The English Academic needs of King Fahd Security College Officers

The English Academic needs of King Fahd Security College Officers

Mohammed Nasser , Alhuqban

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) has become an expanding discipline within universities worldwide. Abundant research has been devoted to the study of EAP in various academic settings, and yet no studies have been conducted to investigate the academic English use in military settings, thus making the undertaking of this study significant. This paper investigated the English academic needs of 42 officers working at King Fahd Security College (KFSC) in Saudi Arabia. The participants' military ranks were 20 1st lieutenants, 14 Captains, 7 Majors and 1 lieutenant colonel. A questionnaire was developed, piloted and used to collect data about the officers' self-rating of their ability to use EAP, their need for training on using EAP, their frequent use of EAP skills, and the importance of EAP skills. Overall, the results showed that KFSC officers did not receive training on how to use EAP, and the curriculum in the English courses they had completed was not consistent with their perceived academic needs. Despite this, many of the officers described their ability to use EAP as moderate. The participants showed awareness of the graduate requirements that await them; that is, they rated some academic skills such as writing proposals and theses, communicating with academic advises as the most important skills. Based on these findings, the study concluded with general guidelines for the development and implementation of an EAP program at KFSC.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2012-05

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