The Need of ESP Courses for the students in the College of Nursing
Shler Mohammed Ali Najmaddin
Assistant Lecturer
Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Darbandikhan Technical Institute, Iraq
Abstract
The nature of English for specific purposes as a motivational and efficient course can meet the nursing students’ needs as English as a foreign language learners. Considering that, they have had a limited exposure to English language in secondary and preparatory school and in the College of Nursing they are exposed to an intensive use of English as the medium of instruction. Therefore, they have considerable problems in the application of English language. More precisely, they are burdened with an abundant number of new nursing vocabulary and language structures. Thus, they must need an English Language course for that vital and definite necessity. As a result, this study is an attempt to investigate the needs of nursing students for an ESP course.
The study was conducted with 68 first-year university students and 81 fourth-year students and ten teachers in the College of Nursing, Sulaimani University. A student questionnaire and a teacher interview were used to identify the nursing students’ and teachers’ perceptions about the nursing students’ English language needs and to ascertain if they need an ESP course. The findings showed that regarding both the students’ and their teachers’ perceptions, ESP course is an immense requirement for the students to promote their knowledge in their subject field. They also suggested that the students need a course that concentrates more on improving their reading and writing skills in their subject field. It can be concluded that a systemized ESP is a requisite for the students’ lack of English.
Keywords: English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course, nursing students, language needs
doi:10.23918/vesal2021v23