Business English, Professional English, Legal English, Medical English,
Academic English etc.
Online Journal for Teachers

ESP World

ISSN 1682-3257

http://esp-world.info

 

The English Language Needs of Computer Science Undergraduate Students at Putra University, Malaysia: A Focus on Reading Skills

Md. Momtazur Rahman

Corresponding e-mail: momtazur@iubat.edu 

ABSTRACT

The study explored needs for reading skills among undergraduate students in the field of computer science at Putra University, Malaysia. It explored the difficulties encountered by the students in reading texts for the computer science programme. The Study was based on the three fundamental components of exploring language needs: TSA (Target Situation Analysis), PSA (Present Situation Analysis) and LSA (Learning Situation Analysis). The subjects of the study were fifty undergraduate students of computer science discipline in the final semester at the university. The instrument used for data collection was a survey questionnaire. The study revealed the reading skills needed by the undergraduates of computer science for academic purposes. The study also revealed that a majority of the students of this specialized discipline faced difficulties and problems in reading in English for academic purposes. It is suggested that the findings of the study may be utilized for designing an English language course, namely "English for Computer Science" that suits the target needs of undergraduate students to develop their reading skills in English language for this specialized discipline at the university.

Keywords: ESP; EAP; Needs Analysis; Reading Skills

Full text – PDF