EGAP or ESAP? Towards meeting the academic English Language needs of Undergraduates
“Needs analysis” is an important stage in language curriculum design as learners‟ language needs in the target literacy contexts can be determined. Nonetheless, many higher learning institutions overlook this component and hastily jump into designing a language course on an ad hoc basis due to th...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Academic Journal INC
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/36912/1/Soo%20Ruey%20Shing.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/36912/ https://inter-publishing.com/index.php/IJLLAL |
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| Institution: | Universiti Malaysia Sarawak |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | “Needs analysis” is an important stage in language curriculum design as learners‟ language needs
in the target literacy contexts can be determined. Nonetheless, many higher learning institutions
overlook this component and hastily jump into designing a language course on an ad hoc basis
due to the hassles of conducting it and a lack of awareness of needs analysis as a tool in
curriculum development. The findings of this study offer a potential solution for institutions with
similar contexts. Drawing upon two comprehensive needs analysis approaches – Target Situation
Analysis and Present Situation Analysis, this study investigates the academic English language
needs and language ability of the pre-university students at The University of Selangor, Malaysia.
Data from multiple perspectives: students, ESL (English as a Second Language) lecturers and
subject lecturers were collected via three sets of questionnaires. Empirical evidence indicates that
the students had greater difficulty with the language rather than the content of subject matters.
Besides that, another interesting finding is the differing opinions between the ESL and subject
lecturers regarding the students‟ ability in handling writing and listening tasks. The results also
indicate that English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) courses are more suitable to fulfil
the students‟ current learning needs as compared to English for General Academic Purposes
(EGAP) courses. These findings have implications on curriculum planning and review, materials
development and implementation of teaching methods. |
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