First-year Non-English-major Students' Attitudes Towards the General English Course in the College of Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59743/Keywords:
Non-English-major students, General English (GE), Attitudes, College of Education, Omar Al-Mukhtar University (OMU)Abstract
This research paper sought to examine the attitudes of first-year students who are not majoring in English toward the required university General English course at the College of Education, Omar Al-Mukhtar University. A quantitative research design was employed, utilizing a structured questionnaire with six parts as dimensions regarding the course in particular and the English language in general, to explore the attitudes of the selected sample of 170 students, with 85 from each major who were randomly chosen from nine different departments coming from science- and arts-related major secondary schools. The findings revealed that overall attitudes toward the GE Course were positive among all participants, emphasizing its importance for current majors and future careers. However, gender-related differences in attitudes were reported, with female students having more positive attitudes than male students. As a result, these recommendations should be taken seriously for better general English course learning, and they are as follows: improving the learning environment, addressing prior educational experiences, and introducing GE Course 2 at the second-year level. Further research is needed to survey the case of English learning at schools, particularly secondary schools, to understand and investigate the factors affecting these attitudes and performance differences.
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