Identifying the undergraduates' needs and problems of EAP skills at the faculty of education of Tripoli university

Abstract

        This study aimed to examine how undergraduate students perceived the content of English for academic purposes (EAP) skills and whether it was related to their major of study.

        The purpose of the study was to identify the needs and problems of EAP skills among undergraduate students at the faculty of education of Tripoli university. The participants of the study were the final semester students majoring in the English language program offered at the faculty of education. The data collection involved the use of questionnaire and interview as the main instruments. The questionnaire findings of the study revealed that students felt that they had major problems with their EAP productive skills, writing and speaking respectively and were ranked at a high level. The findings also indicated that students needed to improve their EAP skills in the four EAP English skills almost equally. The interview results also indicated that the students had experienced major problems in each particular skill and they felt that certain EAP skills were needed to be improved. The findings of this study will hopefully help EAP instructors and materials designers who are deeply concerned about developing EAP courses because needs analysis is the initial step before designing an EAP language course.