Difficulties Faced By Arab Students In Graduate Courses Abroad: A Study On The Importance Of English As A Second Language

Literature Review

Question:

Speech on English Literature ?

In the Middle East, Arabic is the primary language, which the Arabians uses for their communication purposes. The medium of study has also been in the Arabic form largely. However, the growing relationships with the Western countries have given the necessity to include English as a second language in their graduate courses. Even the employees are now preferred to have English in their list of skills (Tamran 2016).

In Saudi Arabia, many of teachers come from other parts of World to teach English to the Arab students. Even, many of the students prefer going to abroad to learn the English language because of the poor infrastructure of English education in Arab. It is when they come into trouble in coping with the change environment in abroad countries (Tamran 2016).

This research paper tries to convey the difficulties, which the Arab students are having in their graduate & post-graduate courses in abroad countries. It does so with the help of some research questions, research methodology, ethical consideration and the limitations of research (Ortega 2014).

• To find out the data on the proficiency level of Arab students in English language
• To find out the places where the students are finding difficulties
• To help them with appropriate solutions to help them overcome the challenges

The research proposal has eight chapters comprising of Introduction, literature review, significance of research, research questions, research methodology, ethical considerations, limitations of the research and expected result.

Saudi Arabia was established in the eighteenth century and the modern Saudi Arabia was established by King Abdul Aziz in 1932. It is the largest nation in that region with a population of approximately 17 million. 98 percent of the population is Muslims and their official language is Arabic (Alrabai 2014).

There are now 32 universities, public and private, approximately 25000 schools and numerous colleges and technological institutes, with more than half a million female students. The religious and cultural gap and discrimination against women is slowly decreasing with time (Tamran 2016).

It has no records of how English was introduced in Saudi Arabia. However, the Saudi Arabian Government took the initiative to introduce English in the education curriculum. They realized the need of English to communicate with the outer world. The formation of OPEC and the consequent trade deals with the rest of the world made it extremely necessary to know English. Hence, English became a part of the education system over the years. Currently, English is the only foreign language that is taught the public and many private schools, colleges and universities. The government has made it compulsory to learn English a second language in schools and as a mandatory introductory course if English is not a major in universities. It is also compulsory for the organizations to give English training to their employees (Braine 2014).

However, even in the 21^st century, there are some gaps in the country, such as, cultural, educational and legal, and that is creating a communication gap with the rest of the world. For example, the citizens of Saudi Arabia are not familiar with the American culture and learning structure (Gass 2013). Hence, if the schools followed the American style of teaching and learning, it is bound to fail as a system. The American system is more challenging and personalized in comparison to the Saudi Arabian system of education. While the American teachers prefer to guide more on a personal level, the Saudis prefer to guide the students on a collective level.

Significance of Research

Meehan (2013) cites that, there is an interaction between the two diverse worlds, when the Arabians try to learn English as a second language. They prefer to take the education in a foreign country or through a private instructor. However, the fundamental mistakes remain due to ‘Interlanguage’ effect. This occurs when the learner tries to learn a new language by linking it to his/her mother tongue.

Studies show that initially English was introduced in the education system along with French as a second language but with no specific objective for learning. In 1959, the intermediate level was introduced to bridge the gap between elementary and secondary levels. Then English was made a mandatory subject with specific learning objectives (ur Rahman and Alhaisoni 2013). It was done compulsory in the secondary level in 1960.

This research paper will try to find out the effects of English in the lives of Arabians and in the economy of Saudi Arabia. In the modern world, all the countries are connected with and dependent on one another. The counties are different in every possible way. There are differences in language, culture, religion, economy etc. In case of any deal or negotiation, the language barrier becomes a major problem. Hence, the need for an international or global language arose, which could bind the countries through a common thread.

In today’s world, not only the international trade is important, but the globalization of education has become important too. Now a days, there are students who go to foreign countries for studying. There is also student exchange programmes in the universities of almost all countries. Students of all countries take up these opportunities not only for their own good, but also for the benefit of their countries. Due to student migration, more and better research works are happening in the international education market. For this to occur successfully there must be no language barrier. As students from Saudi go to other countries, students from abroad also come to Saudi for further studies. Hence, there is a need for English to be learnt in the schools and colleges (Choudaha and Chang 2012).

Also, there are people who migrate to other countries for their jobs. It has become a trend to move to other countries for a better job prospective. Like the students, professionals also move to and from Saudi. In such cases, knowledge in English is a must know language, since; it is the only global language.

In the arena of international trade, English is the only language used. The expansion of the oil industry in the Middle East motivated the importance of the development of a foreign language programme in all types of institutions. The companies trained their staffs to communicate in English with foreign nations (Tamran 2016).

This research paper intends to find out the development and improvement of English in all sections of education and business. It will focus on the effects of English as a second language and in future how to have positive effects in a more significant method and how to encourage people to use English more in their daily lives.

Research Questions

• How much are the Arab students are proficient in English?
• What are the places of difficulties?
• What are the solutions to mitigate the found challenges?

Conduction of survey on the Arab students in abroad countries is the most effective and easy way to gather ample of information on the subject topic. Online survey would be made available to the targeted students by coordinating with the different universities on the importance of survey. Moreover, personal interaction with individual student is less productive and much hectic. It is also very time consuming. Some students may not feel free to answer the questions, as they are addressed in front of a person. Online survey would rather require no physical interaction. It is just about taking participation in the cause and responding to all the questions appropriately (Panneerselvam 2014).

For the particular research, the researcher would go for the exploratory type of research.

The research is based on online survey, which would have set of questions to be asked to the Arab students. The questions would be set in a more established and scientific way to produce the maximum productivity of the research. Moreover, the target is to help the Arab students in coping with the created challenges (Groenewold and Lessard-Phillips 2012).

For this research, the researcher would go with both the primary and the secondary type of research.

The researcher has selected the primary source of data collection as it is based on online survey with the Arab students in various universities. It will also use the available articles and journals on the subject topic to find out some important root causes behind the problems. Secondary resources will help in gathering information on the background of Arab students, which is very important before making any conclusion on the research (Yin 2013).

Non-probability method of sampling is taken as the method to sample the findings.

The Non-probability method of sampling is chosen because of the fact that it has targeted a particular segment of students. The Arab students, who are pursuing their degree courses in abroad, such as, in the USA or UK, are taken as participants in the online survey (Cohen, Manion and Morrison 2013).

The researcher needs to abide by the legislative guidelines of the Data Protection Act, 1998 to use the collected data on the students appropriately. The research is about online survey and the data that would be gathered from the online survey are fresh leads. Moreover, it is not allowed for anybody to take use of the collected data without any prior consent from the participants. The collected data should be kept secured and used for the most appropriate causes (Richey and Klein 2014).  

Time and budget are the possible limitations for the concerned research. An online survey would attract some notable expenditure on its conduction, as it requires collaborative working with some of the established online survey platform such as Survey Monkey in the USA (Lefcourt 2013).

The expected result of the research is the findings of root causes behind the lack of proficiency level in Arab students in English language.

For this research, the researcher will select the qualitative type of data analysis.

The collected data from the online survey will be analysed based on non-mathematical way of calculation. The research does not require any analytic calculation on the findings; it rather observes the findings to propose the root cause behind the problems (Miles, Huberman and Saldana 2013).

Table 1: Gantt chart

Source: (Author)

The above picture shows the planning for the research on the topic chosen. Different parts of research are planned for different months that are highlighted in the right hand part of the columns in the diagram (Flick 2015).

Conclusion

The research is aimed to find the prospects and challenges of English as a second language in Saudi Arab. It also focused on the proficiency level of Arab students in English, both in the home country and abroad. It checks the root causes behind the problems that the Arab students are facing while their degree courses in abroad countries such as USA. English as a second language has gained huge popularity in Saudi Arabia due to its relationships with the Western worlds.

References:

Alrabai, F. (2014). A Model of Foreign Language Anxiety in the Saudi EFL Context. English language teaching, 7(7), p82.

Braine, G. ed., 2014. Teaching English to the world: History, curriculum, and practice. Routledge.

Choudaha, R. and Chang, L., 2012. Trends in international student mobility.

Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K., 2013. Research methods in education. Routledge.

Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner’s guide to doing a research project. Sage.

Gass, S.M., 2013. Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.

Groenewold, G. and Lessard-Phillips, L., 2012. Research methodology. The European second generation compared: Does the integration context matter, pp.39-58.

Lefcourt, H.M. ed., 2013. Research with the locus of control construct: Extensions and limitations. Elsevier.

Meehan, S. (2013). An Investigation into the Structural Errors of Arabic Learners’ Written Persuasive Discourse in English. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M. and Saldana, J., 2013. Qualitative data analysis. Sage.

Ortega, L., 2014. Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

Panneerselvam, R., 2014. Research methodology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..

Richey, R.C. and Klein, J.D., 2014. Design and development research: Methods, strategies, and issues. Routledge.

Tamran, R. (2016). Teaching English as a Second Language in Saudi Arabia. 1st ed. [ebook] Jeddah: Effat University, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Available at: https://library.effatuniversity.edu.sa/finalprojects/Humanities/Teaching-English-as-a-second-language-in-Saudi-Arabia-2016.pdf [Accessed 14 Mar. 2017].

ur Rahman, M.M. and Alhaisoni, E., 2013. Teaching English in Saudi Arabia: prospects and challenges. Academic Research International, 4(1), p.112.

Yin, R.K., 2013. Case study research: Design and methods. Sage publications.

Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:

Turnitin Report

Formatting

Title Page

Citation

Outline

Place an Order