Challenges Art Students Face When Learning and Using English

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to get a deeper insight into the difficulties that university arts students face when using and learning English in and out of college. Arts students of the Department for Applied and Visual Arts and Department for Music Art at the Faculty of Philology and Arts, Kragujevac University were asked to rate the challenges they face in the areas of English speaking and listening, reading and writing, vocabulary and grammar and to identify their previous experiences of using English, their beliefs about foreign language learning in general, and techniques how they overcome difficulties they face. The instrument was a questionnaire in which some questions were analyzed quantitatively and others qualitatively. Students reported the lack of opportunities to practice English, (un)pleasant previous experiences and beliefs about individual success in language learning. Apart from the abovementioned, translating professional terminology and information for their subjects and seminar papers poses a challenge for them as well.