Conclusion
Answering the research questions, it could be said that
Tunisian university science students are aware of the importance of English,
which made them suggest innovative measures to be taken to promote the learning
of it. Concerning the use of
English, it was proven interesting viewing to the absence of
encouragement from parent and educators. Therefore, much of students'
exposition to English comes from informal contexts such as technology and
contact with foreigners.
Chapter Five: Conclusion
5.0. Introduction
This chapter is going to contain the major findings of the
research in addition to the contribution and the limitations of the study, the
suggestions for other research, and some recommendations.
5.1. Major findings
The purpose of this study is to investigate the value of
English, as it perceived by Tunisian university science students. In order to
do so, two research question were asked:
1. What is the perception of Tunisian university science
students of English?
2. What are the domains of English use according to them?
As far as students' perception of English, it was found
paradoxically that they are aware of its value, especially in professional
life, but they made no moves towards mastering it. This fact could be explained
by the availability of French and the lack of efficient administrative measures
to promote learning English. This situation resulted in the fact that students
do not value English much in the education sphere even though they are aware of
its position in the world in science and technology.
Additionally, what is informative is that students felt the
need to adopt some new and creative methods in teaching English with more
exposure through English clubs and increasing teaching hours. A surprising
finding is that students lack the interest in learning English, as they feel
not motivated to do so mainly because of French availability but also because
they would like to be taught differently in a different «informal»
learning environment. However, concerning the prospect of adopting English in
teaching science, they proved to be accepting the idea to the detriment of
French and Arabic, which is interesting as a finding.
As to the use of English among Tunisian university science
students, this language was found to be creeping in spite of the persistent
dominance of French, which could be explained by the increasing dependence of
certain entertainment activities and academic ones on English. It is clear they
have begun to make the switch in their use of electronic and technological
devices.
5.2. Contribution of the study
All of the stated findings could contribute to the enrichment
of knowledge about the issue of the perceived value of English especially as it
suggests some recent statistics about the particular situation of Tunisian
university science students. One of the most interesting findings of this
research is that despite French domination over students' leisure activities
and education, English is gaining importance in their use. The importance of
this work also lies in the investigation of the real obstacles that are
inhibiting science students from mastering English, which are mainly French
availability, discontent with the teaching pedagogy, and lack of investment (in
terms of time and money). Moreover, suggesting feasible and especially
acceptable measures, from the part of students, to promote learning English is
another interesting finding of this paper. Concerning this matter, it was found
that more exposure to English whether formally (more allocated time for
teaching English) or informally (English clubs) is one of the most efficient
measure to enable students to increase their level in English. 5.3.
Limitations of the study
This work encompasses certain limitations mainly because of
resorting only to 100 participants. In fact, the small number of the target
population does not allow drawing real generalisations about all Tunisian
science students.
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