Teaching and learning of English as a foreign language is not only challenging, but using English as medium of instruction is also crucial. When it comes to the places where English in not a lingua franca (a link language), the challenges simply double and both the teachers and learners face many problems due to the fact that the target subject (biology) is difficult and the medium of teaching (English) is also not easy. Teaching of English as a subject as well as a medium of instruction (teaching) in the Gulf region in general and Saudi Arabia in particular catches attention of many researchers and scholars especially when the issue is particularly related to poor achievement. Teaching of English at preparatory level (foundation year) at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah serves two purposes: first, it lays and strengthens the foundation of general English that they carried forward from schooling. Second, the learners are made proficient in English during the foundation year so that they can pursue their specialties later. Despite the fact that English in Saudi Arabia is generally taught at school levels also, the achievement is far below the expectations from the viewpoint of English teachers at Biological/medical/health related subjects. Moreover, 'Englishes' at these departments are known as specific, and teaching/learning is somewhat different from the context of general English. Therefore, the present article is intended to explore the teachers' perception and factors contributing to the difficulties in learning general as well as specific English. In addition, it focuses on sort of remedial teaching required to prepare the students at biology department.

—'An international language belongs to its users, not to the countries whose national languages have become internationalized' (Edge 1992). With an ever increasing number of L2 users it is time we rewrote the description of the place of English among world languages. All types of interactions, more particularly between nations, are through English, for a reason no other than the fact that it is the only language in which non native users can possibly communicate. It is the language of science, technology and business apart from being significant in political or diplomatic dialogues. English Language has come to be owned by all people in the world of work. Saudi Arabia is no exception. Almost a hundred years on Saudi schools, colleges and universities teach English with primary and genuine concern. Still, just like non-native learners in other non-English speaking countries, Saudi learners also confront many problems in their English Language acquisition. This study is a humble effort to bring out the major barriers and problems that Saudi students face while learning English; it proposes remedial measures for the said barriers and problems. In this study, the researcher has tried to focus on the teaching methodologies and learning atmosphere prevalent in Saudi English classrooms.

ABSTRACT: The present study aimed to investigate the teaching-learning challenges students face in the Preparatory Year Program (PYP) at Taif University from instructors' and students' perspectives. The first two questions were concerned with the instructors’ and students’ extent of agreement on the challenges students face while learning English in the preparatory year at Taif University from students’ and instructors’ points of view. The third question tried to answer whether there were any statistically significant differences at ( a = 0.05) between instructors’ and students’ responses due to the five domains of teaching-learning challenges. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data related to the first two questions, and Independent t-test was used to answer the third question. The findings of the first question showed that the fifth and the first domains include most of the teaching-learning challenges facing Taif University students in the Preparatory Year P...

An international language belongs to its users, not to the countries whose national languages have become internationalized’ (Edge 1992). There is no doubt in the fact that English is the only language which can be used by non native speakers to communicate with each other. It is called as the language of science, technology and business and Saudi Arabia is no exception. English is being taught in the kingdom for almost a hundred years but still like other non native learners, Saudi learners also face many problems in language acquisition. This article discusses the history of how English language was introduced in the education system of the Kingdom, it’s present position in the Kingdom as well as the problems faced in teaching this language to the Saudi students and how they could be dealt with. Keywords: ELT, Saudi Arabia, Education System, Pedagogy.

The aim of this study is to make the process of learning English as a foreign language in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in line with the students' own preferences and to make teachers recognize their students' preferences in this regard. In order to look at the teaching process from students' perspective, a survey was conducted using a set of two questionnaires across various secondary schools in the southern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Through the first questionnaire, 288 students from different levels of the secondary schools were asked to express their preferences for learning English, and through the second one, 28 teachers responsible for teaching English to the same selection of students were asked to state their opinion about the interest of their students in the learning process. The data, thus acquired, pin point a number of areas in which there is a need for further agreement among the students and teachers. It also gives teachers the opportunity to reorganize their teaching strategies and reshape the classroom activities in accordance with the students' preferences.

The article is devoted to the questions connected with teaching English to students of nonlinguistic specialties. For example, teaching professionally focused reading and writing scientific articles and organization of listening on professional topics. In these cases, as it is mentioned teacher must choose teaching materials carefully and very often use discursive analysis. The methods used in the article are questionnaire and observation. The main purpose of the article is to correlate results of the questionnaire which was connected with expectations of foreign language course and which was done by the first-year students of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology and some features of teaching "English for specific purposes" which can help to satisfy expectations. Materials of the article can be useful for university foreign language teachers during elaboration of "English for specific purposes" course.

—This study basically aimed at identifying the problems of teaching and learning English in the high schools of Isfahan, Iran. The data needed for the study were extracted from the standardized questionnaires given to 200 randomly selected students from the high schools of Isfahan and their English teachers constituting the two groups of participants in this study. The instruments used to gather the data were two closed questionnaires, one for the students and the other one for the teachers. The questions included in the questionnaires covered some major problems on the part of the students, teachers, textbooks, teaching methods, and the tests. To analyze the data and specify the problems, the chi-square test was applied. The test was performed to see if the differences among the proportions of the participants who chose different responses to the same questions were significant. Through the statistical analysis of the results, numerous problems regarding the teachers, the learners, the textbooks and the methods were revealed, such as: teachers do not use teaching aids during teaching, school libraries are not well equipped to be of service for the learners of English, classrooms are poor in terms of facilities and physical conditions, the teachers do not teach in English, the English textbooks are not suitable for the students' level of proficiency, and the Ministry of Education does not honor the hard-working teachers, and many more. To remove the problems to the extent possible, some suggestions were provided. Index Terms—City of Isfahan, high schools, Iran, problems of teaching and learning English