چکیده

The content for ESP courses has been mostly determined on the basis of the intuitive judgments and personal preferences of syllabus designers and teachers, rather than a standard needs analysis. The present study was an attempt at assessing the current English language abilities of undergraduate students majoring in medical sciences as well as identifying their target needs for academic success through quantitative and qualitative methods. The participants included 197 undergraduate students, 12 TEFL teachers, and 15 content teachers from Tabriz University of medical sciences, Iran. The data were collected through target needs analysis and self-assessment questionnaires and also semi-structured interviews. Pronunciation, technical and general vocabulary knowledge, and using bilingual dictionaries were regarded as ‘important’ and ‘very important’ target needs by the participants though some significant differences in perceptions were found between the content teachers and students. The writing skill, listening comprehension and speaking were perceived as the weakest points in the students’ current level of ability. There was also a significant difference between the perception of TEFL teachers and the students’ in assessing the undergraduate students’ linguistic abilities. Furthermore, both undergraduates and teachers voiced their dissatisfaction with certain areas of ESP courses such as the inadequate number of the credits and heterogeneity of the classes. To have the outcome of ESP courses improved, they need to be designed on the basis of a realistic appreciation of all stakeholders’ perceptions in the field, and they need to be taught through the cooperation of the teachers in the two camps.

کليدواژه ها

Needs analysis; ESP; medical sciences; target needs; current language abilities

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Assef Khalili , 1398 , An Investigation into the Present and Target Academic English Language Needs of Iranian Undergraduate Students of Medical Sciences , اولين کنفرانس بين المللي مطالعات زبان انگليسي