أثر برنامج مقترح للغة الانجليزية لأغراض خاصة علي تنمية بعض المهارات اللغوية لدي طلاب معاهد التمريض

                                                                      

Faculty of Education                                                                          University of Sadat City

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

 

 ملخص بحث من رسالة ماجستیر

بعنوان

" أثر برنامج مقترح للغة الانجلیزیة لأغراض خاصة علی تنمیة بعض المهارات اللغویة لدی

طلاب معاهد التمریض"

 

Summary of The Research entitled:

“The Effectiveness of an ESP Program in Developing some Language Skills for Students of Nursing Institutes”

 

Prepared by

Sarah Salah Mohsen Naga

An English Language Instructor at Menofiya University

 

 

 

2018

 

Introduction:-

 

    English Language is an international Language. It is widely used by several people; the number of people who use English Language is increasing in recent years and is steadily fast, because it helps to reach an important professional status and scientific mission in every sphere of daily national activities of life such as politics, international relations, media, communications, education, scientific and technological innovations.

    English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is one type of English courses designed to meet the specific academic or professional needs of learner. Each curriculum is centered on the language and culture specific to the field, while teaching grammar, vocabulary, and study skills. ESP is broken down into branches; English for Science and technology, English for Business and Economics, English for Medicine and English for Nursing. ESP is defined in different ways; Celik (2003, p.16) defined ESP as "an approach that uses needs assessment as the foundation for curriculum development and differs from general English in terms of the students themselves, the nature of students’ needs, the instructional objectives, and syllabi". Another definition is introduced by Harding (2007,p.6) who defined ESP as "an approach in which the purpose for learning the language is paramount and relates directly to what the learner needs to do in their vocation or job".

     Also, Hutchinson and Waters (1987:p.2) defined ESP as "an approach rather than a product, by which they meant that ESP didn’t involve a particular kind of language, teaching, material and methodology". They suggested that ESP is centered on the language (grammar, lexis, and register), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities.

   For a relatively long time, students are studying for different professions more or less General English, which was not always very helpful when used in real-life situations of different areas of specialty, such as engineering, tourism, science, medicine, nursing, and so on. With time, developments in language theory indicated the need for paying more attention to individual learners. This realization together with a growing demand for English courses tailored to students’ specific needs led to the emergence of English for specific purposes(ESP) in the late of 1960s (Hutchinson&Waters,1994). This area proved to be fertile ground, and so ESP has undergone rapid development in recent decades. 

    Similarly, Hutchinson & Waters (1994: p.6) noted that "two key historical periods breathed life into ESP. First, the end of World War two brought with it “an age of enormous and unprecedented expansion in specific, technical and economic power activity on an international scale… for various reasons, most notably the economic power of the United States in the post-war world, this role of international language fell to English”. Second, "the Oil Crisis of the early 1970s resulted in western money and knowledge flowing into the all-rich countries. The language of this knowledge became English". 

    Nowadays, ESP is still a distinguished part of EFL teaching. Respectively, the importance of the ESP for the international communications can be based on the consideration of English as the language of science, technology, politics, nursing, and so on. (Johns& Dudley-Evans, 1991).

   As a result of English has been the main language of international communication, which has become an integral part of most modern professions. To be able to communicate successfully in English, students of different professions are thus taught ESP, whose overriding characteristics are “the sense of purpose and the sense of vocation”, Harding (2007:p.6). These characteristics predominantly focus on what students will need in their working environments, or as Harding (2007:p.6) puts it: “ in ESP-English for Specific Purposes- the purpose for learning the language is paramount and relates directly to what the learner needs to do in their vocation or job”.

Classification of ESP:-

     This section introduces and explains the many abbreviations that have been used in describing ESP, terms such as English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Occupational purposes (EOP). ESP has traditionally been divided into two main areas according to when they take place. The classification is generally presented in a tree diagram in figure (1) adopted from (Robinson, 1991, p. 4). Also, there is another division of ESP can help focus English courses to meet students' actual academic demands and establish learning priorities. On the other hand, the categorization of ESP divides into EAP and EOP according to discipline or professional area. Figure (2) illustrates Johns and Price-Machado's (2001) classification of ESP categories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            Figure (1): ESP classification by experience

 

		Pre – Experience
	EOP	Simultaneous/In-Service
		Post- Experience
ESP					Pre- Study
		For Study in Specific Discipline			In- Study
					Post- Study
	EAP
				Independent
		As a School Subject
				Integrated

                         

                             

Source: Robinson (1991, p. 4).

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure (2): Classification of ESP Categories                                                                         

English for Specific Purposes

English for Academic Purposes (EAP)

English for Occupational Purposes (EOP)

Vocational ESL (VESL)

English for Professional Purposes (EPP)

English for the Law (ELP) (Academic

English for Science and Technology (EST) (Academic)

English for Medical Purposes (EMP) (Academic

English for Business and Economics (EBE) (Academic)

English for Business           Purposes (EBP)

English for Medical Purposes (EPP)

                        Source: Johns and Price-Machado (2001, p. 44).

Characteristics of ESP:

     English has been the main language of international communication, which has become an integral part of most modern professions. Moreover, Harding (2007,p:6) states that “to be able to communicate successfully in English, students of different professions are thus taught ESP, whose overriding characteristics are the sense of purpose and the sense of vocation”. 

      These characteristics predominantly focus on what students will need in their working environments, or, as Harding (2007: p.6) puts it: “in ESP – English for Specific Purposes – the purpose for learning the language is paramount and relates directly to what the learner needs to do in their vocation or job”. 

     The large number of different professions has brought about the need for ESP specialisms, all of which share some common characteristics, such as specific needs, technical specialized vocabulary and documentation, specialized texts and interaction, an identifiable working environment, and so on Harding (2007:p.6). The characteristics of ESP according to Harding (2007) can be summarized as follows:

A) Absolute Characteristics:-

  1. ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners.

 2. ESP makes use of underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves.

  3. ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse and genre. 

B) Variable Characteristics:-

 1. ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines.

 2. ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of General English. 

3. ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be for learners at secondary school level.

4. ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students.

5. Most ESP courses assume some basic knowledge of the language systems.

      (Dudley-Evans, 1988) offered the definition of ESP that is clearly influenced by (Strevens, 1988), although he has improved it substantially by removing the absolute characteristic that ESP is "in contrast with 'General English'" (Johns et al., 1991: p.298), and has revised and increased the number of variable characteristics. The division of ESP into absolute and variable characteristics, in particular, is very helpful in resolving arguments about what is and is not ESP.

      According to the definition, one can see that ESP can but is not necessarily concerned with a specific discipline, nor does it have to be aimed at a certain age group or ability range. ESP should be seen simple as an 'approach' to teaching, or what Dudley-Evans describes as an 'attitude of mind'. Such as view echoes that of Hutchinson et al. (1987:p.19) who states that "ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner's reason for learning". Also, an ESP program Mazdayasna (2008: p.277-289) differs from general English language courses in the following characteristics:-

 

1. ESP programs use materials that are specially designed to meet the needs of a specific group of learners.

 

1. The English themes, topics and the subjects matter are all related to particular field.

 

1. ESP program use authentic work-specific documents and materials.

 

1. Tuition for an ESP program course may be somewhat higher than a general English language course.

 

    The English for specific purposes is composed of two streams; English for Professional Purposes (EPP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Professional Purposes (EPP) focuses on the development of job-specific English language skills for those who seek to enter or advance in their professions. English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Gillett (2016; 530-546) is a branch of ESP in that the teaching content is matched to the requirements of the learners. It is also considered to be ESP if one takes Richard (2001) features which are usually thought of as being criteria to ESP courses. These are as follows:

   First, ESP is goal directed- the students are not learning the English language for the sake of it, because they need to use English. EAP students are usually current higher education students or they are hoping to go to higher education after their EAP course. They need to learn English in order to succeed in their academic careers.

   Second, ESP courses are based on a needs analysis Belcher (2006; 133), which aims to specify as closely as possible exactly what it is that students have to do through the medium of English. One important feature of EAP courses Hossein Ashtraian (2015; 1682) is the close attention that is paid to students' aims and what they plan to study. The first stage in any EAP and ESP course is to find out exactly why the students are learning English and therefore what language and skills they will need. On the other hand, ESP learners tent to be adults rather than children. They are over 18 and they will have made a difficult decision to study in an English medium university.

   English for Nursing Purposes:-

     English for nursing is a relatively recent specialty within the field of English for specific purposes. It focuses on the specific ways in which nurses, in contrast to doctors and other health care professionals and paraprofessionals, use English both in the clinical setting as well as in nursing education. Although in recent years numerous textbooks have been published in English for nursing, most of them focus on the clinical setting and are intended for internationally educated nurses who are seeking to enter the workforce in “ Inner Circle”   countries (Kachru:  1985), such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. More significant, but also less recognized, are the large numbers of English as a second language (ESL) immigrant and, to a lesser extent, international students in Inner Circle countries who identify nursing as their major in two and four year colleges and universities.

      Many of these students do not make it through the prerequisite courses, and those who do often encounter difficulty succeeding once they are in nursing programs. Various needs analyses have been conducted to determine the objective, subjective, and learning needs of immigrant and international students in undergraduate- degree nursing programs (Bosher 2006;  Bosher and Smalkoski 2002;  Hansen 2010;  Hussin  2008 ). These needs analyses have identified various issues that create challenges for ESL nursing students: personal, academic, discipline - specific, cultural, and language. The results of these studies have led to the development of courses and materials in English for nursing (Bosher 2006, 2008, 2010).

     So,English is very important to nursing students for several reasons; English makes students be able to continue their study, also most of nursing materials are studying in English, and most of diseases' names are in English. So, English helps nursing students in their career as nurses to be able to communicate with doctors in their field and also deal with reports, diseases, drugs, and prescriptions.

    Unfortunately, nursing students at Menofiya Institute of nursing encounter several problems. Most of them cannot express their intentions or communicate in English. They cannot easily read a text or comprehend it. They copy similar words and sentences to respond to text-based questions.

   To document this, the researcher conducted a pilot study. She prepared a needs questionnaire. The bindings revealed that listening skill (29.8%) was the first skill students' needs followed by reading skill (27.7%), writing skill (22.3%) and speaking skill (20.1%). So, the language skills they needed more are listening and reading skills than writing and speaking skills.

The English Language Skills needed by Nursing Students are listening and reading skills:-

1-   Listening Skill:-

     Listening skill is one of the receptive skills, (Alder, 2001:1-10) stated that listening skill was to receive, understand verbal and non-verbal messages and also to communicate with the surrounding environment that focus on the individual’s ability to perceive, understand spoken messages and self-confidence. Students earn vocabulary, semantics and improve self-evaluation in academic situation.

      Moreover, listening and interpersonal skills can be defined broadly as “those skills which one needs in order to communicate effectively with another person or a group of people” Rungapadiachy (1999, p.193).  Although there is some variation in the literature over the exact skills that qualify under this heading (Chant, Jenkinson, Randle and Russell, 2002), most authors (e.g. Rungapadiachy, 1999; Hargie and Dickson, 2004; Hargie, 1997; Hayes, 2002) tend to agree on a number of core areas in which competency is essential for effective interpersonal interactions.

2-   Reading skill:

      Reading skill is one of the receptive skills, (Hinson;2000) stated that reading includes both the interpretation and understanding of the meanings of words and texts. There are different types of reading; skimming, extensive, scanning, intensive, exploratory, analytic and critical, to understand words and texts in order to acquire the knowledge and experiences fluently. Dictionary definition of “reading comprehension” is the ability of perceiving a written text in order to understand its contents. Therefore, reading comprehension has become the essence of reading Dreyer & Nel (2003:p.349).

Statement of the Problem:

The problem of the study can be stated in the fact that nursing students' level was poor in listening and reading skills and they needed to develop such skills. That is why the current study attempted to develop an ESP program to help students develop their listening and reading skills.

Research Questions:

This research attempted to answer the following questions:

 

1-   What are the necessary skills for nursing students?

 

2-   What is the effectiveness of the ESP program in developing nursing students' listening skills and its sub-skills?

 

3-   What is the effectiveness of ESP program in developing nursing students' reading skills and its sub-skills?

           Research Aims:-

          This research aimed to:-

1-    Identify English language skills which needed for nursing students' specialty and their career.

 

2-     Investigate the effectiveness of ESP in developing listening and reading for nursing students at Menofiya University.

Research Hypotheses:-

1-   There is no statistically significant difference between the study group's mean scores in pre-post listening skill test on overall skills and sub-skills.

2-   There is no statistically significant difference between the study group's mean scores in pre-post reading skill test on overall skills and sub-skills.

Participants of the Study:

Respondents to the needs analysis questionnaire included:

1-   Students were chosen at random from First year students enrolled in Nursing Technical institute, during the first semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. They were treated as one group.

Design of the Study:

      The researcher adopted the quasi-experimental one group pre-posttest design as it is appropriate to nature of the study.

Delimitations of the Study:

The present study was delimited to:

                 1.        First Year students enrolled in Nursing Institute, Menofiya University.

                 2.        First semester of the 2017-2018 academic year.

                 3.        Some language skills:

a-    Listening skill and its sub-skills; gist to get the main idea in the oral text, details and information in the text, determining meaning of unfamiliar words in the text, predicting what is going on to happen later.

b-    Reading skill and its sub-skills; skimming to get the main ideas in the passage, details in the reading text, deducing/ inferring meaning from context, taking notes while reading the text, predicting for the coming events.

   Instruments and Materials of the Study:

   The instruments included a needs analysis questionnaire and a listening and reading skills test. In addition, the researcher designed an ESP program. The program consisted of three parts; each part consisted of some units and lessons to be dealt with one session weekly for ten weeks. The program included a teacher's guide and a CD of the listening tracks of the program.

 Procedures of the Study:

To conduct the current study, the following steps were taken:

 

1-    Reviewing the literature and the previous studies related to an ESP program, listening and reading skills.

 

2-   Preparing the instruments of research: a questionnaire and a listening and reading test for nursing students.

 

3-   Submitting the instruments to non-specialists students to decide the suitable and validity of these instruments.

 

4-   Designing an ESP program consisted of objectives, contents, teaching methods, activities and evaluation.

 

5-   Choosing the sample research from the First year of Nursing Institute students.

 

6-   Applying the pre-posttest on the sample of research.

 

7-   Applying an ESP program on the sample of research.

 

8-   Applying the post-test on the sample of research.

 

9-   Analyzing and interpreting the results.

 

             10-Providing conclusions and recommendations for the future researches based on the results of study.

 

     Research Definitions:

     English for Specific Purposes:-

    Flowerdew and Peacock (2001; p.177) defined ESP as "approach included to meet learners' specific needs in particular disciplines; it employs a specific different methodology from GE as it focuses on some activities in a particular area of study with its special discourse, semantics, syntax…..etc". Also, Richard (2001; p.53) defined ESP as "special instruction materials were to be devised to meet the learners' particular technical purposes when working and studying in English-medium academic and professional context. Any design of an ESP course, therefore, needs to tailor-made and goal-oriented while keeping in mind the learners' specific needs". 

 

  The researcher adopted Richard's definition; as an instructional program to teach ESP for nursing students and meet their needs.

   Needs Analysis (NA):

     Needs analysis is defined differently by researchers, Blecher (2006; 133) defined NA as "reflects necessities, wants and needs of learners in their subject area", stated that "an essential feature of ESP design is to effectively analyze learners' needs to ensure successful learning and teaching experience. ESP course developer, therefore, should immense themselves in analyzing students' needs before designing their courses".

 

   The researcher adopted Blecher's definition; as a process that helps to know scientific and linguistic needs for nursing students and meet their language skills needs.

Listening Skill:

    Alder (2001) defined listening as the ability to receive, understand verbal and non-verbal messages and also to communicate with the surrounding environment that focus on the individual's ability to perceive, understand spoken messages and self-confidence. Students earn vocabulary, semantics and improve self-evaluation in academic situation.

 

   The researcher adopted Alder's definition; to develop of listening words, sentences, and texts in English language. Also, to distinguish several different voices, understand words, sentences and respond to the questions that measure the extent of the students' understanding.

Reading Skill:

   Hinson (2000) defined reading as the interpretation and understanding of the meanings of words and texts. There are different types of reading; skimming, scanning, intensive, exploratory, analytic and critical, to understand words and texts in order to acquire the knowledge and experiences fluently.

 

    The researcher adopted Hinson's definition; to develop reading words, sentences and texts of the English language for nursing students at Menofiya University to become able to understand the relations, cognitive and scientific experience and respond to questions that measure the extent of students' comprehension of text.

Related Studies:   

   Sue (2009) implemented an English for specific Purposes design for English listening and speaking for students in hospitality fields, accompanied by an educational inquiry into its implementation in a bid to hold accountability to the course takers. The subject was 82 juniors and seniors at national hospitality college in southern Taiwan. Questionnaire, achievement tests and classroom observation were research instruments in the inquiry. The statistical evidences of the study have demonstrated the effectiveness of the ESP listening and speaking course. This ESP class, characterized by a synthesis of language-oriented, skills-oriented and learning-oriented approaches to ESP syllabus design is harvested with fruitful achievements: incremental gain in their ESP content knowledge and skills (the outcome of the language-oriented syllabus), strengthening the ability of searching for and organizing information for conduction English presentations (the outcome of the skill-oriented syllabus) and, above all, the achievement in cooperative team spirit build up (the outcome of the learning-oriented syllabus).

 

   Wu and Badger (2009) addressed ESP teachers' strategies for dealing with unpredicted problems in subject knowledge during class. They investigated this issue by investigating the teaching practices and cognitions of three teachers of maritime English in a college in China, and in particular how they respond to unpredicted situations in-class where their subject knowledge is limited what we call "In class Subject Knowledge Dilemma" (ISKD) situations, in six lessons, they identified five episodes where the teacher had to deal with an unpredicted issue related to subject knowledge. The strategies that the teachers used when dealing with these episodes can be described in terms of avoidance or risk taking. The teacher believed that the occurrence of such unpredicted problems reflected poorly on their competence as teachers but that strategies they adopted meant that the lesson proceeded smoothly and allowed them to maintain their students' respect as experts in the field.

 

    Liu,et al(2011) conducted a study with the purposes of exploring English as a foreign language (EFL) college students' needs in English for General purposes (EGP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP/EAP) courses in terms of their perceptions of three subcategories of needs, necessities, wants, and lacks and reasons for students' course enrollment. A questionnaire was administered to 972 EFL students from six universities in Taiwan. The results showed that students had different perceptions of necessities, wants, and lacks in the different language skills taught in EGP/EAP courses. The findings also demonstrated discrepancies between the students' perceptions of needs and the actual courses they took, thereby highlighting the importance of understanding needs as a complex, multiple, and conflicting concept. Finally, factors that determined students' enrollment in EGP courses included necessities, short-term, and long-term goals while enrollment in ESP/EAP courses depended more on job relevancy. Implications for language instructors and curriculum designers are discussed.

 

   Wootipong (2014) conducted this study to determine the purposes which is 1) to develop the listening skill of university students studying English with the use of video materials and 2) to evaluate students' attitudes towards the use of video materials in teaching listening skills. The study was conducted over 20 teaching periods. The one-group pretest-posttest design was implements in this study. The instruments used in this study were lesson plans, English comprehension tests (pretest and posttest) and a questionnaire of the students' attitude. Regarding the data analysis, mean, percentage, and t-test scores for the dependent sample were employed. The result included that the students' English listening comprehension ability increased significantly after learning with videos and students had positive attitudes towards using videos in teaching listening skill.

 

     Bozorgian &Pillay (2013) investigated the effectiveness of teaching listening strategies delivered in L1 (Persian) and its effect on listening comprehension in L2. Five listening strategies: guessing, inferences, identifying topics, repetition, and note-taking were taught over 14 weeks during a semester. A pre and post listening test made by a group of experts in the language institute assessed the effect of teaching listening strategies delivered in L1. Results gathered on the post intervention listening test revealed that listening strategies delivered in L1 led to a statistically significant improvement in their discrete listening scores compared with the control group.

 

    Chang &Read (2008) investigated how four forms of listening support (pre-teaching of content and vocabulary, question preview, and repeated input) affect the anxiety levels of college students in Taiwan taking a multiple-choice achievement test, which counts for their final grade in a required listening course. The instruments were a general listening anxiety questionnaire, short measures of task anxiety given just before and after the test, and post-test interviews. Prior the test, the test-takers were uniformly anxious but afterwards, there were significant differences in anxiety according to type of support and level of proficiency. A three-way interaction effect indicated that no single factor accounted for the changes in the learners' listening anxiety. It is concluded that strategy instruction may enhance the effectiveness of support in listening tests.

 

   Amin el al (2011) investigated the correlation between EFL students' strategic listening and their listening comprehension skills. Eighty secondary school students participated in this study. Participants' strategic listening was measured by a strategic listening interview (SLI), a strategic listening questionnaire (SLQ) and a strategic listening checklist (SLC) with think-aloud protocol. Their listening comprehension skills were measured by an EFL listening comprehension test. A Pearson correlation analysis was run to test the correlation between strategic listening and listening comprehension test scores. The findings revealed that the relationship between strategic listening and listening comprehension was positive and significant. The higher the level of strategic listening these students obtained, the higher the score they attained on the listening comprehension.    

 

    Mazdayasna and Tahririan (2008) conducted a study to investigate the foreign language learning needs of undergraduate medical sciences students studying in faculties of nursing and midwifery in Iran. A total of 681 undergraduate students as well as 168 subject-specific instructors and 6 EFL instructors participated in the study, which was designed on a qualitative-quantitative survey basis using interviews and questionnaires. Extensive qualitative and statistical analysis of the data revealed that most of the students perceived that they needed to master the foreign language before they attended their specialized courses because they needed to use Persian and English sources to study their subject. Over one-third of the students expressed their dissatisfaction with the number of students in each class, with the teaching methodology used, the method of evaluation, and the amount of foreign culture taught in the class and content of the textbook. Equally, the subject-specific instructors' responses revealed total dissatisfaction with their language skills. It can be inferred that this course does not fully prepare the students to embark on their studies because it does not sufficiently take into account their 1) learning needs, 2) present level of foreign language proficiency, 3) objectives of the courses, 4) resources available in terms of staff, materials, equipment, finances and time constraint, 5) the skill of the teachers and the teacher's knowledge of the specific area.

    Bosuwon and Woodrow (2009) implemented a needs analysis underlying a proposed business English reading course using a problem-based learning approach designed to enhance English reading abilities of Thai undergraduate students.  As part of a work in progress, the needs analysis survey was done prior to the course design with the major stakeholders in business and academic settings. The findings from the needs analysis were used to determine the course's learning objectives, content and the evaluation so that the needs of the students who are English for business communication majors of the School of Humanities, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce could be met. Based on this needs analysis, it is proposed that the problem-based business English reading course might be effectively designed as an ESP course to enhance English reading ability of Thai undergraduate students.

 

Conclusions:-

Reviewing literature and related studies, the researcher attempted to conclude the following:-

1-   The literature considered in this review has drawn attention to the importance of English for specific purposes (ESP) in developing listening and reading skills.

2-   Literature and related studies contributed to the study's aims and hypotheses.

3-   There are no studies, as for as the researcher knows, conducted on receptive skills.

4-   The literature and related studies guided the researcher to conduct several questionnaires according to the procedures and steps of ESP programs.

5-   Using needs analysis to determine the needs of nursing students in English language is very important.

6-   The current study conducted two questionnaires; one of them was for English language specialists and the other one was for nursing specialists.

7-   According to the results of questionnaires, the researcher designed the pre-posttest in light of their views.

8-   The researcher figured out the points of weakness and strength of the nursing students and designed the program that might help nursing students develop their listening and reading skills.

Results of the Study:

    In light of the statistical analysis of the current study, the following results were revealed.

1-      There was a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the study group's mean scores on the pre-post listening skill test. This indicates that the first hypothesis was completely rejected reflecting the fact that the study group achieved significant improvement in listening skill and its sub-skills. Thus, the suggested program proved to be effective in enhancing the experimental group.

2-      There was a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the study group's mean scores on the pre-post reading skill test. This indicates that the second hypothesis was completely rejected reflecting the fact that the study group achieved significant improvement in reading skill and its sub-skills. Thus, the suggested program proved to be effective in enhancing the experimental group.

 

Discussion:-

     The discussions are related to the purposes as well as the hypotheses of the current study.

1-   Discussion of the Results related to the First Hypothesis of the Study:-

     According to the first hypothesis, the results revealed that a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the study group's mean scores on the pre-post listening test. This indicates that the first hypothesis was completely rejected reflecting the fact that the experimental group achieved significant improvement in listening skill and its sub-skills. Thus, the suggested program proved to be effective in enhancing the study group.

    Program's content was interesting and appealing to students. The listening tracks met students' needs in their specialty as nursing students. They were listening to unfamiliar words several times and used them during the sessions and in activities. Also, they were listening to the abbreviations and definitions that are related to their field. Finally, they recognized how to get the main idea in the oral text, and predict what is going on to happen later in the oral text.

   Activities on listening were interesting and encouraging them to interact freely without tension. Moreover, working in pairs or in groups motivated them to listen and benefit to each other.

   They made conversations after listening to the tracks; these conversations were encouraging them to develop their receptive skills.

    In addition, teacher modeling, guidance and corrective feedback functioned significantly in developing Nursing students' receptive skills-listening and reading skills.

2-   Discussion of the Results related to the Second Hypothesis of the Study:-

     According to the second hypothesis, the results revealed that a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level study group's between the mean scores on the pre-post reading test. This indicates that the second hypothesis was completely rejected reflecting the fact that the study group achieved significant improvement in reading skill and its sub-skills. Thus, the suggested program proved to be effective in enhancing the study group.

Program's content was interesting and appealing to students. The reading texts met students' needs in their specialty as nursing students. The reading texts included unfamiliar words and students used them during the sessions and in activities. Also, the contexts included the abbreviations and definitions that are related to their field. Then, they took notes while reading the text. Finally, they recognized how to get the main idea in the passage, and predict for the upcoming events in the passage.

   Activities on reading were interesting and encouraging them to interact freely without tension. Moreover, working in pairs or in groups motivated them to listen/read and benefit to each other.

   The role play, games, and conversations which they played and made as activities on reading texts; these activities encouraged them to develop their receptive skills.

In addition, teacher modeling, guidance and corrective feedback functioned significantly in developing Nursing students' receptive skills-listening and reading skills.

 Conclusion:

Based on the results of the study, the following points were concluded:

   The experimental group showed significant development in listening and reading skills. It can be concluded that the ESP program proved to be effective in enhancing the experimental group students' listening and reading skills.

   Before conducting the experiment, it was apparent that most of the students had difficulty dealing with listening tracks and reading texts. These skills, in particular, listening skill were neglected in their specialty. Students were lacking in such skills needed to successfully use them in English and in their field. They lack the ability to understand and recall what they were listening to. Additionally, they were unable to pronounce correct words or definitions to explain the abbreviations, to give and ask for information, to take part in sessions' discussion or to ask and answer.

   Therefore, after being exposed to the ESP program, students of the experimental group made significant improvement in listening and reading skills. Their improvement might be attributable to using the ESP program which was designed to meet the students' specific needs. In addition, teacher guidance and corrective feedback might have enhanced students' receptive skills.

   The results of the current study are consistent with previous literature and related studies which pinpointed that ESP programs based are effective in developing students' receptive skills-listening and reading skills.

  

To sum up, it is concluded that:

 

1-   The ESP program was effective in developing Nursing students' receptive skills-listening and reading skills.

2-   Teacher modeling, guidance and corrective feedback functioned significantly in developing Nursing students' receptive skills-listening and reading skills.

Recommendations:

   In light of the results of the current study, the following recommendations are given:

1-    Although the current study is small in scale, it shows the process of needs analysis should be addressed and viewed as increasingly important in the development of English language programs.

2-    The suggested ESP program is recommended to be implemented in teaching receptive skills-listening and reading skills- to nursing students.

3-    More attention should be paid to receptive skills-listening and reading skills- as they are very important for nursing students. That is why they have to master what they are going to use in their future study and career. More time should be devoted to these skills in the English language program.

4-    Several audios and CDs dealing with different medical topics for nursing students should be provided by EFL specialists.

5-    EFL University instructors should provide students with opportunities to practice receptive skills in pairs or in groups.

6-    EFL University instructors should be acquainted with the new methods and strategies in teaching receptive skills. Besides, they should be trained to use them.

Suggestions for Further Research:

In light of the results and the recommendations of this study, the following suggestions for further research are purported:

1-    An investigation of the effectiveness of the ESP program in developing Nursing students' oral communication skills and reducing their apprehension.

2-    An investigation of the effectiveness of blended learning in developing Nursing students' listening and reading skills.

3-    An investigation of the effectiveness of the ESP program in developing productive skills-listening and reading skills- for students of the Nursing Institutes.

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