French-educated IEP students' perceptions of their English learning experience in Lebanese high schools

Abstract

Lebanon represents one of the many countries that use the English language in its curriculum; it is used as either the first foreign language and the medium of instruction in schools, or the second foreign language after French. In both cases, English is being taught to students for a minimum of seven years, but still, many students take intensive English courses to reach an acceptable level of proficiency. Based on this fact, this case study which is interested in French-educated Lebanese students, aims to understand the reason behind the learners need for intensive English courses. This thesis looks at the students experience of learning the English language as a third language after Arabic and French in high school, taking into consideration the students perspectives. A total of twenty students from the Intensive English Program at the targeted university completed a questionnaire about their English learning experience at school, and eleven students volunteered to participate in a focused-group interview that aimed to get thorough information about the matter. The results drawn from the questionnaires and the focused-group interview lead to blame schools for the poor performance those students presented in their entrance exams. According to the students points of view, their schools did not take the English language sessions seriously and treated them as an extra obligatory subject in the curriculum. As a result, students felt bored during the English session, indifferent, and careless about their results.