English language courses as EFL in Saudi Universities - Coursework Example

ARTICLE CRITIQUE: EFL Teachers’ Perceptions, Evaluations and Expectations about English Language s as EFL in Saudi Universities Instructor: Course Code: Critique Article Summary The article purposefully focuses on exploring the evaluations, perceptions, and expectations of the EFL teacher’s about the English language courses in the Saudi Arabia tertiary levels (Liton, 2013). Underpinning the need for the study was the fact that most of the KSA universities are offering Foundation English language programs but they have not been effective since the courses barely help the students in dealing with other disciplines.

Therefore, the study focused on undertaking a qualitative research through observations, survey questionnaires, and primary and secondary data sources. In effect, the qualitative data collected from approximately 25 EFL teachers from reputable Saudi universities revealed that the EFL courses are not design in the appropriate manner because the course syllabus does not meet the second language learning needs of the students who are at higher levels. On the other hand, the study results reveal that the EFL classrooms in Saudi universities are not conducive for the task-based language teaching (TBLT) because most of the classes have large sizes.

From the findings, the article recommends that EFL courses in Saudi Arabia must be designed in such a manner that integrate the needs of the learners, standards and that the course contents must cover issues like social-cultural factors of the students. Strengths of the article One of the imminent strengths of the article is the reference to the background information on the challenges of teaching EFL in Saudi Arabia. In this case, the background information identifies a gap in research that the study has successfully filled.

Another of the article strength stems from a detailed review of the literature to ascertain the claims that are later made in the discussion sections of the article and as such, used to make the necessary information for courses of actions to be taken for the effective teaching of EFL in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the article engages in a primary research through questionnaire surveys that offers more accurate data on the status of EFL teaching in the Saudi Arabian universities. Critique of the methodology A research methodology gives the direction of collecting and analyzing data in research and in this case, the authors have applied the right methodology for the study.

The survey questionnaires focused on the EFL university level teachers with vast experience in language teaching. The selection of the participants was accurate as it chose a population sample that understands the difficulties that non-English students experience when learning the language. The random sampling entailed the recruitment of equal number of native and non-native Saudi Arabia university level teachers. Therefore, the choice of sampling and consideration handled the problem of research bias.

The findings An important strength of the article is the manner in which the findings have been analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In this regard, the authors used a meta-analysis method that made it possible to come up with detailed results that could be used to answer the aims and of objectives of the study. Criticism/weakness A major weakness of the article is that it only recruited the teachers as the study participants and did not take into consideration the role that students as the learners would have played in the reliability and the validity of the research.

In this case, the students are the ones who interact with the EFL language teaching and would have given the research more detailed information on the factors that hinder them the effective learning of the EFL. Reference Liton, H.A (2013). EFL Teachers’ Perceptions, Evaluations and Expectations about English Language Courses as EFL in Saudi Universities. International Journal of Instruction, 6(2), 20-34. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544068.pdf