A study on students' needs in learning English for pharmacy (A starting point to design innovative syllabus)

Abstract

This study aims to discover the needs of pharmacy students as an input to design an ESP syllabus. The needs analyses were conducted by distributing questionnaires to and interviewing the respondents. The responses were analyzed based on a comprehensive concept of need analysis proposed by Dudley-Evans and St. John. The findings showed that most students consider themselves poor in vocabulary and weak in speaking, listening, writing, and pronunciation. Hence, it is crucial to improve their skills to enable them from communicating effectively with foreign patients and avoiding misunderstanding which may happen when interacting with foreign patients. Therefore, developing an appropriate ESP syllabus for pharmacy course could be possibly developed based on these findings and the theory of material development.

English for Pharmacy Department Student in a Private University in Indonesia: A Need Analysis

“…The research implied that the course fit ESP learning in the pharmacy department. Other research reported the vast challenges in teaching English to pharmacy students, from the teachers' knowledge gap in the pharmaceutical field, big classes, and students' lack of English ability and resources (Solihati & Rahayu, 2020). The research also stated that students mostly learn in middle school and extensively try to improve their English skills independently from various sources.…”

“…Solihati & Rahayu (2021) stated that the English course covers all areas of English language content. This course cannot be replicated if the teachers do not have adequate knowledge of pharmaceutical terms, as it is one of many problems the teacher faces (Solihati & Rahayu, 2020). Research on higher pharmacy students' needs analysis suggested creating ESP for pharmacy syllabi focused on a certain aspect of academic and developing speaking skills applicable to pharmacy students' future jobs (Poedjiastutie, 2017;Solihati & Rahayu, 2020;Suwandi & Wafa, 2020).…”

“…Experience shows that teaching English for pharmacy as one of the English for Specific Courses presents some challenges (Solihati & Rahayu, 2020). The teachers need to deal with a new field of knowledge, students' lack of English ability, big classes, limited resources, and incomplete syllabus from the department.…”