Introduction
The Foundation Year students at the University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, are a unique category of students transitioning from high school to college. English language competence is an enabler to their success in the academic sphere. As a group of learners who have just graduated high school with an Arabic language background, these students, primarily male and aged 19 to 22, have different English skills. Despite their elementary English knowledge gained through formal education, they face difficulties effectively expressing themselves in English, especially in academic settings. Limited exposure to spoken English practice outside the classroom makes it even harder for them to learn the language. This paper will analyse these learners’ English language requirements and challenges and then focus on a suitable teaching resource and methodology to allow these learners to meet their requirements and advance their language development.
Language Needs Analysis
The Foundation Year students at the University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, have diverse English language needs, which reflect their academic and everyday communication requirements. The language needs of these students go across both formal and informal contexts, from taking part in academic discourse to having daily interactions. For academic purposes, the students must have formal language proficiency to understand lectures, participate in discussions, and do written assignments. Conversely, informal language skills play a vital role in socialising, building friendships, and coping with the non-academic aspects of university life. Hence, a balanced approach of formal and informal language teaching strategies is necessary for the comprehensive language demands of such students.
Furthermore, the English language needs of these students extend to both spoken and written domains, each serving distinct purposes within academic and non-academic settings. Moreover, the needs of these English students reach far beyond the spoken and written domains, each of which is of different importance within both academic and non-academic contexts. During classroom discussions, students must clearly express their opinions, participate in peer dialogue, and participate in collaborative learning activities, implying the significance of good spoken skills. Furthermore, academic writing requires composing coherently written essays, reports, and research papers that follow academic conventions and standards. Improving oral and written skills is essential for these students to fully participate in academic discourse and fully succeed at the university level.
Challenges Faced by Learners
The University of Tabuk’s Foundation Year students face many obstacles in their journey to improve their command of English. One of the significant issues in learning spoken English is the lack of practice outside the classroom. Unlike language learners in immersive environments, these students have fewer prospects to apply English in real-life situations, hindering their speaking and listening skills. Furthermore, the shift from the language basics in secondary school to the advanced levels required for academic success is a considerable obstacle. As they deal with more complicated grammatical constructions and university-level English discourse, these students may face the challenge of bridging the gap between their present language skills and the demands of university-level English.
In addition, cultural and linguistic differences between Arabic and English present a unique set of difficulties for these language learners. The syntactic, lexical and phonetic differences between the two languages may cause problems with comprehension, expression and pronunciation. Cultural nuances and different rhetoric styles add another layer of complexity for the learners as they strive to adapt to unfamiliar contexts and find common ground in communication standards and expectations. Besides, gender dynamics may easily affect the engagement and participation of students in the class environment because of cultural norms on the level of interaction and involvement among male and female students.
Even though foundation year students of the University of Tabuk are equipped with a fundamental knowledge of the English language, there is a barrier of limited means to communicate in the language outside the classroom. These students have restricted opportunities for authentic language practice beyond the confines of the classroom. This restriction slows their language acquisition process and prevents them from reaching the communicative competence they need to use their language skills in real-world settings. Subsequently, strategies to help fill the gap and give these learners more exposure to English outside the classroom are necessary to supplement the formal instruction and aid their language learning process. These challenges demand a sophisticated strategy considering the cultural, linguistic and social factors influencing the learning environment of the Foundation Year students at the University of Tabuk.
Teaching Resource Selection
The work of Harmer (2015), “The Practice of English Language Teaching,” can be considered a handy guide for teaching English to the foundation students of the University of Tabuk. This piece is relevant because it addresses undergraduate students’ academic language needs, which is the goal the learners want to achieve. Structured reading activities are provided in the book, which advance comprehension and vocabulary and meet the demands of spoken and written language. The resource’s choice of authentic academic texts provides a great platform to expose students to the discourse patterns used in academic contexts, preparing them to use them appropriately in an academic context.
It is also a resource for cooperative learning, vital for engaging students and establishing active participation among language learners. Nevertheless, the resource should be further adjusted to address the requirements of the Foundation Year students in terms of their speech and writing skills by adding them to the resource. Speaking practice can be achieved in the classroom by organising group discussions, role-plays, and presentations, where the students can learn and improve their speaking skills in a supportive environment. Similarly, it can be helpful to use writing assignments in the academic genres of essays, reports, and summaries as an opportunity to improve their writing skills and reinforce language knowledge in the academic setting. This modification would mean a more comprehensive approach to language teaching, covering both oral and written aspects.
Methodology and Approach
While choosing the approach and methodology for teaching English to Foundation Year students at the University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, it is crucial that tailored pedagogical strategies are utilised to address the students’ language needs and educational targets. One method that can be coordinated with their academic goals is Content-Based Language Teaching (CBLT). CBLT is associated with teaching academic disciplines through the target language, enabling students to acquire content knowledge and language skills simultaneously. The CBLT effectively connects the subject matter content with language instruction, which creates a situation where students use the language naturally in authentic contexts, thereby improving their language acquisition and academic performance. This method benefits Foundation Year students who want to enhance their English language competency for academic achievement. Through CBLT, the students interact with the subject matter while improving their language capabilities, which will equip them for the demands of linguistics in undergraduate studies.
Additionally, using Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) as a framework for teaching content and language adds to CBLT. Language teaching in a CLIL course is done by selecting the content first and then figuring out the language needed to understand and teach it, ensuring that language instruction is consistent and relevant to its purpose. Foundation Year students stand to benefit from CLIL as it allows them to learn English and academic subjects contextually, facilitating the acquisition of subject-specific vocabulary and language structures vital for academic achievement. Besides, CLIL has communication, cognition and cultural aspects which coincide with the complex language needs of the students. With the use of CLIL in the classroom, teachers can develop exciting courses that will facilitate language acquisition and the presentation of the subject matter.
The two pedagogies (CBLT and CLIL) are based on the idea that language and content learning are intertwined, highlighting the significance of authentic language use in real-life situations. The approaches engage with subject matter content and provide language use opportunities within academic contexts, aiming to satisfy TESOL’s English proficiency and learning paradigms. In the classroom, teachers act as facilitators, assisting students to learn by exploring and comprehending the matter while simultaneously building on language development. Learners, thus, participate actively in their learning process and interact with the content and language through collaborative activities and discussions. This learner-oriented approach empowers students to take charge of their language-learning process.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper has revealed the English language requirements and struggles of Foundation Year students at the University of Tabuk, emphasising the need to focus on both spoken and written skills in academic and everyday life. The chosen teaching resource, “The Practice of English Language Teaching” by Harmer, is a comprehensive framework that will help the learners in their language learning process. Additionally, the advocacy for the use of Content-Based Language Teaching (CBLT) approaches and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approaches underlines the fact that content and language instructions should be integrated to meet the different needs of the students. Implementing the teaching resource plan involves having a set of more speaking and writing tasks to develop students’ language proficiency. Subsequent studies should aim to find the most appropriate language teaching techniques applicable to learners with similar profiles to continue language education’s success.
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