Education Journal

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To What Extent does a University Level English Program Meet Workplace Demands

Received: 03 May 2013    Accepted:     Published: 10 June 2013
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Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an English language program offered at the tertiary level in the Turkish EFL context. It specifically aims at evaluating whether the program meets job-related demands and graduates are able to maintain their English proficiency level at work. 122 senior electronics and computer engineering majors and 57 graduates participated in the study. The seniors were given a questionnaire to elicit their ideas about usefulness of the ELT program in their future careers. The questionnaire administered to the graduates aimed at obtaining their ideas about the English program and language skills they need/use at work. Each group was given a questionnaire to elicit their ideas about the English Program with respect to four language skills. To see the match between the ideas and the TOEFL scores of both the seniors and graduates for each skill, TOEFL scores were compared with the data obtained from the questionnaires. Moreover the TOEFL scores of the senior students and graduates were compared to see if graduates were able to keep their English skills at work. The data was analyzed and the responses of senior students and graduates were compared by using one-way ANOVA, and the TOEFL scores by t-test statistics. The results indicated that the English program generally meets the job-related English needs and graduates are able to increase their English proficiency. Finally the role of language program evaluation in language education and how it is to be carried out are discussed.

DOI 10.11648/j.edu.20130203.17
Published in Education Journal (Volume 2, Issue 3, May 2013)
Page(s) 98-107
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Language Program Evaluation, English Education, Job-Related Language Demands

References
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    Ali Işık. (2013). To What Extent does a University Level English Program Meet Workplace Demands. Education Journal, 2(3), 98-107. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20130203.17

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    Ali Işık. To What Extent does a University Level English Program Meet Workplace Demands. Educ. J. 2013, 2(3), 98-107. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20130203.17

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    Ali Işık. To What Extent does a University Level English Program Meet Workplace Demands. Educ J. 2013;2(3):98-107. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20130203.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.edu.20130203.17,
      author = {Ali Işık},
      title = {To What Extent does a University Level English Program Meet Workplace Demands},
      journal = {Education Journal},
      volume = {2},
      number = {3},
      pages = {98-107},
      doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20130203.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20130203.17},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20130203.17},
      abstract = {The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an English language program offered at the tertiary level in the Turkish EFL context. It specifically aims at evaluating whether the program meets job-related demands and graduates are able to maintain their English proficiency level at work. 122 senior electronics and computer engineering majors and 57 graduates participated in the study.  The seniors were given a questionnaire to elicit their ideas about usefulness of the ELT program in their future careers. The questionnaire administered to the graduates aimed at obtaining their ideas about the English program and language skills they need/use at work. Each group was given a questionnaire to elicit their ideas about the English Program with respect to four language skills. To see the match between the ideas and the TOEFL scores of both the seniors and graduates for each skill, TOEFL scores were compared with the data obtained from the questionnaires. Moreover the TOEFL scores of the senior students and graduates were compared to see if graduates were able to keep their English skills at work. The data was analyzed and the responses of senior students and graduates were compared by using one-way ANOVA, and the TOEFL scores by t-test statistics. The results indicated that the English program generally meets the job-related English needs and graduates are able to increase their English proficiency. Finally the role of language program evaluation in language education and how it is to be carried out are discussed.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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    AU  - Ali Işık
    Y1  - 2013/06/10
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    JF  - Education Journal
    JO  - Education Journal
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    AB  - The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an English language program offered at the tertiary level in the Turkish EFL context. It specifically aims at evaluating whether the program meets job-related demands and graduates are able to maintain their English proficiency level at work. 122 senior electronics and computer engineering majors and 57 graduates participated in the study.  The seniors were given a questionnaire to elicit their ideas about usefulness of the ELT program in their future careers. The questionnaire administered to the graduates aimed at obtaining their ideas about the English program and language skills they need/use at work. Each group was given a questionnaire to elicit their ideas about the English Program with respect to four language skills. To see the match between the ideas and the TOEFL scores of both the seniors and graduates for each skill, TOEFL scores were compared with the data obtained from the questionnaires. Moreover the TOEFL scores of the senior students and graduates were compared to see if graduates were able to keep their English skills at work. The data was analyzed and the responses of senior students and graduates were compared by using one-way ANOVA, and the TOEFL scores by t-test statistics. The results indicated that the English program generally meets the job-related English needs and graduates are able to increase their English proficiency. Finally the role of language program evaluation in language education and how it is to be carried out are discussed.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 3
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