Teaching English at the College of Business Studies in Kuwait: Implications for ESP teacher training

RESEARCH

NOTES AND ABSTRACTS

A STUDY OF THE SCHOOL-LEAVER UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM MALAWI

IN

This study is an investigation of the magnitude and possible causes of the school-leaver/youth unemployment in Malawi in a bid to identify ways through which Malawi can possibly reduce the problem. To this end, the study poses three research questions, viz.: 1. What is the ‘size’ of employment and unemployment in Malawi?; 2. What are the possible causes of both general and school-leaver/youth unemployment in Malawi?; and 3. How can Malawi possibly reduce her school-leaver/youth unemployment problem? Qualitative research techniques (documentary study, direct and participant obse~atio~, questionnaire, and unstructured informal interviews) have been employed to gather research material/data. Researcher insight, descriptive statistics and theorising have constituted the dominant modes of analyses of material gathered for this study. The findings suggest that the school-leaver unemployment problem in Malawi is basically a function of three major factors: general scarcity of opportunities for paid employment; schoolleavers’ unwillingness/unpreparedness to take to entrepreneu~al o~upations which seem very much under”exploited as an alternative to the scarce paid jobs; and the Malawi Government’s lack of a deliberate school-leaver/youth unemployment policy since 1964 to this date. Accordingly, the study argues that for the problem to reduce, the government needs to concentrate on three areas: increasing the absorptive capacity of agriculture, in particular smallholder farming; promotion and encouragement of small-scale entrepreneurial enterprises among school-leaver~youtbs, as much as among the adult population; and controlling and regulating population growth. On the role of formal schooling in reducing the problem, the study argues that career education, as opposed to curriculum diversification/vocatioualisatio~, is the most realistic and

feasible role general education can play. Otherwise, vocational training should be left to specialist institutions outside general education, and as far as possible should be employment based a~d/or employment related. FRED MSISKA University of Brisiol

Ph.D. 1991

TEACHING ENGLISH AT THE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS STUDIES IN KUWAIT: ~MPLICAT~UNS FOR ESP TEACHER TRArNING This study is an investigation into different aspects of the teaching of English at the College of Business Studies in Kuwait, a tertiary-level institution. Teachers’ backgrounds, teaching methods and materials, and the problems encountered by the students which can affect their motivation, achievement and performance are investigated. The purpose of the study is three-fold. First, to determine to what extent, in the views of teachers, students, graduates and employers, the College has succeeded in preparing the learners to meet their present and future needs in the target situations which require the use of Enghsh, Second, to measure how far the teachers are adequately trained to teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP), and to identify their awareness of the tasks of and demands on the ESP teacher. Third, to identify the reasons underlying students’ unsatisfactory level of proficiency in English and the factors affecting their motivation and achievement. Chapter One discusses the problem under investigation, namely students’ unsatisfa~to~ level of performance in English which may result in part from lack of adequately-trained ESP teachers, and looks at the role and status of English in Kuwait. 75

76

RESEARCH

NOTES

Chapter Two considers key issues involved in the teaching-learning of ESP. Chapter Three contains the research questions and deals with the aims and scope of the study. Chapter Four explains the procedure of data collection and gives the limitations of the study. Chapter Five presents the results of the research tools used in the study. Chapter Six discusses the findings of the study and contains an outline of a proposed in-service teacher training programme. Finally, Chapter Seven presents a summary and the conclusions of the study, recommendations for improving the teaching-learning of English at the College, and suggestions for further research. SHAABAN EL-AFIFI ABDEL-AZIZ AFIFI University of Wales College of Cardijf Ph.D. 1991

THE EDUCATION OF A MINORITY COMMUNITY IN MALAYSIA: THE CASE OF INDIAN CHILDREN FROM VERNACULAR PRIMARY SCHOOL BACKGROUND This study examines the impact of the Malaysian education policy on Indian pupils who go through the Tamil medium primary school then get absorbed into the national medium secondary school system. In the process it seeks to find out the typologies of education for minorities and gain an understanding of the problems prevalent in other countries with ethnic minorities. Within the Malaysian context, it seeks to find out the reasons why these children are sent to a Tamil primary school. It examines the effects of this choice in terms of some factors operating in the secondary school; the attitudes and achievement performance of these pupils to see how they are influenced by the Tamil primary school experience. At another level, it examines the national aspirations of the educational policy

AND

ABSTRACTS

and whether the educational processes help these pupils to adjust to the changed environment in the secondary school. This aspect is examined through an analysis of curriculum materials; the national language and its role as the language of unity; and the friendship patterns of these pupils. The data were collected through documents, school records, questionnaires, opinion surveys and semantic differential scales. Interviews with pupils, headmasters, senior assistants, supervisors, parents and community leaders were used to supplement and complement the findings from the quantitative strategies. A multi-site case study approach is adopted. Principally, comparisons have been made with Indian pupils who have gone through the national medium primary schools. The findings show that the typologies of education for minorities vary according to the socio-political intent of the countries concerned and also the kind of language policies that they follow. The findings show that the choice of the Tamil medium school is not done solely on the basis of a strong emotional and sentimental attachment to the Tamil language and Indian culture. Other factors too play an important role in determining the choice. The findings on the attitudes of these pupils as well as their academic performance show that as far as this study is concerned, it does not seem to reflect the opinions held by the school or the community leaders. Indian pupils irrespective of the medium of instruction at the primary level are by and large performing poorly academically. The study concludes by making suggestions that will have implications on educational policy. It also states that this is a relatively underexplored area in Malaysian education and there is tremendous scope for further research in cross-cultural educational studies within the Malaysian context. RAMAN SANTHRIAM University of Sussex Ph.D. 1991