Needs analysis and course design in Arabic for academic purposes at a Saudi Arabian university
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Date
03/08/2022Author
Altayar, Soha
Metadata
Abstract
This study aims to gain deep understanding of the needs of Non-Native Speakers of
Arabic (NNSA) and the role of the current Arabic for Academic Purposes (AAP)
programme in satisfying students’ needs in a Saudi Arabian university. It also seeks to
explore the main challenges that face the application of such courses in the study
context, in order to develop the principles and a theoretical framework that can be used
for developing AAP courses that can meet the needs of students at Saudi universities.
To this end, using the case study methodology and the Learning-Centred Approach
(LCA) for needs analysis and course design in this study, students’ needs have been
analysed and the AAP has been evaluated, thus identifying the major challenges facing
their development. A triangulation method of qualitative data collection was used,
including semi-structured interviews with NNSA students and AAP programme
leaders, focus group interviews with AAP teachers, classrooms observations, and
analysis of official documents.
The findings of the analysis show that the perspectives of participants in this study,
including students, teachers, and programme leaders, are slightly different with regard
to determining the students’ target academic needs. While the analysis of the students’
learning needs reveals that religious needs are the dominant purpose motivating
students to learn Arabic, Arabic for General Academic Purposes (AGAP) courses are
the preferred approach to learning Arabic among students. The findings also reveal that
the programme has focused on fulfilling students’ academic religious learning needs,
but it has not succeeded in satisfying most of their target academic and learning
demands. They also reveal that the programme’s failure to satisfy students’ analysed
needs have been attributed to human elements, including students' needs and teachers’
experience, and non-human elements, including the teaching and learning materials,
teaching methods, and the programme duration and location. The findings also found
that there are pedagogical, linguistic and contextual challenges faced the
implementation of AAP courses in the study context. In conclusion, based on these
findings, a proposed principles and a theoretical framework for developing the AAP
courses at Saudi universities is presented.