Like all other students, the Saudi Arabia students leave their homes to pursue knowledge and their self-enrichment. My research project seeks to find out their aspirations, experience in school and their outcome while going through the English learning as a part time course. In this study, I will be focusing on the following key thesis points:
- The first point to research will be the reason why the students chose to pursue English learning in the first place. The student having been of Islamic background means that English is not their native language but Arabic is. However, these students have decided to continue pursuing this language. It is vital to note that English is a more widely used language than Arabic, but both of the languages are internationally acceptable. In this paper, I will seek to find out the infrastructure that has been laid out to facilitate the learning of English in the colleges, which Saudi Arabia students have gone through or attended. So it is significant to query the students with the background information they have on their college of choice, why they preferred it and what it seeks to offer them that is not available in other colleges.
- The students are pursuing the English learning as a part time course for a given purpose; it is vital for my research to find out what this purpose is. In my view, for the research to be conclusive and detailed it must offer reasons as to why the subject in question is important and in what ways it will impact the society. The students have a reason of going way out of their comfort zone to pursue it; so what is the reason behind their pursuit of this knowledge? The reasons may vary a lot, and since the views of different students cannot be all similar. The responses that will be found here will create a diversified opinion of the students alongside comprehending human behaviors; since all humans have different tastes and preferences that prompt them to set actions. In this instance, the action is the pursuit of English learning and the preference for it is what I will be finding out.
Hypothesis
Most of the Saudi nationals who are enrolled in the U.S. universities and colleges within the Washington D.C district do this in order to access job opportunities that are available in the U.S and the other part parts of the world. This observation also applies to those Saudi nationals who are funded by the Saudi embassy and live within the Washington D.C district. English happens to be one of the languages that are spoken in many parts of the world. Therefore, this would be the driving force behind the Saudi nationals that pursue a degree in the U.S. In addition, availability of job opportunities in the U.S contributes to the need of these students to learn English and pursue a degree in this nation. Such an approach is aimed at ensuring that they blend efficiently with the American culture in relation to the language of communication, which is English. In addition, learning English is significant in enabling these students understand courses such as economics, leadership and history, which they pursue in the U.S. colleges.$
Anticipated Methodology
The methodology that will be used in this research is one that adheres to the hypothesis mentioned above; that is to say that the answers will be guided by the hypothesis and will stick to the laid out structure given below.
Survey: The study focuses on Saudi nationals who are enrolled in the U.S. universities and colleges alongside, including those who are funded by the Saudi embassy, and who pursue degrees in the U.S. institutions. Rosters that are found in the embassy will be used in identifying these groups through the aid of officials in the embassy who are concerned with statistics on population. This will be significant in evaluating the population size of the study group. This technique of population selection provides an efficient mechanism of analyzing data as it provides a high level of specificity. Furthermore, random samples will also be used in the survey. This is because it is not possible to interview all Saudi national who live in the Washington D.C district. As such, random sampling will be used to select few students who will be needed to take part in the study. This will be conducted in a careful manner so as to ensure that the issue of external validity is addressed. Non-random samples often lead to the reduction of the external validity, which can affect the accuracy of a study’s results in a negative way (Shouhong 2013). Moreover, sampling will be done so as to enable the limited number of questionnaires be distributed in a manner that represents the entire population of Saudi nationals who live within the Washington D.C area as students. The following techniques will be utilized:
- Questionnaires will be handed out to students who will take part in the study. They will be needed to answer the questions asked based on their opinions so that accurate results can be obtained.
- A semi structured system of interviewing: This implies that the set of questions asked will not be rigorous. Thus, interviewees will be given room for diverting to other issues. As such, this method will be utilized so as to ensure new ideas are brought up during the interview and the flow of ideas is effective to the point that the desired qualitative interview is achieved. Previous literature materials will be reviewed and considered in the evaluation of the study. This is to provide the research process will both first hand and second hand information.
Methodology: The information will be gathered then analyzed; the sample to be used in the survey will be picked at random. There will be a total of forty people involved in the sampling survey, which are in the methods of coming up with first-hand information. The forty students will be diversified across different institutions.
Possible Limitations: some of the sampled participants might fail to cooperate, or some might give information that is not accurate, this is a major step back in that it will hinder the coming up of quality data.
Conclusion: the research will come up with new information that is applicable and that will be utilized in finding out the reasons why Saudi Arabia students prefer pursuing English learning in future cases.
References
http://www.phd-dissertations.comwww.phd-dissertations.com/proposal.html > retrieved on 14th September, 2013.
What a student says (2013): <http://www.esl.gatech.edu/overview/what-students-say> retrieved on 14th September, 2013.
Shouhong, W; Hai, W. (2013). A General Structure of Applied Design Research Studies. Proceedings for the Northeast Region Decision Sciences Institute, 4(1) 645-653
Student profiles (2013): <http://www.miis.edu/academics/language/programs/intensive-college-english/studentprofiles> retrieved on 14th September, 2013.
