Needs Analysis of English for Specific Purposes for Health Sciences Students: A Cross-Sectional Study at a University in the U.A.E.

This paper presents findings from a needs analysis survey to determine the extent to which the current English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course for healthcare students meets the needs of this population. A structured questionnaire was shared with the students (N=180) from different healthcare departments to examine the preferability of different aspects. Many participants gave great value to ESP courses whose importance was mainly to learn medical or pharmaceutical terminology and communicative skills. Yet, the participants preferred the conversational content over the grammatical one. Most participants perceived the four English skills as important. The overall conclusion shows that the main objective of an ESP course is language fluency to be able to communicate and achieve any requirement in their career. Moreover, the study shows that the conventional methods of assessment are less preferred and that students prefer assessments where teamwork is involved. They also preferred to receive the learning materials via online or technological methods, and they preferred class activities and audio/video aids. Yet, a great number did not prefer using an English Language Laboratory. Finally, most of them agreed that being in a mostly English-speaking community at the university is convenient to enhance their communication skills in English.