observation. The main purpose of the article is to correlate results of the questionnaire which was connected with expectations of foreign language course and which was done by the first-year students of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology and some features of teaching "English for specific purposes" which can help to satisfy expectations. Materials of the article can be useful for university foreign language teachers during elaboration of "English for specific purposes" course.
English for Specific Purposes: A Study of Science Major Students’ Needs at ENS-Rabat
2019
English in context is relatively new to Moroccan higher education in that a major swift from General English to English for Specific Purposes has been noticed in the last couple of years at Moroccan universities. This change of focus in English language teaching is accounted for by the fact that English is world-widely recognized as the language of academia and scientific research. The present paper seeks to identify the English language needs of science major graduates at ENS-Rabat and showcases a short-period trial in an attempt to include ESP classes together with General English in Chemistry and Physics graduate programs. The sample of 63 students who took part in the study allowed us to assess their linguistic level, determine their needs, and evaluate the syllabus designed for these experimental classes. Results showed the students’ needs do not fall within the scope of ESP but rather under that of GE. This issue portrays the actual situation of English language teaching in hi...
English Teachers’ Perceptions Toward Difficulties Faced by Learners of English at Biology Department
Journal on English Language Teaching, 2017
Teaching and learning of English as a foreign language is not only challenging, but using English as medium of instruction is also crucial. When it comes to the places where English in not a lingua franca (a link language), the challenges simply double and both the teachers and learners face many problems due to the fact that the target subject (biology) is difficult and the medium of teaching (English) is also not easy. Teaching of English as a subject as well as a medium of instruction (teaching) in the Gulf region in general and Saudi Arabia in particular catches attention of many researchers and scholars especially when the issue is particularly related to poor achievement. Teaching of English at preparatory level (foundation year) at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah serves two purposes: first, it lays and strengthens the foundation of general English that they carried forward from schooling. Second, the learners are made proficient in English during the foundation year s...
Teaching Life Sciences Using Second Language: How Do Teachers Cope?
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Language plays a pivotal role in science teaching and learning as it serves as both the medium through which the teachers and learners think and also communicate in the classrooms. Science and Life sciences in particular comprises of a unique scientific language register with a lot of technical words and terms borrowed from other languages other than English. Previous researchers acknowledged the difficulty teachers face when teaching science in a language different from their own and that of the learners. Consequently, the current study explored the various ways in which English-second-language Life Sciences teachers taught Life Sciences in order to mitigate language difficulties for themselves and those of their learners. The study was guided by the research question: how does English as a second language influence teacher practices when teaching Life Sciences to grade 12 learners? Using a qualitative research design, six Life Sciences teachers with various levels of teaching experience, two novices, two relatively experienced and two very experienced teachers, were purposefully selected from six different schools. The assumption was that teachers at various levels of experience may have different experiences of teaching the subject in a second language. Each teacher was observed once whilst teaching the same topic to grade 11 Life Sciences learners to establish their teaching practices. Incidences of learner engagement with the content, teacher-learner and learner-learner interactions were captured and scored using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol rubric. Lesson observations were suitable for data collection as they allowed the researcher to examine even non-elicited behaviour as it happened. The findings indicated that language difficulties were prevalent and affected both teachers and learners in engaging with the concepts at hand. For instance, most of the teachers whether experienced or not, struggled to explain and elaborate vital Life Sciences concepts in a comprehensible manner due to lack of proficiency in the language of instruction. The teachers mostly utilised code-switching as it enabled them to explain and elaborate scientific terms and processes in both English and their home languages. Because learners were allowed to express themselves in their home languages, the level of interaction also increased. In addition, teachers used transliteration and demonstrations as teaching strategies that also reduced the challenges of using English as a medium of instruction. The study informs both pre-service and in-service teacher development programmes.
International Journal on Engineering, Science and Technology
The strategic vision for the recent reform in Morocco included the diversification of teaching languages by teaching scientific subjects in French. This starts in pilot’s class teaching scientific subjects in the French language. In this context, the language for teaching Life and Earth Sciences (LES) was changed from Arabic to French. This linguistic change in teaching LES aims to make the learner able to communicate in French in addition to Arabic, and to put an end to the linguistic problem that currently exists when entering universities, that teach these subjects in the French language. In this survey we interested to teachers’ opinions in order to get acquainted with their opinions in teaching Life and Earth Sciences in French for the middle school, and collecting suggestions and solutions to overcome the problem observed in classrooms. We used a questionnaire as an investigative tool for data collection distributed to life and earth sciences’ teachers of middle school. The fi...
Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, 2021
The present paper focuses on the topic of English language teaching and its widespread uses in the country's educational system, especially in the domain of science. Concerning the issue of globalization and the spread of communications in all areas, it seems that the need for an international language is felt more than ever. In this regard, the science domain has not been an exception and has entered the course of globalization concurrent with the world. The current case study conducted on 20 students of Anthropology studying at the University of Tehran, investigates two main problems. First, students' degree of satisfaction with the education presented by schools and universities, and their opinion about the English courses in Iran. In this article, we tried to capsulate their true ideas and suggestions for improving the teaching system of the English language in schools and universities according to their experiences. Second, we examined their feedback on the criticisms and disagreements against language expansion, such as linguistic imperialism and subtractive bilingualism.
International Arab Journal of English for Specific Purposes, 2021
Designing an ESP course for Higher Education is often criticized for weak planning and implementation. Foreign language pedagogy in Morocco is a challenging and a complex area of research especially when investigating language teaching and learning in higher education. The present study sets rather general and controversial principles of English language teaching in higher education in general, and in ESP in particular. We conducted focus groups with 97 students, whom we divided into three groups. The findings promote that the learners' motivation, needs, and course content are the foundations that support a successful implementation of an ESP course. We found that science students at ENS-Rabat were divided into those whose motivation is greatly impacted by course content and those whose motivation is influenced by extraneous factors.
CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research - Zenodo, 2022
One of the thorniest issues regarding language in education in the majority of post-colonial countries is the issue of the language(s) of instruction. This study examines how Moroccan high school science teachers perceive the language of instruction when teaching scientific subjects. The Frame Law 51 17, which stipulates the use of foreign languages in the teaching of scientific subjects, is the point of departure. As such, the study main objective is to explore the appropriate language(s) of instruction in regards to the teaching of scientific subjects from high school science teachers' perspective. In this study, a questionnaire was administered to 66 high school science teachers randomly chosen. The questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS. In parallel, interviews were conducted with nine science teachers which were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's 2006 Thematic Analysis. Different results were revealed most importantly the positive attitudes that science teachers have towards English as a means of instruction, the incompatibility of language planning and policy (LPP) with the teaching/learning process needs inter alia. These results can be seen of great importance for syllabus designers, researchers in the field and teachers to understand more the nature of the issue. Accordingly, some recommendations to better the teaching/learning process regarding scientific subjects are suggested.