Developing a profile of the ESP needs of Iranian students: The case of students of nursing and midwifery

The aim of conducting this study was to investigate the foreign language learning needs of undergraduate medical sciences students studying in faculties of nursing and midwifery in Iran. A total of 681 undergraduate students as well as 168 subject-specific instructors and 6 EFL instructors participated in the study, which was designed on a qualitative-quantitative survey basis using interviews and questionnaires. Extensive qualitative and statistical analysis of the data revealed that most of the students perceived that they needed to master the foreign language before they attended their specialized courses because they needed to use Persian and English sources to study their subject. Over one-third of the students expressed their dissatisfaction with the number of students in each class, with the teaching methodology used, the method of evaluation, and the amount of foreign culture taught in the class and content of the textbook. Equally, the subject-specific instructors' responses revealed total dissatisfaction with their students' language skills.It can be inferred that this course does not fully prepare the students to embark on their studies because it does not sufficiently take into account their (1) learning needs, (2) present level of foreign language proficiency, (3) objectives of the course, (4) resources available in terms of staff, materials, equipment, finances and time constraint, (5) the skill of the teachers and the teacher's knowledge of the specific area.