EMP Needs of Medical Undergraduates in a Saudi Context

Needs analysis (NA) is an information gathering process (Nunan 1988) that is executed to identify the learners reasons for learning a language so that they might be taught the relevant teaching materials. This study was undertaken at College of Medicine and Medical Sciences (CMMS), Taif University during the academic year 2008 to identify English for Medical Purposes (EMP) needs of the medical undergraduates. Multiple methods of data collection such as exploratory interviews, observations and a questionnaire were used to find out their linguistic needs and the data were triangulated to validate the findings. The findings offered significant insights in selecting suitable course contents to teach English to freshmen medical undergraduates of CMMS. It has been reported that 1) the students lacked the required level of English language proficiency, 2) they needed reading and speaking skills more than others and 3) the data analysis also helped identify the most important language tasks in the context of CMMS. Both populations; the faculty members and the medical undergraduates, recommended that English contact hours should be increased and that EMP should be emphasized more instead of EAP to prepare the learners for their medical studies