EFL postgraduate students’ learning needs on English-medium business programmes: An exploratory study

Abstract

Business, as a study area, attracts many students on English-medium programmes in ESL/EFL (English as a second language / English as a foreign language). However, there has been scarce research on business studies in literature on EAP (English for academic purposes). Many previous studies have predominantly focused on business classroom written genres and less attention has been paid to students’ needs and other skills necessary for successful coping with English-medium business programmes. This study attempts to fill this gap by moving further beyond and not solely focusing on written genres, but also exploring business students’ learning needs and skills on an English-medium master of business administration (MBA) programme in Sudan from both students’ and subject content teachers’ perspectives. The main objective is to inform both business education and EAP provision in the context and beyond. A qualitative methodology was adopted, involving semi-structured interviews as the main method of data collection. Data was collected in two visits made to the study site and 31 participants: 10 teachers and 21 students took part in the investigation. Data analysis results showed that there was a range of language skills, believed to be necessary for effective study. Results also showed that participants held different views about the importance and priority of these needs and skills. Pedagogical implications for both business education and EAP will be presented and discussed.

Keywords

business programmes EAP ethnography needs analysis qualitative research

I Introduction

English has been widely used as a medium of instruction (EMI) over the last two decades in higher education institutions worldwide (Airey, 2006; Airey & Linder, 2006; Chang, 2010; Dimova, 2017; Flowerdew & Miller, 1992, 1996, 1997; Graddol, 2006; Jensen et al., 2011). In the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) in particular, EMI has been increasingly used in higher education institutions (Macaro et al., 2018; Dearden, 2015). As a result, a growing number of EMI programmes of study has been offered in various disciplines of knowledge, including business. However, this spread of EMI equally requires preparation for students to effectively cope with EMI programmes. Over the last three decades, EAP (English for academic purposes) research on business as a subject area of study has been relatively scarce (Bridgeman & Carlson, 1984; Canseco & Byrd, 1989; Cooper & Bikowski, 2007; Dudley-Evans, 2002; Hale et al., 1996; Horowitz, 1986; Lung, 2008; Melzer, 2009; Moore & Morton, 2005; Zhu, 2004) and has pre-dominantly focused on the analysis of the types of business classroom genres students are required to study on business courses and ignored students’ overall learning experiences and needs on these EMI courses. The current study attempts to fill this gap by moving beyond the ‘micro’ focus on business genres to the ‘macro’ focus on students’ experiences and learning needs on these business courses. Analysing and investigating learning needs on EMI programmes would help inform better business EAP and EMI pedagogy. Using a more ethnographic needs analysis approach, the study investigates students’ learning needs on an English-medium master of business administration (MBA) programme in an EFL context from the perspectives of both teachers and students. The study primarily aims at informing both business education and EAP pedagogy in the context of the study and beyond. Furthermore, taking into consideration the scarcity of research on business English-medium programmes, particularly in the ESL/EFL (English as a second language / English as a foreign language), the present study duly contributes to both research and pedagogy in the field. The findings and implications could also be applicable and transferable to other similar ESL/EFL contexts.

II Context

The study was an exploratory needs analysis conducted in an EFL context with the view of analysing the leaning needs on the MBA programme and pedagogically informing both EAP teachers and MBA subject teachers. The MBA is a two-year four-semester programme at a management studies school in a large, established public university in Sudan. It is a multi-course programme, covering four main areas of business studies: finance, management, accounting and economics. Students are EFL Arabic L1 speakers and English is used as the main language of instruction on the programme.

The MBA programme was the first English medium MBA programme to be launched in the country and is regarded as a prestigious programme, attracting high numbers of applicants. It has a high rate of student enrolment (yearly average of 300 applications): in the academic year 2016-2017, 370 students applied to join the programme and only 196 candidates were offered places on the programme. The programme was accredited and recognized by the British Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in 2005.

III Literature review

In this section, studies from both business as an area of study and business as a profession in the workplace will be reviewed. Discussing both strands of research reflect the inextricable connection between them and the underlying pedagogical implications for the preparation of business students not only to cope with their study in the academic context but also to effectively perform in their future business professions in the workplace.

1 Business in academia and the workplace

Previous studies on business as a study area have mainly been conducted in two contexts: the workplace and academia. Most studies on business in the workplace (Beaufort, 1998, 2000, 2006; Dias et al., 1999, 2000; Conrad & Newberry, 2011; Freedman et al., 1994; Louhiala-Salminen, 1996; Schneider & Andre, 2005; Maes et al., 1997; Stowers & White, 1999; Robles, 2012) have described the demands, requirements and needs of the workplace which business graduates will eventually join. This research seems to be motivated by the inextricable relationship between business as academic study and business as a profession in the workplace. These studies were aimed at informing business education to close the professional gaps between academic and workplace settings in terms of a range of skills among which are both written and spoken communication skills.

On the other hand, studies on business in academic contexts (Bacha & Bahous, 2008; Canseco & Byrd, 1989; Chang, 2010; Dudley-Evans, 2002; Harwood, 2003; Jackson, 2005; Kim, 2006; Lung, 2008; Zhu, 2004) have addressed a number of issues, such as classifications of the types of tasks required on business courses, provision of business EAP for business students, comparison and contrast of textual characteristics of business students’ advanced genres (e.g., master’s dissertations) with business expert writing (e.g., research articles). However, business students’ language needs and overall experiences on business English-medium programmes seem to have been less researched.

Despite the apparent interconnectedness between business studies situated in the workplace and those in academia, there has been rather less research in the latter context compared to that in the former, and there also seems to have not been as much communication of findings between communities publishing in applied and non-applied linguistics outlets. The communication between these two communities, if established, could have a significant impact on the process of bridging gaps between the business professional and academic contexts.

2 Researching business as a profession in the workplace

While much of the literature in the workplace has focused on one form of communication in the workplace, namely writing, there are also other studies on business communication which have focused on oral/aural skills in the workplace and described the professional tasks required of graduates entering the profession, as well as the difficulties newcomers to the profession could experience. The issue of communication skills in the business workplace has been mostly reported and discussed in business communication research, appearing in business communication publications, particularly the Journal of Business Communication and Business Communication Quarterly. This research has focused on communication skills and abilities required of business graduates in the business workplace (Conrad & Newberry, 2011; Gray, 2010; Maes et al., 1997; Stowers & White, 1999; Robles, 2012). These studies reported gaps between business education and the actual requirements and demands of the workplace regarding the communication abilities of business graduates. For instance, Stowers and White (1999) targeted five types of communication skills that were reported as highly valued in the business workplace: presentation, writing, listening, interpersonal and interviewing skills. The study used a survey to assess these communication abilities and the perceptions of accounting professionals on their importance and relevance in the business workplace. The questionnaires were distributed to professionals of varying experience: entry-level, middle management and partner. Respondents were asked to provide a self-assessment of five commonly cited types of communication skills: oral presentations, writing, interpersonal skills, listening and interviewing. The study also revealed a difference between entry-level accounting professionals and experienced professionals regarding the perceived importance of communication skills for entry-level accountants. The study reported that experienced accounting professionals felt that entry-level accountants need more preparation so that they can be effective communicators since they are expected to perform effectively in their jobs from the early stages of their careers. In light of these findings, Stowers and White (1999) suggested some implications that primarily aimed at informing business education to prepare accounting graduates for the business workplace where communication skills are important.

In a similar vein, Maes et al. (1997) have attempted to identify the skills, particularly oral communication, required from business school graduates when entering the workplace. This study and the other cited studies have highlighted that business schools fail to prepare graduates for the workplace and noted that this preparation needs to be informed by workplace studies to identify the needs and requirements to focus on.

In sum, the common implications among these studies of business workplace contexts are that business education and language support on business programmes in academia should achieve two different yet interconnected objectives regarding the provision of English-medium education to business students. First, these programmes should enable students to cope successfully with academic expectations and requirements at the level of disciplinary knowledge and language support addressing students’ actual problems and needs. Second, these programmes should also meet students’ needs beyond academia; that is, preparing them to function effectively in the business workplace.

3 Researching business as study area in the academia

Looking at business studies literature in academic settings, two main strands of research can be identified. The first is the body of research that has focused on the provision of EAP support for business students in academia, either as foundational/pre-sessional or adjunct/in-sessional EAP support (Bacha & Bahous, 2008; Ferris, 1998; Ferris & Tagg, 1996a, 1996b; Jackson, 2005; Johns, 1981; Kim, 2006). Such studies, albeit scarce, have addressed a number of issues, including the needs and language skills required of business students to effectively function on business content courses and how language programmes could equip business students with such needs and skills. The ultimate aim of these studies is the alignment of EAP provision with business students’ actual needs and requirements of study on business content courses. The second strand of research, as reported in other studies (Bridgeman & Carlson, 1984; Canseco & Byrd, 1989; Cooper & Bikowski, 2007; Dudley-Evans, 2002; Harwood, 2003; Harwood & Petrić, 2012; Lung, 2008; Zhu, 2004), has moved beyond the investigation of language programmes to the investigation of literacy tasks, written genres, needs and the requirements of business students on business courses.

It is worth noting that the two dominant themes reported in most of the above cited business studies in academia have focused on the classification and labelling of academic literacy tasks, particularly writing tasks, that are required on business content courses and the identification of language skills, specifically reading and writing, that business students need to effectively function on these courses. However, less attention has been given to other academic skills, such as listening and speaking, which are also believed to be important for business students, not only in coping with their required academic literacy tasks and activities on business courses in academic settings but also for effectively functioning in business workplace settings where these other skills are valued and required (Kim, 2006). These latter skills have been less in focus in EAP and needs analysis studies (Ferris & Tagg, 1996a; Ferris, 1998), and only a few business studies in academic contexts (Bacha & Bahous, 2008; Jackson, 2005; Kim, 2006) have touched on these skills. These studies have reported the needs of business students for communication skills, namely listening and speaking, in order to effectively function on business courses.

As seen above, research on business as a study area has, surprisingly, attracted relatively less coverage in the literature despite business being an attractive and favoured area of study for EFL/ESL students. Most studies on business in academic contexts have been predominantly conducted in English-speaking contexts and very little research has been conducted in ESL/EFL where English has been exponentially used as a medium of instruction. Having reviewed the literature and indicated the gaps, the present study attempts to fill these gaps by addressing the following three research questions:

What learning needs and language skills do business subject teachers and students think are necessary for effective study on EMI business programmes?

How similar and/or different are the participants’ views with regard to these needs and skills?

What can be done to improve both business EAP and EMI business education.

IV Methodology and design

Two groups of participants – 31 in total – namely, MBA teachers and MBA students took part in the study. Ethical approval was obtained before the start of the study and all participants were reassured that their participation was voluntary, and that they were able to withdraw from the study at any time without giving a reason. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Ten business subject teachers (T1–T10), 21 students (S1–S21) took part in the investigation. Teachers had various amounts of teaching experience, both inside and outside Sudan, ranging from 4 to 20 years. Students enrolled on the MBA programme had different disciplinary backgrounds ranging from applied sciences to humanities and social sciences. As for the recruitment procedure, it was a two-phase process during both rounds of data collection. For the first round, I contacted via email the Dean of the School, explained my research and I asked for voluntary participation. The dean agreed to forward my email to the school teachers. Ten teachers agreed to take part in the study by allowing face-to-face interviews. Following the teachers’ agreement to take part in the study, I asked their permission to allow me into their classes to talk to students and seek participation. I briefly explained my research to students and asked for voluntary participation. I left my email address and eleven students emailed me back and agreed to take part in the study. I had a total of 21 participants for the first round of data collection. The same 10 teachers recruited during the first visit participated again during the second round of data collection and I also managed to recruit 10 more student participants using the same process of classroom pop in announcement, making the total number of the student participants 21. The total number of teachers on the MBA was 30 and the number of students was 100. Teacher participants represented 33% of the total number and the student participants represented 21% of the total number of the MBA students. These percentages are arguably an adequate proportion of participants for such an interview-based qualitative study.

The study adopted an ethnographically-oriented methodology whereby a two-visit design study was followed, enabling data collection over two successive years. This allowed the researcher relatively lengthy immersion and sustained engagement in the context of the study. The analysis of the interview data, with both teachers and students, from the first visit generated specific areas of interest on which to focus and accompanying research questions on the learning needs; these areas/research questions were further explored in the second visit (Hammersley, 1994, 2006; Harklau, 2005; Lillis, 2008; Walford, 2009; Watson-Gegeo, 1988). The study used semi-structured interviews as the main methods for data collection (for the interview questions, see Appendix 1). A total of 40 face-to-face recorded interviews were conducted with the participants during the two rounds of data collection; each interview lasted between 40 and 60 minutes.

Since the study was an ethnographically oriented study with an emerging nature in focus, I developed some prompt cards during both visits to the research site (for samples, see Appendix 2). During the first visit, these cards would contain some responses from the interviews conducted with participants. I would report, during interviews, by reading aloud and/or presenting the contents of the cards to the participants and asking them some questions and probes to obtain more comparative perspectives on the students’ learning needs and experiences on the MBA programme. Following the analysis of the first visit’s data, I also generated some more prompt cards containing some reported findings and I used them during the second visit with the old and some more new participants. The purpose of using prompt cards was twofold. They provided me with the opportunity to elicit more focused, detailed and specific data from participants. They also helped me perform some sort of member check with the same participants to ensure further reliability and analytical triangulation. Participants would have the opportunity to ‘‘elaborate, correct, extend, or argue about [these reported findings]’’ (Rallis & Rossman, 2009, p. 269). Indeed, member checking is one of the crucial ways of ensuring the credibility of the analysis and interpretation of qualitative data (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

Interviews with subject teachers were conducted in English, whereas all students were interviewed in Arabic and responses were translated into English. To ensure greater accuracy of translation, an Arabic L1 speaker checked the translations. They were shown the full transcripts of a few interviews and asked to listen to the recordings of the interviews while reading through the transcripts. There were no significant translation problems and/or differences noted by the checker.

All interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded inductively. I adopted an exploratory open strategy to code my data so that I could discover as many potential issues as possible from the data sets. Sample coding from the interview transcripts was checked by a second coder for the purpose of interrater reliability checks. Using simple percentage of calculation, 79.1% agreement for the student interview coding scheme and 88.4% for the teacher interview coding scheme were reached, which I believe are good percentages. An open thematic and inductive approach to coding was followed; interview transcripts were segmented into categories with thematic codes; codes were refined many times throughout the coding process to ensure that they captured and represented the participants’ voices in the interviews.

To conduct interrater reliability checks to further validate my coding scheme, I chose four and typically representative interview transcripts from both teachers’ and students’ interviews. I read through and summarized the topics/issues addressed by the informants while making marginal codes. This summary was done manually in the margins of the text using Microsoft Word’s ‘add new comment’ function. Having finalized the two lists of codes for both student and teacher participants, I then sent two typical and representative interview transcripts (one for students and the other for teachers) from both rounds of data collection along with the two lists of codes to a second coder/rater and asked them to apply the codes on these two transcripts. After the second coder/rater had finished coding, we together to, first, calculate the percentage of interrater reliability and, second, to discuss and resolve our coding disagreements.

Simple percentages of agreement and disagreement were calculated. We divided the total number of coding agreements over the total coding episodes multiplied by 100. The disagreements were counted and documented so that we would later discuss and resolve them. Here is an illustrative example of coding disagreement and how we resolved it: Double coding: in this case, the second coder double coded and used two different codes for some pieces of text because they felt that both codes could apply. We would read the piece of text many times and we would refer to the code and the code definition. We would discuss and we would then either agree and that I would refine the code or we would split up the piece of text into two parts indicating clear boundaries and assign two separate codes. Indeed, coding of qualitative data features many strategies and it differs in complexity depending on the analysis intended on the data (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996). However, having my research questions in mind, more analytical coding was made by linking and connecting the themes in both a comparative and contrastive way to gain a multi-perspective analytical dimension. The analysis was based on the final themes, concepts and categories that could be established from the coding procedure used on data from both rounds of data collection. The key findings are reported in the following section.

V Findings

Teachers reportedly emphasized that students should learn discipline-specific terminology because most students come from non-business backgrounds, and familiarity with this discipline-specific terminology was viewed by teachers as a crucial requirement. Such familiarity would enable teachers to avoid translation into Arabic and instead focus on delivering the subject content purely in English:

[What students need to learn] is basically the terminology. The most important language skill [for students to learn] is the terminology because here [in classes] we spend a lot of time translating the terminology. So if they [students] are familiar with the terminology then definitely our job [of delivering the English-medium subject] will be much easier. (T2)

Terminological familiarity would also help students read, understand and cope with the various business sub-disciplines:

They [students] have to understand the technical terms. You see in Management Information Systems course or in the business [subjects in general] you have to understand a lot of materials … so if you want to be taught an MBA in English, then you have to understand the language and how to deal with the terminology and how to discuss these matters and how to understand the technical terms [terminology] and their meanings. (T1)

Moreover, some teachers also equated the mastery of business terminology with success in the subject content:

I think that students should learn the subject-related terminology. I think that the more business and accounting-related terminology or vocabulary they learn, the more likely life will become easy for them. (T7)

Some teachers claimed that students need to learn the discipline-specific terminology not only to cope with their business study but also to prepare them to join the business workplace:

Learning the [terminology] is very important in our accounting field. You know, learning the terminology is very important in all the fields that are related to the [accounting] profession. Students at the end of the day … when they go down the road to the [business] workplace environment they will speak the language of business so if they don’t know the right terms [terminology], they will neither be able to communicate their ideas nor understand things properly. They will even get a problem with report writing, they will fail to write a report if they got problems with terminology … (T3/2)

In the same vein, students agreed with teachers that it was essential to learn and understand business terminology to help them cope with their study. They also believed that learning discipline terminology would save them the time spent on translation to be used on other learning activities. During both research site visits, students emphasized the importance of learning and understanding discipline-specific terminology:

I think that knowing vocabulary of the MBA subjects is important. You need to know vocabulary and terminology. If you don’t know the vocabulary and terminology of the MBA courses you would face problems in coping with the programme. (S3)

If people become familiar with the terminology they would save time. You know instead of spending the time in translation into Arabic, I would use that time in solving equations and problems. (S21)

The following shows how one of the students described the urgent need for business students to learn and understand the relevant business terminology:

You got six courses [in the first semester], each has got 14 or 16-chapter reference … you need to read in a period of three months. This requires time and requires someone who is qualified in English not as a general language but as specific for the subjects. It requires someone who knows the meanings of the concepts of accounting and management and so on… (S11)

During the second visit, I reported a list of language skills said to be required to student participants, which had emerged from the first visit data and invited comments. The importance of learning the courses’ discipline-specific terminology was re-emphasized:

Yes I agree with them [my colleagues] on the importance of learning and understanding the discipline-specific terminology such as the financial accounting terminology particularly when you come from a non-business discipline. (S4/2)

Students also emphasized the learning of discipline-specific terminology over the learning of general vocabulary:

The matter is not only about understanding general vocabulary as there is more specific terminology on the MBA courses. So people need to understand [for instance] the management-related terminology which will help with the study [on the MBA]. (S9/2)

Another skill reportedly required, and which was recurrent on the MBA, is communication (speaking and listening) skills. Students need these skills to interact with teachers and express themselves in classes to enable and reinforce their understanding of English-medium lectures and subject content. This need for communication skills in classes to understand subject content was rightly summed up by S16/2: ‘If you can’t speak in English you wouldn’t be able to ask questions in classes and thus you would miss out on the subject.’

While both teachers and students agreed on the importance of learning discipline-specific terminology, teachers seemed to stress this more than students did. Students took the opposite view, believing that listening, speaking and the ability to deliver oral presentations are more vital in both academic and workplace settings:

I think that communication skills are important on the MBA programme. Communication is very important for the interaction between the students and the teachers in the class as it helps students if they want to add ideas, to ask teachers for more explanation and clarification and something like that. (S5/1)

I think communication skills are important to learn as things would be easy if you understand the teachers’ talk in classes. (S5/2)

Indeed learning to communicate is reportedly seen by students as a means of helping them build confidence in themselves:

We need to strengthen our interpersonal skills through developing our communication skills. I know that there are some students who know the [MBA] subjects much better than many people but you never feel their existence because they don’t communicate in classes. (S7/2)

Communication skills are indeed important to us as MBA students. We as MBA students should know how to speak in English well and not necessarily fluently. You should at least speak about any topic for 30 minutes without reading from paper. (S3/2)

Furthermore, students perceived that learning and developing communication skills is also necessary and helpful for effective functioning in the business workplace:

… there should be more skills like presentation skills which will be developed through more presentations and seminars. You know we need such skills because I think even [effective functioning] in the business workplace mainly depends on presentations. (S16/2)

The difference in the views of language skills between teachers and students, with the former focusing on terminology and the latter on communication skills, could partly be attributed to the fact that teachers, due to large classes, adopted the traditional lecturing style with no interactive exchanges with students in the classrooms:

Our classes here are very huge classes. I just come to class and lecture and if the students ask questions then that’s okay [I would answer them] and if not the class is finished. So I don’t feel there is student-teacher contact as I used to see that in the [his former university context abroad]. (T9)

However, according to student participants, some of the teachers were reportedly said to have adopted an interactive style of teaching and despite the fact that students found the style new to them, they expressed a desire for this more interactive teaching style which they claimed would help them better understand classes and acquire interactive skills:

I wish that the way of teaching on the MBA would change from that of [what we used to during our] undergraduate programmes [whereby] we go to classes and just listen passively. You know we sometimes don’t utter even a single word in classes [of the MBA] for a whole week. I wish that the interactive teaching was adopted from the very beginning on the MBA courses as that would help us speak and interact. I was personally expecting that all the MBA teachers are just like the teacher of the Management Accounting course [who adopted an interactive way of teaching]. They should make classes more interactive and they should also check and see how we are doing in the class. They should make us fully attentive through interactive classes … the most important thing is how we can clearly express our ideas. It is the first time to be honest that we’ve found the chance of interactive classes in the third semester on the Management Accounting course … I don’t know how MBA programmes are taught outside Sudan but it seems to me that there are [on these MBA programmes] discussion groups and something like that which this MBA programme lacks. (S5/2)

Students stressed their need to learn and develop communication skills, not only for their immediate academic requirements, but also for future workplace settings in which, students perceived, oral presentations are valued and commonplace:

… there should be [on the MBA] more skills like presentation skills which will be developed through more presentations and seminars. You know we need such skills because I think even [effective functioning] in the business workplace mainly depends on presentations. (S16/2)

Furthermore, students stressed the importance of developing good communication skills (both speaking and presenting) because they anticipated English would be used as a lingua franca in the world of work:

I think the most important skill [that we need to learn and develop] is communication, both speaking and listening. I think communication is important because if you, for instance, want to do a presentation where you present confidently and in a very understandable way, you should have good communication skills otherwise you wouldn’t be able to express yourself properly. If you present to Sudanese audience you can sometimes use Arabic but if you find yourself in a situation where you need to present to non-Sudanese audience who don’t speak Arabic, the only way is to present in English. So if you speak good English, you will be able to present in an eloquent and appealing way to the audience. (S2/2)

In addition to communication skills, the need for writing skills also emerged as a theme in the student interview data. Students highlighted the need for learning and developing coherence, paraphrasing and summary skills which are evidently needed when writing from sources:

What you need for writing assignment is the language skills that can help you organise things…you need to understand the content and try to put things in a coherent way … (S2/2)

Indeed, writing skills were viewed as important for life after graduation:

We need writing as it is needed for the exams and even for your general life. You see by the end of the MBA, I think that people should have not faced problems with neither writing nor communication. (S5/1)

Although teachers stressed the importance of students’ learning discipline-specific terminology, they added that a better level of general English language skills is also needed:

They [MBA students] should be good at English and we assume any student who has studied at high school, should have the bottom line that is required. In addition to knowing the [business] terminology…[students should learn] speaking and listening skills since they are important and will help a lot in communication and discussions [in classes]. (T7)

In fact, some teachers even claimed that general English is more important than specific English on the MBA:

I think the general English is more important than the specific English. I think if students have good general English abilities the gap in the subject English would be bridged when students get to the subject classes. You can’t teach students more discipline-specific language while they are weak in general language. The priority for me is that students should have general English skills to read and write. (T9)

To sum up, language needs and skills, particularly discipline-specific terminology, speaking skills and writing skills, were believed by participants to be very important for effective performance on the MBA. Moreover, some of these skills, like speaking, were also reported as necessary for effective functioning in both the academia and the business workplace.

VI Discussion and implications

The findings showed that MBA students need to learn a range of language skills in order for them to effectively cope with the various literacy and learning tasks required of them on English-medium business programmes. From the findings of both teacher and student interviews, it appeared that teachers and students held different views on which language skills were necessary and of primary importance for the programme. While, for example, most teachers believed that learning business discipline-specific terminology was important, students in contrast emphasized that communication skills, both oral and aural, were necessary on the MBA. These findings suggest the importance of taking students’ views into consideration in the EAP and needs analysis research. Early research in the area (Johns, 1981; Ferris and Tagg, 1996a, 1996b) tended to focus on teachers’ views and students’ voices were not represented. Moreover, the focus of needs analysis and EAP studies was mostly on academic writing and reading tasks but listening and speaking tasks were not given that much attention (Ferris, 1998; Ferris & Tagg, 1996a; Kim, 2006).

The findings from student interviews also indicate a real need for both listening and speaking skills and these skills are needed not just to meet the needs and requirements of the immediate academic tasks but also to function effectively in the workplace. Many previous survey studies on oral and aural skills in business academic contexts (Ferris, 1998; Ferris & Tagg, 1996a; Kim, 2006) did not touch on the relevance and importance of such skills for business students, particularly as they relate to the workplace. Both listening and speaking communication skills were regarded of great importance, particularly by students, being seen as vital to both the effective handling of the immediate literacy and learning tasks required of them in academia and for enhancing their employability in business workplace contexts. The importance of communication skills for EFL/ESL business students both in the academic (Ferris & Tagg, 1996b; Jackson, 2005; Kim, 2006) and workplace contexts (Conrad & Newberry, 2011; Gray, 2010; Robles, 2012; Stowers and White, 1999) was also reported in the previous literature, particularly that on business communication. Stowers and White’s (1999) study, for instance, suggested some implications for preparing accounting graduates for the workplace where communication is significant, valued and highly necessary. They also reported that the importance of communication skills for accountants increases as they progress in the profession from entry-level accountants, to managers, and finally to partners. The study also revealed the difference between the entry-level accounting professionals and the experienced professionals in terms of communication skills, reporting that experienced accounting professionals feel that entry-level accountants need more preparation to be effective communicators since they are expected to perform effectively in the profession from the very beginning.

In line with the body of previous research, both student and teacher participants in the present study also emphasized the importance of oral skills for students in the context of the classroom and workplace. Oral communication skills were viewed by participants as important not only for accounting subjects but for all areas of business within the MBA programme. Although the present study did not include input from employers from business workplace contexts, it did include the perspectives of both students and teachers who recognized the need for such skills in the face of competitive local and global business labour markets; ‘careers in business [reportedly] require good leadership, communication, and negotiation skills, it is likely that business students … aspire to the prerequisite attributes – open, extrovert personalities and a facility for communicating with people’ (Trinder, 2013, p. 8).

Findings of the present study from the student interviews on the need for writing skills would mean that learning to write effectively on the business courses is crucial for learning and success on the study programme and more generally in helping students’ understanding and construction of subject-based knowledge. Such findings lend support to findings of previous studies (Berkenkotter & Huckin; 1995; Carter et al., 2007; Leki, 2007) in that writing could indeed help students learn and acquire disciplinary knowledge through reading and engaging in disciplinary materials for achieving assigned writing tasks. For instance, in Leki’s (2007, p. 248) study, EFL/ESL students claimed that they benefited from writing in the discipline in acquiring disciplinary knowledge. This is because they ‘[spend] more time with the [disciplinary] material, manipulating it, and [thus] becoming more consciously aware of aspects of it’. These findings on writing skills, as part of the learning needs that were uncovered in this exploratory study, clearly suggest the need for developing writing pedagogy within the EAP courses that can cater for the actual needs and demands of the writing tasks required of students on the various MBA courses.

VII Conclusions and recommendations

This is an interview-based qualitative ethnographically oriented study that attempted to investigate the views of business students and their subject teachers on the skills required for effective coping on an English-medium business programme in an EFL context. The investigation was conducted over two successive years through two visits to the study site. The overarching aim of the study was to explore the insiders’ views on what is required for effective and successful coping on the English-medium business programmes with an ultimate aim of providing pedagogical implications that could inform the design, development, delivery and evaluation of both business education and EAP provision.

It was apparent that there were some language needs such as discipline-specific terminology and communication skills that were believed to be necessary to learn for effective functioning on English-medium business programmes. Participants had similar views on the importance of and need for some of these language skills but they also held different views on the priorities for and importance of some other language skills. In the light of the findings of the study, a number of recommendations can be offered to inform both English-medium business education and EAP for English-medium business programmes.

First, EAP provision should be sufficiently comprehensive to cater for the various literacy needs of students. For example, EAP teachers could use real workplace business cases in EAP classes to not only develop students’ language proficiency but also their knowledge of business-related content. Since business case studies require students to solve problems and provide recommendations for decision-making processes, working on such cases will likely help students develop such skills. The cases could also provide students with good opportunities to develop collaborative, speaking and writing skills which are all required for effective study on business courses, particularly for successful completion of the assigned presentational and writing tasks.

Second, given the importance of writing in the discipline, writing skills need to be enhanced and developed. There are a number of ways whereby EAP courses and teachers can achieve this. For instance, echoing proposals by Zhu (2004), the writing component on business EAP courses should develop students’ analytical and problem-solving skills since most business tasks required on business courses were based on problem-solving and decision-making, requiring students to analyse information, identify problems, propose recommendations for action and justify the recommendations. To achieve this, more problem-solving writing tasks should be used on EAP courses intended for business students. These courses could also develop business students’ skills of writing for different audiences, both academic and professional, by developing their awareness of their readership and their needs. They should also develop students’ teamwork and cooperative work skills that are crucial for effective and successful performance in the business workplace.

Third, communication skills on EAP courses should focus on both academic-related and workplace-related language skills so that students use the former for their immediate academic needs and demands on the business content subjects, and the latter to be prepared for real workplace contexts. So perhaps it would be a sensible idea, depending on time and resources, for a business communication course to be introduced into any English-medium business programme to prepare students for both written and spoken workplace communication needs. It could be an assessed course as part of either the business or the EAP courses on the programme. Indeed, the introduction of business communication courses on business programmes could be of great value to students since these courses are generally considered part of the very core of the business curriculum in business education. For instance, 42 out of 50 top business schools in the USA (Sharp & Brumberger, 2013) included business communication courses in their business curricula and these courses were normally compulsory rather than optional elements of business programmes. A range of topics could be covered on these courses such as job-seeking skills, teamwork, technology, intercultural communication, ethics, visual communication, service learning and interpersonal communication (Sharp & Brumberger, 2013, p. 21). Moreover, business communication courses can make use of business corpora in developing materials and teaching activities. For example, specialized business corpora such as the Cambridge and Nottingham Spoken Business English Corpus (CANBEC) can be useful in promoting business students’ awareness of workplace genres. Such corpora can be consulted for authentic materials to sensitize students to the types of workplace spoken genres such as meetings, interviews, telephone conversations, presentations, etc. Transcripts of CANBEC recordings can for instance be used in EAP classes in both listening and speaking activities (Handford, 2010).

Fourth, business subject teachers could also play a vital role in helping students to effectively cope on English-business content courses and to be prepared for the business workplace. Indeed, given the inextricable relationship between business education and the workplace, business subject teachers should use more real workplace examples and cases in their business content classes and thus introducing and simulating the workplace into their classes. Some cases should be contextualized and/or adapted to suit different ESL/EFL teaching contexts. Furthermore, given also that most business textbooks taught on business programmes are predominantly Anglo-American, which could contain cases that might not necessarily be relevant in other contexts, teachers should try to explain these cases with reference, comparison and/or adaptation to the students’ local contexts so that the cases become more meaningful, relevant and accessible to students.

Finally, given the perceived importance of communication skills on English-medium business studies, more oral activities/presentations should be introduced on business courses and should be part of the learning and assessment process. Such pedagogical activities would help prepare students to act effectively in the business workplace where communication skills are highly valued. Large class size may have negative implications on the feasibility of such activities. However, teachers can still try and minimize the potential effects by diversifying their lectures’ mode of delivery to increase students’ engagement into oral learning activities. They could, for instance, cluster students into smaller groups, encourage seminars, discussion groups, collaborative work and presentations.

Footnotes

Appendix 1

Appendix 2 Conflict of Interest

Also, if this study is part of a larger study or if you have used the same data in whole or in part in other papers, both already published or under review please state where the paper is published and describe clearly and in as much detail as you think necessary where the similarities and differences are and how the current manuscript makes a different and distinct contribution to the field.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Awad Alhassan

Author biography

Awad Alhassan is assistant professor of Applied Linguistics and TESOL at the Department of Languages and Translation in Dhofar University, Sultanate of Oman. He has a PhD in applied linguistics from Essex University, UK. His teaching and research interests include TESOL, ESP/EAP and English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education institutions. He has presented in many international conferences and has published in peer reviewed journals.

References

Airey

(2006). The relationship between teaching language and students learning in Swedish university physics. In Preisler

Klitgård

Fabricius

A.H.

(Eds.), Language and learning in the international university: From English uniformity to diversity and hybridity (pp. 3–18). London: Continuum.

Airey

Linder

(2006). Language and the experience of learning university physics in Sweden. European Journal of Physics, 27, 553–560.

Bacha

N. N.

Bahous

. (2008). Contrasting views of business students’ writing needs in an EFL environment. English for Specific Purposes, 27, 74–93.

Beaufort

(1998). Transferring writing knowledge to the workplace: Are we on track? In Gray

M.S.

Bernhardt

S.A.

(Eds.), Expanding literacies: English teaching and the new workplace (pp. 179–199). Albany, NY: Sate University of New York Press.

Beaufort

(2000). Learning the trade: A social apprenticeship model for gaining writing expertise. Written Communication, 17, 185–223.

Beaufort

(2006). Writing in the profession. In Smagorinsky

(Ed.), Research on composition: Multiple perspectives on two decades of change (pp. 217–242). New York: Teachers College Press.

Berkenkotter

Huckin

T.N.

(1995). Genre knowledge in disciplinary communication: Cognition/Culture/Power. Hillsdale, NJ:Lawrence Erlbaum.

Bridgeman

Carlson

S.B.

(1984). Survey of academic writing tasks. Written Communication, 1, 247–280.

Canseco

Byrd

(1989). Writing required in graduate courses in business administration. TESOL Quarterly, 23, 305–316.

10.

Carter

Ferzli

Wiebe

E. N.

(2007). Writing to learn by learning to write in the disciplines. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 21(3), 278–302.

11.

Chang

Y.Y.

(2010). English-medium instruction for subject courses in tertiary education: Reactions from Taiwanese undergraduate students. Taiwan International ESP Journal, 2, 55–84.

12.

Conrad

Newberry

(2011). 24 Business communication skills: Attitudes of human resource managers versus business educators. American Communication Journal, 13(1), 4–23.

13.

Coffey

Atkinson

(1996). Making sense of qualitative data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

14.

Cooper

Bikowski

(2007). Writing at the graduate level: What tasks do professors actually require? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 6, 206–221.

15.

Dearden

(2015). English as a medium of instruction-a growing global phenomenon. London: The British Council. Available at: https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/e484_emi_-_cover_option_3_final_web.pdf

16.

Dias

Freedman

Medway

Paré

(1999). Worlds apart: Acting and writing in academic and workplace contexts. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

17.

Dias

Pare

(Eds.). (2000). Transitions: Writing in academic and workplace settings. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

18.

Dimova

(2017). ‘Life after oral English certification: The consequences of the test of oral English proficiency for academic staff for EMI lecturers. English for Specific Purposes, 46, 45–58.

19.

Dudley-Evans

(2002). The teaching of the academic essay: Is a genre approach possible? In. Johns

A.M.

(Ed.). Genre in the classroom: Multiple perspectives (pp. 225–235). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

20.

Ferris

(1998). Students’ views of academic aural/oral skills: A comparative needs analysis. TESOL Quarterly, 32, 289–318.

21.

Ferris

Tagg

(1996a). Academic oral communication needs of EAP learners: What subject-matter instructors actually require. TESOL Quarterly, 30, 31–58.

22.

Ferris

Tagg

(1996b). Academic listening/speaking tasks for ESL students: Problems, suggestions, and implications. TESOL Quarterly, 30, 297–320.

23.

Flowerdew

Miller

(1992). Student perceptions, problems and strategies in second language lecture comprehension. Regional English Language Centre Journal, 23, 60–80.

24.

Flowerdew

Miller

(1996). Lectures in a second language: Notes towards a cultural grammar. English for Specific Purposes, 15, 121–140.

25.

Flowerdew

Miller

(1997). The teaching of academic listening comprehension and the question of authenticity. English for Specific Purposes, 16, 27–46.

26.

Freedman

Medway

(1994). Genre in the New Rhetoric: Critical Perspectives on Literacy & Education. London: Taylor & Francis.

27.

Graddol

(2006). English next. London: British Council. Available at: https://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/continuing-professional-development/cpd-researchers/english-next (accessed June 2019).

28.

Gray

F.E.

(2010). Specific oral communication skills desired in new accountancy graduates. Business Communication Quarterly, 73, 40–67.

29.

Hale

Taylor

Bridgeman

, et al. (1996). A study of writing tasks assigned in academic degree programmes. Research Report 54. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

30.

Hammersley

(1994). Introducing ethnography. In Graddol

Maybin

Stierer

(Eds.), Researching language and literacy in social context (pp. 1–17). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

31.

Hammersley

(2006). Ethnography: Problems and prospects. Ethnography and Education, 1, 3–14.

32.

Handford

(2010). The language of business meetings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

33.

Harklau

(2005). Ethnography and ethnographic research on second language teaching and learning. In Hinkel

(Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 179–194). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

34.

Harwood

(2003). Person markers and interpersonal metadiscourse in academic writing: A multi-disciplinary corpus-based study of expert and student texts. Unpublished PhD thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK.

35.

Harwood

Petrić

(2012). Performance in the citing behaviour of two student writers. Written Communication, 29, 55–103.

36.

Horowitz

D.M.

(1986). What professors actually require: Academic tasks for the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 445–460.

37.

Jackson

(2005). An inter-university, cross disciplinary analysis of business education: Perceptions of business faculty in Hong Kong. English for Specific Purposes, 24, 293–306.

38.

Jensen

Denver

Mess

I.M.

Werther

(2011). Students’ and teachers’ self assessment of English language proficiency in English-medium higher education in Denmark: A questionnaire study. In Preisler

Klitgård

Fabricius

A.H.

(Eds.), Language and learning in the international university: From English uniformity to diversity and hybridity (pp. 19–38). London: Continuum.

39.

Johns

A.M.

(1981). Necessary English: A faculty survey. TESOL Quarterly, 15, 51–57.

40.

Kim

(2006). Academic oral communication needs of East Asian international graduate students in non-science and non-engineering fields. English for Specific Purposes, 25, 479–489.

41.

Leki

(2007). Undergraduates in a second language: Challenges and complexities of academic literacy development. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

42.

Lillis

T.M.

(2008). Ethnography as method, methodology, and ‘deep theorizing’. Written Communication, 25, 353–388.

43.

Lincoln

Y.S.

Guba

E.G.

(1985). Naturalistic inquiry. London: Sage.

44.

Louhiala-Salminen

(1996). The business communication classroom vs. reality: What should we teach today? English for Specific Purposes, 15(1), 37–51.

45.

Lung

(2008). Discursive hierarchical patterning in Law and Management cases. English for Specific Purposes, 27, 424–441.

46.

Macro

Curle

Pun

(2018). A systematic review of English medium instruction in higher education. Language Teaching 51(1), 36–76.

47.

Maes

J. D.

Weldy

T.G.

Icenogle

M. L.

(1997). A managerial perspective: Oral communication competency is most important for business students in the workplace. Journal of Business Communication, 34(1), 67–80.

48.

Melzer

2009. Writing assignments across the curriculum: a national study of college writing. College Composition and Communication, 61, 240–261.

49.

Moore

Morton

(2005). Dimensions of difference; a comparison of university writing and IELTS writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 4, 43–66.

50.

Rallis

S.F

Rossman

G.B.

(2009). Ethics and trustworthiness. In Heigham

Croker

R.A.

(Eds.), Qualitative research in applied linguistics: A practical introduction (pp. 263–287). Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.

51.

Robles

M.M.

(2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75, 453–465.

52.

Schneider

Andre

J. A.

(2005). University preparation for workplace writing: An exploratory study of the perceptions of students in three disciplines, Journal of Business Communication, 42(2), 195–218.

53.

Sharp

M.R.

Brumberger

R.E.

(2013). Business communication curricula today: Revisiting the top 50 undergraduate business schools. Business Communication Quarterly, 76, 5–27.

54.

Stowers

R. H.

White

G. T.

(1999). Connecting accounting and communication: A survey of public accounting firms. Business Communication Quarterly, 62(2), 23–40.

55.

Trinder

(2013). Business students’ beliefs about language learning in a university context. English for Specific Purposes, 32, 1–11.

56.

Walford

(2009). For ethnography. Ethnography and Education, 4, 271–282.

57.

Watson-Gegeo

K.A.

(1988). Ethnography in ESL: Defining the essentials. TESOL Quarterly, 22, 575–592.

58.

Zhu

(2004). Writing in business courses: An analysis of assignment types, their characteristics and required skills. English for Specific Purposes, 23, 111–135.