An Exploration of the English Language Skills in Relation
الملخص
An Exploration of the English Language Skills in Relation
to Overall EFL Proficiency Level of Medical Students in an EAP Course
Mohammed A. Zaid1 and Ali H. Alamir2
1Associate Professor, English Department, College of Languages and Translation
King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
2EFL lecturer, English Department, College of Languages and Translation
King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
(Received 29/3/1429; accepted for publication 21/2/1430)
Abstract. This study investigated whether English as foreign language (EFL) learners who studied English in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course would show significant differences in their overall levels of proficiency in English as determined by an achievement test of the four skills and the English grammar. The study also sought to determine whether there would be significant differences at the level of individual skills; thus, the study examined how strong the correlations between the different English language skills were. The participants of this study were sixty-one EFL undergraduate medical students enrolling in an EAP course at King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia, with the experiment having been conducted during a whole semester. The data collected had been analyzed using appropriate statistical tests and procedures. Study findings revealed that EFL students who studied in that EAP course showed significant differences between their scores in the English language skills; they also bore out significant differences in the subjects’ overall English proficiency gains. Pedagogical implications regarding EAP programmes in terms of language acquisition, instruction, and assessments have been appended to this paper. Also, some recommendations have been set out for further investigation in the body of EAP research.