Abstract
ABSTRACT The primary focus of this study is to identify the problems that handicap the application of ESP courses for the departments of applied sciences at the Faculty of Education-Gaser Ben Ghashir by investigating a number of points which are related to students of science (such as: their English proficiency level, needs, motivation and attitudes toward language learning), the existing courses' objectives and content, the language teachers' qualifications and their preparation, teaching materials and methods in use, and the evaluation system. In order to capture a holistic understanding and obtain a clear picture of these points, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods was used to collect data. These data collection instruments were two questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations. The content validity and clarity of the questionnaires were tested before being administered and completed by forty-six science students and eight language teachers while the semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven subject specialists from the target departments. Two classroom observations also took place in two different English classes. The quantitative data collected from the questionnaires was analyzed by means of the descriptive statistics in terms of percentages and frequencies using two computer software programs (SPSS and Microsoft excel) while the qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The findings obtained from the study asserted that there is a number of problems encounter the application of ESP courses for the scientific specialties at the Faculty. A part of these problems is administrative and the other part is pedagogical. The administrative problems include the following: the large heterogeneous classes due to the limited number of language teachers and classrooms, the incompatibility between the current courses' objectives and time assigned to cover them, the improper classification of English courses' objectives in the scientific departments, the lack of appropriate audio-visual aids and language labs, the non-availability of ICTs, the lack of ESP training programs and the absence of collaboration between English teachers and subject specialists. The pedagogical problems encompass the lack of well-prepared and qualified ESP teachers, the use of traditional methods instead of modern ones, the lack of relevant specific teaching materials due to the absence of a proper analysis of students' needs, the inadequate evaluation system, and the students' low English level. On the other hand, the results revealed that students' motivation and their attitudes toward language learning are not among the pedagogical problems. Based on the findings, a set of recommendations has been emerged to overcome these problems. Key words: ESP courses, sciences, Education, application, administrative, pedagogical.