A needs analysis for the freshman reading course (ENG 101) at Middle East Technical University

Abstract

This study investigated the question of what METU freshman reading course students need in ENG 101 (Development of Reading and Writing Skills I) both for their studies in content courses and their future careers. METU is an Englishmedium university where all classes áre taught in English and students have to search sources in English for their studies. Most METU graduates have professions in which they have to use English. All these factors, which require a good level of reading in English, lead to the consideration of student needs when designing and preparing a syllabus for the course. In order to carry out this study, three different groups of participants were used as informants. METU freshman reading students, METU graduates who currently hold jobs and content-course teachers. For the first group, four departments were selected: Architecture, Economics, Electrical Engineering, and Mathematics Education. Eighty-one students from these departments who took this course answered a questionnaire. It assessed whether the students were content with ENG 101 and how they ranked language skills in terms of importance for them. METU graduates were interviewed to gather further data for this study. Two architects, two electrical engineers, two economists and two math teachers participated in this part of the study. They were asked questions about the extent to which they use reading and other skills in English in their current jobs and what they recommend for an effective reading course. The third group was content-area instructors, to whom a questionnaire on student needs in terms of English language skills was distributed in the Spring of 1998 by the Department of Modem Languages. This questionnaire aimed to see whether the needs of students in their departments were in agreement with what they studied in their freshman reading classes. Means and standard deviations for items in student questionnaires were calculated. Graduate interviews were audio-recorded and then categorized. Results for teacher questionnaires were given in frequencies and percents. Results of the study indicate that freshman students’ opinion about the course varies according to their department. Architecture students’ results were lower than those of other three departments. Students’ overall responses showed that they were not very contented with the reading that they did in ENG 101; however, the Economics group considered it beneficial for their content course studies. Students indicated vocabulary studies as the most beneficial component of the course and speaking the least. Their results also show that they viewed reading and speaking as the most important skills both in undergraduate studies and for future professions. METU graduates rank reading and writing as the two most needed skills for their jobs, but they focus on the importance of fluent speaking as well. All contentarea teachers’ results indicate that their students do some reading although the amount of it varies according to department. Based on these results some suggestions are offered for improving the course syllabus.