English Language Level in Relation to Academic Achievement Among Undergraduate Medical Sciences Students at Karary University, Sudan 2014

بسم اهلل الرحمن الرحيم

English Language level in Relation to Academic Achievement among Undergraduate Medical Sciences Students at Karary University, Sudan 2014

Husam El-Din Babikr Osman Babikr

BDS-University of Science and Technology Faculty of Dentistry (2005)

A Dissertation

Submitted to the University of Gezira in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Sciences

Health Professions Education) HPE)

Education Development and Research Centre

Faculty of Medicine University of Gezira

May2015

English Language level in Relation to Academic Achievement among Undergraduate Medical Sciences Students at Karary University, Sudan 2014

Husam Eldin Babikr Osman Babikr

Supervision Committee:

Name Position Signature

Professor . Magda ELhadi Ahmed Main Supervisor ………………………………………

Dr.Wail Nuri Osman Co -Supervisor ………………………………………

Date16 /6/2015

English Language level in Relation to Academic Achievement among Undergraduate Medical Sciences Students at Karary University, Sudan 2014

Husam Eldin Babikr Osman Babikr

Examination Committee:

Name Position Signature

Professor Magda ELhadi Ahmed Chairman ………………………………………

Dr.Tahra AL-sadig AL-siddig AL-mahdi External Examiner ………………………………………

Professor . .Ali Babikir Ali Habour Internal Examiner ………………………………………

Date of Exam 16/6/2015

Declaration of Authorship and Agreement to Disseminate Knowledge*

I, the undersigned, Hereby declare that all of the work submitted in this MSc dissertation is my own work from the proposal, questionnaires designed, data survey, analysis, presentations to discussion and conclusions drawn. This work is made true throughout to in its' final shape under the kind guidance and supervision of my advisors Professor.Magda El-Hadi and Dr. Wail Nuri contribution is expected to be added by the external and internal examiners where appropriate. Nothing of this report has been previously submitted or being accepted for a degree or a diploma in the University of Gezira or elsewhere.

To the best of my knowledge and belief, any material cited or coated from a scientific source is documented in accordance with the University of Gezira guidelines of bibliographic citation in the Thesis / Dissertation Format.

Assistance and contributions of individuals, colleagues, and students is acknowledged where appropriate, I apologize for any un-intended omissions.

I fully agree to have this dissertation to be subject to be used according to the norms and terms set by the Deanship of Graduate Studies and the Library regulations of the University of Gezira.

Husam Eldin Babikr Osman Babikr

May 2015

Dedication

I dedicate this research to my family especially my mother (my first teacher) for their unlimited andunconditioned support

My wife for her great support and patience

My colleagues and friends

My Students of Karary University

My colleagues and staff of EDC faculty of Medicine University of Gezira

My supervisors Professor. Magda ELHadi Ahmed and Dr. Wail Nuri

Aknowledgements

My sincere gratitude and appreciation to professor. Magda El Hadi Ahmed, the supervisor of this research, for her unlimited support.

Many thanks for Dr.Wail Nuri the co supervisor for his valuable assistance and insights leading to do this research.

This study was made possible by the contributions of a number of colleagues:

 The administration of Karary University.  Deans and registrars of facultiesof Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy at Karary University.  Dr. Alaa Abulgasim Head Department of Public Health faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine for her useful hints.  All staff and students of the facultiesof Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy at Karary University for cooperating so readily in the conduct of the study.  The teams of data collectors who ensured complete and accurate data were gathered as far as possible.  Data entry and analysisstaff in the S,C,U, Statistics department, School of Mathematics, University of Khartoum for their part in consistency checking, validating and analyzing the data. Special thanks in particular to Ms. Sara Madani.

English Language level in Relation to Academic Achievement among Undergraduate Medical Sciences Students at Karary University, Sudan 2014

Husam Eldin Babikr Osman Babikr Master of Science in Health Professions Education Education Development and research Centre Faculty of Medicine – University of Gezira

ABSTRACT

Determinants of student performance have attracted the attention of academic researchersfrom many areas. They have tried to determine which variables impact student performancein positive and negative direction. Language has been proven to beone of the most important factors in international students’ academic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between English language proficiency and academic achievement of undergraduate students in Sudan. A cross sectional survey was obtained including 275 students was selected from a cluster among Karary University students, from faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy second, third, fourth, and fifth year students.Inside the stratified cluster systemic random selection was done,self administered questionnairewith content analysis were used as a research instruments, to collect information regarding their English language levelmeasured by the English Language marks the student obtained from his/her final high school exam, first and second university semesters and academic achievement measured by the student’s GPA from the current university level.Gathered data were analyzed using SPSS® version 18,Data were analyzed using Pearson Correlation coefficient to examine the degree of relationship between English language level and academic achievement. T test analysis was used to correlate between demographic data and academic achievement at confidence level of 95%. Linear Regression Analysis was also used to determine the impact of English language level on students overall academic achievement at confidence level of 95%.The results revealed that English language level has a significant weak positive relation with their academic achievement, also there is a significant but weak impact of English language proficiency on student’ academic achievement, which suggests that there are other factors, in addition to English language proficiency, that affect students’ academic performance. Based on these findings, it is recommended to give a special attention to the students’ preparation for post secondary studies, improve students’ study skills and the overall factors that determine students’ academic achievement.

Keywords: English language proficiency, Academic achievement, undergraduate students, Sudan

عالقة مستوى انهغة اإلوجهيزية بانتحصيم األكاديمي نذى انطالب انجامعييه بانعهوو انطبية بجامعة كرري. انسودان 4102

حساو انذيه بابكر عثمان بابكر ماجستٌر العلوم فً تعلٌم المهن الصحٌة مركز تطوٌر التعلٌم الطبً والبحوث كلٌة الطب - جامعة الجزٌرة - السودان مهخص انذراسة

نقذ اجرذتد يحذداخ أداء انطانة إَرثاِ انثاحثٍٛ األكادًٍٛٛٚ يٍ انعذٚذ يٍ انًُاطق. نقذ حأنٕا ذحذٚذ انًرغٛزاخ انرٙ ذؤثز فٙ انرحصٛم األكادًٙٚ نهطانة فٙ اإلذجاِ اإلٚجاتٙ ٔانضهثٙ. ٔقذ ثثد أٌ انهغح ٔاحذج يٍ أْى انعٕايم فٙ انرحصٛم األكادًٙٚ نهطالب األجاَة. كاٌ انٓذف يٍ ْذِ انذراصح ْٕ انرعزف عهٗ انعالقح تٍٛ إجادج انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح ٔانرحصٛم األكادًٙٚ نهطالب انجايعٍٛٛ فٙ انضٕداٌ. ذى انحصٕل عهٗ انًضح انًقطعٙ يٍ تٍٛ 572 طانثا ذى اخرٛارْى يٍ تٍٛ يجًٕعح يٍ طالب جايعح كزر٘، يٍ كهٛح انطة، طة األصُاٌ، انصٛذنح نهفصٕل انذراصٛح انثاَٛح ٔانثانثح ٔانزاتعح ٔ انخايضح. داخم انًضرعًزج يرعذدج انطثقاخ ذى اإلخرٛار تطزٚقح عوٕايٛح َظايٛح، ٔأصرخذو اإلصرثٛاٌ انذاذٙ يع ذحهٛم يحرٕٖ انًقزر كأدٔاخ نهثحث، ذى جًع انًعهٕياخ انًرعهقح تًضرٕٖ انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح تقٛاس درجاخ انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح انرٙ ذحصم/ذحصهد عهٛٓا انطانة فٙ اإليرحاٌ انُٓايٙ نهوٓادج انثإَٚح ، تاإلضافٙ نذرجح انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح فٙ كم يٍ انفصٕل انذراصٛح انجايعٛح األٔل ٔ انثاَٙ ٔ انثانث ٔ انزاتع ٔ انخايش ، ٔانرحصٛم انذراصٙ انذ٘ ٚقاس تانًعذل انرزاكًٙ نهطانة يٍ انًضرٕٖ انجايعٙ انحانٙ. ٔقذ ذى ذحهٛم انثٛاَاخ انرٙ ذى جًعٓا تاصرخذاو تزَايج اإلحصاء ®SPSS انُضخح 81، ٔقذ ذى ذحهٛم انثٛاَاخ تاصرخذاو يعايم ارذثاط تٛزصٌٕ نذراصح درجح انعالقح تٍٛ يضرٕٖ انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح ٔانرحصٛم انذراصٙ. ذى اصرخذاو ذحهٛم اخرثار T نهزتظ تٍٛ انثٛاَاخ انذًٕٚغزافٛح ٔانرحصٛم انذراصٙ فٙ يضرٕٖ ثقح 52٪. ذى اصرخذاو ذحهٛم االَحذار انخطٙ أٚضا نرحذٚذ أثز يضرٕٖ انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح عهٗ انرحصٛم انذراصٙ انعاو عُذ يضرٕٖ ثقح 52٪. ٔكوفد انُرايج أٌ يضرٕٖ انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح نذّٚ عالقح إٚجاتٛح ْايح نكُٓا ضعٛفح تعض انوٙ يع ذحصٛهٓى األكادًٙٚ ، ٔأٌ ُْاك ذأثٛز ْاو ٔنكُّ ضعٛف إلجادج انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح عهٗ انرحصٛم انذراصٙ نهطانة، يًا ٕٚحٙ تأٌ ُْاك عٕايم أخزٖ، تاإلضافح إنٗ إجادج انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح ، ذؤثز عهٗ األداء األكادًٙٚ نهطالب. ٔتُاء عهٗ ْذِ انُرايج، فًٍ انًضرحضٍ أٌ ٚعطٙ اْرًايا خاصا نهطالب اصرعذادا نذراصاخ يا تعذ انثإَ٘، ٔذحضٍٛ يٓاراخ انذراصح نذٖ انطالب ، ٔانعٕايم انعايح انرٙ ذحذد انرحصٛم األكادًٙٚ نذٖ انطالب.

كهًاخ انثحث: إجادج انهغح اإلَجهٛزٚح ، انرحصٛم انذراصٙ، انطالب انجايعٍٛٛ، انضٕداٌ

Table of contents

Content Page Numbers Declaration III

Dedication IV

Acknowledgement V

Abstract in English VI

Abstract in Arabic VII

Tableof Contents VIII

List of Tables XI

List of Appendices XIII

List of abbreviations XIV

Chapter One: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 General introduction 1 1.2 Rationale 3 1.3 Research questions 4 1.3.1Main Research Question 4 1.3.2Sub Question 4 1.4 Objectives 4 1.4.1 General Objectives 4 1.4. 5Specific Objectives 5 Chapter Two: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Introduction 6 2.2 linguistic skills and ability to learn 7 2.3 Testing English language proficiency 7 2.4 English language in Sudan 7 2.5 The curriculum of medical sciences faculties at Karary University 9 2.6 English language courses of medical sciences faculties at Karary 9 University

2.7 English language as a medium of instruction in medical sciences faculties 10 of Karary University 2.8 Early Language Learning 10 2.9 Bilingualism and cognitive skills 11 2.10 English language and academic performance 11 Chapter Three: MATERIALS AND METHOD 14

3.1 Study Design 14 3.2Questionnaire development and validation 15 3.3 Study Area 15 3.4 Study Population 15 3.5Study duration 16 3.6Variables understudy 16 3.7 Exclusion criteria 16 3.8Data collection 16 3.9Data analysis 16 3.10 Ethical considerations 16 3.11Plan of dissemination 17 3.12What the study would add 17 Chapter Four: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 18

4.1Results 18 4.1.1Demographic data 18 4.1.2The Relationship between English Language level and academic 21 Achievement of students 4.1.3The relationship between demographic data and academic achievement 23 of students 4.1.4English language level as a predictor to academic achievement 26 4.2 Discussion 27 4.2.1Introduction 27 4.2.2 Study Limitations 27 4.2.3 Results Discussion 28 4.2.3.1Demographic data 28 4.2.3.2The relationship between English Language level and academic 29 achievement of students 4.2.3.3The relationship between demographic data and academic achievement 30 of students 4.2.3.4English language level as a predictor to academic achievement 31 Chapter Five: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 32

5.1 Conclusions 32

5.2 Recommendations 34 5.2.1General recommendations 34 5.2.2 Specific recommendations 35 5.3 References 36 5.4 Appendices 40

List of Tables

Table Page Number

Table 1.Gender of participants 18 Table 2.The College to which the participants belong 18

Table 3. Type of admission of participants 19

Table 4. Desire of participants to be admitted to the corresponding 19 college Table 5. Type of high school certificate of participants 20

Table 6. Residence of participants 20

Table 7. English language level of students in high school 21

Table 8. English language level of students in semester 1 21

Table 9. English language level of students in semester 2 21

Table 10. Academic achievement of students represented by GPA 22

Table 11. English language grade of semester 1 and the academic 25 achievement ( GPA) Table 12. English language grade of semester 2 and the academic 55 achievement (GPA) Table 13. English language grade of high school and the academic 23 achievement (GPA) Table 14. English language grade of high school and the academic 23 achievement (final percent of high school)

Table 15.The Correlation between number of family members of 24 student and academic achievement(GPA) Table 16.The correlation between type of admission and academic 24 achievement (GPA)

Table17.The correlation between residence and academic 25 achievement (GPA) Table 18. The correlation between gender and academic 25 achievement (GPA) Table19.The correlation between desire on admission and academic 25 achievement (GPA) Table20.The correlation between the type of high school certificate 26 and academic achievement (GPA)

List of appendices

Number Title Page Number 1. Questionnaire in English 40 2. Questionnaire in Arabic 42

List of Abbreviations

GPA: Great Point Average

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language

ACTFL: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

ESP: English for Espe cial Purposes

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 General Introduction Sudan is a multilingual country dominated by Sudanese Arabic. Approximately 114 languages are native to Sudan. More than 500 accents are spoken throughout all of Sudan. Sudanese Arabic is the most widely spoken language in the country. It is the variety of Arabic spoken throughout northern Sudan. It has much borrowed vocabulary from the local languages (El Rotana). This has resulted in a variety of Arabic that is unique to Sudan, reflecting the way in which the country has been influenced by both African and Arab cultures. Some of the tribes in Sudan still have similar accents to the ones in Saudi Arabia. Other important languages include Beja (AKABedawi) along the Red Sea, with perhaps 2 million speakers; Tigre is another language spoken by some Beja Tribes Fur in the west (Darfur), with perhaps a million speakers; and the various Nubian languages along the Nile in the north, with half a million or so speakers. The most linguistically diverse region in the country are the Nuba Hills in Kordofan, inhabited by speakers of multiple language families, with Darfur and the Ethiopian-border regions being second.

Beja is the sole Cushitic language in Sudan. Arabic is Semitic, the Niger–Congo family is represented by many of the Kordofanian languages, and Indo-European by Domari (Gypsy) and English. Historically, Old Nubian, Greek, and Coptic (Egyptian) were the languages of Christian Nubia, and Meroitic the language of the Kingdom of Kush which conquered Egypt.

Sudan also has multiple regional sign languages, which are not mutually intelligible. By 2009 a proposal for a unified language had been worked out, but was not widely known.The 2005 constitution designated Arabic and English as the official languages of Sudan.Article 8:

1. All indigenous languages of Sudan are national languages and shall be respected, developed and promoted. 2. Arabic is a widely spoken national language in Sudan. 3. Arabic, as a major language at the national level and English shall be the official working languages of the national government and the languages of instruction for higher education. 4. In addition to Arabic and English, the legislature of any sub-national level of government may adopt any other national language as an additional official working language at its level. 5. There shall be no discrimination against the use of either Arabic or English at any level of government or stage of education

English language is considered as the language of instruction not only at Karary University medical sciences faculties but also in most of the Sudanese medical sciencesfaculties.

Language proficiency or linguistic proficiency referred to: the ability of an individual to speak or perform in an acquired language (Wikipedia, 2012).According to Blagojevich, Ruizand Dunn (2004), English language proficiency: English language learners’ communicationinformation, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of socialstudies.Limited English proficient student is defined as a student whose first language is alanguage other than English who is unable to perform ordinary classroom works in English(Driscoll, 2003). The definition of English language proficiency adopted in this study is theability to perform the classroom works in English.As theories among pedagogues as to what constitutes proficiency go, there is little consistency as to how different organizations classify it. Additionally, fluency and languagecompetence are generally recognized as being related, but separate controversial subjects. In predominant frameworks in the United States, proficient speakers demonstrate both accuracy and fluency, and use a variety of discourse strategies. Thus, native speakers of a language can be fluent without being considered proficient. Native-level fluency is estimated to be between 20,000–40,000 words, but basic conversational fluency might only require as little as 3,000 words.

Academic achievementis the outcome of education referred to: the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals(Wikipedia, 2012). Academic achievement is commonly measured by examinations or continuous assessment

17 but there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects are most important — procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge such as facts.

Linguistic Intelligence is a part of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory that deals with an individual's ability to understand both spoken and written language, as well as their ability to speak and write themselves. In a practical sense, linguistic intelligence is the extent to which an individual can use language, both written and verbal, to achieve goals. In addition to this, high linguistic intelligence has been linked to improveproblem solving, as well as to increasedabstract reasoning.

In many cases, only the verbal aspects are taken into consideration. This is usually referred to as verbal intelligence or verbal fluency, and is commonly a reflection of an individual's overall linguistic intelligence.

1.2 Rationale:

To grasp knowledge during learning process there should be an adequate standard of linguistic skills to understand the information delivered and to express yourself in English language. Where English language is the language of instruction, for those students whose English language is not their mothers’ tongue they may find it challenging to learn as well as those fluent English language speakers. As a preliminary study indicates, students at undergraduate studies in Sudan may face difficulty to success academically concerning their English language skills.

Therefore, in the view of this discrepancy, there is a need to investigate the correlation between English language level and academic achievement of Sudanese undergraduate students, especially in medical sciences and whether English language can be used as a predictor of the overall academic achievement of them or not.

1.3 Research questions:

1.3.1Main Research Question: Is there is a correlation between English language level and academic achievementamong undergraduate students of medical sciences students at Karary University?

1.3.2 Sub Question: Does English language level predict the academic achievement of undergraduate students of medical sciences students at Karary University?

1.4 OBJECTIVES

1.4.1 General Objective:

The objectives are to:

1. To study the correlation between English language level and academic achievement of medical sciences students at Karary University. 2. To assess whether English language level can predict the academic achievement of medical sciences students at Karary University or not.

1.4.2 Specific Objectives

1. To determine the grades of English language in the final exam of high school, first and second semesters of university study. 2. To determine the language of instruction of student’s high school curriculum. 3. To determine the academic achievement of the student, represented by the GPA of the current University years. 4. To compare between English language level and academicachievementof the students.

5. To compare between number of family members of students regarding their academic achievement. 6. To compare betweenstudents of public and private admissionregarding academicachievement. 7. To compare between students living with their families and those not living with their families regarding their academic achievement. 8. To compare between males and females regarding academicachievement. 9. To compare between students desired or not to study the corresponding facultyregarding academicachievement. 10. To compare between students of Sudanese high school certificate and those of Arabic certificateregarding their academic achievement.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction:

Determinants of student performance have attracted the attention of academic researchers from many areas. They have tried to determine which variables impact student performancein positive and negative direction (Haydar&Uyar, 2011). Language has been proven to be one of the most important factors in international students’ academic performance (Chen &Sun,nd.). In Sudan the first formal language is Arabic language, while English language is considered as the second language. English language is considered as the main language of instruction in many Medical Sciences Institutes in Sudan. Indeed, identifying the factors most closelyrelated to academic success and the impact of English on the academic performance, hassignificance for the international education community as a whole, for individual institutionsof higher learning and, of course, for the students themselves (Fox, Chen, Berman, Song andMyles, nd). With the increasing number of international students travelling to well-developed countriesfor higher education, research has increasingly begun to focus on these students’ academicacculturation to their new learning environments. In 2003 to 2004, a huge number of international students were enrolled in U.S.universities and colleges. They not have become important financial resources for U.S highereducation institutes only, but also have contributed to U.S research development. Such anentry has without doubt raised researchers’ interests in international students’ academicperformance and adjustment problems. Scholars have studied possible factors associated withforeign students’ academic achievement. Specifically, language has been proven to be one ofthe most important factors in international students’ academic performance (Chen &Sun,nd.).

2.2linguistic skills and ability to learn

Many conducted studies correlate between linguistic skills and the ability to learn, they concluded that the former enhances the ability to learn.Stewart, J. H. (2005) stated that: Educators and policy makers in many countries have been expressing concern about how to improve students' achievement in reading and math. This article explores and proposes a solution: introduce or increase foreign language study in the elementary schools. Research has shown that foreign language study in the early elementary years improves cognitive abilities, positively influences achievement in other disciplines, and results in higher achievement test scores in reading and math. Successful foreign language programs for elementary schools include immersion, FLES, and FLEX programs.

2.3 Testing English language proficiency

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) distinguishes between proficiency and performance. In part, ACTFL's definition of proficiency is derived from mandates issued by the US government, declaring that a limited English proficient student is one who comes from a non-English background and "who has sufficient difficulty speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language and whose difficulties may deny such an individual the opportunity to learn successfully in classrooms where the language of instruction is English or to participate fully in our society."

English language proficiency is ideally measured using standardized international tests such as IELTS, TOFEL … etc, which tests the main four language skills, namely reading, writing, speaking and listening, but in this study the author used the English language grades of the final high school exam, first and second university semesters because of its feasibility not validity or reproducibility. For this reason the term English language level was used instead of English language proficiency.

2.4 English language in Sudan

Events in 1989 in Sudan ushered in major changes in many aspects of the average Sudanese citizen’s life. This included the field of education. Decisions about changes in education policy and practice should be made from an informed educational and

22 sociolinguistic perspective and should not be driven by ideological one and careful planning should accompany any changes. The decision to switch from English to Arabic as the medium of instruction was a hasty one, and along with the dismissal of competent university staff members for vague ideological reasons greatly affected the standard of education in general and that of English language in particular. The repercussions for the country have been very serious and have affected the quality of graduates in all areas and seriously hindered chances for any to find employment in private sector jobs or in high- paying positions in the Gulf countries ever since as had been the case in the 1980s. In the early 1990s when these educational changes occurred, most university staff had been trained and qualified at English medium universities. The decision to switch from English to Arabic in the fields of medicine, the sciences, and agriculture needed time, preparation and careful planning. This did not happen. The removal of English language books from university library shelves occurred swiftly and these were replaced by Arabic translations often of the same English books. Professors and lecturers were expected to switch teaching languages overnight and deliver lectures through the medium of Arabic. Such a transformation required proper planning and development of discipline specific terminology that was consistent throughout. As far as I know no such task was undertaken. Through the 1990s, the medium of instruction alternated between Arabic and English but as far as English language delivery was concerned college departments suffered a huge professional blow with the dismissal of teachers and the classification of English language as undesirable. On one visit to Sudan in the mid 1990s, I found that students were given the syllabus at the beginning of the university semester and told to study themselves and return for an examination at the end of the semester. Attitudes towards English were affected by political developments and students’ motivation and interests were seriously affected. There seemed to be no rationale for including English in the school curriculum and though English continued to be taught in the schools, it was clearly not a popular school subject. English was never widely used in daily life; however, in the past it was possible to get everyday information through the medium of English but that is no longer the case. The only obvious use of English is as the medium of instruction in some faculties in university. Even in such situations, it would appear that students are provided sets of notes to memorize for final exams. The average university student studying through the medium of

English is not able to conduct a basic conversation in English, listen to general English conversation with comprehension, read material related to his/ her field of study or write a text of any length. In fact it became clear to me on a recent visit that the English of my contemporaries, people I had worked with through the 1980s and early 1990s was far superior to that of their children’s generation. My knowledge of what has happened in Sudan over the last 15 years is somewhat sketchy and I am depending on second hand reports rather than my own direct experience for my discussion from here on. It would appear that many stakeholders in the educational system are currently unhappy with educational standards in general and in particular the standard of English language of graduates seeking work. GumaaSiddiek (2010) quotes al Busari (2008) who explains that the standard of English of recent graduates is worryingly low as many are unable to construct even a simple elementary sentence. He attributes this situation to the unfortunate educational decisions referred to above in addition to poor teaching, paucity of teaching aids and poor quality materials. GumaaSiddiek reports that many teachers and students are unhappy with the current situation and refer to the irrelevancy of courses and examinations to the needs of students.

2.5 The curriculumof medical sciences faculties atKarary University The curriculum is a module based, including general sciences and fully integrated basic medical sciences with clinical sciences. It is a six academic year course divided into 12 semesters that comprise three phases and a senior clerkship, in addition, time is provided in the schedule for elective courses, so that students can explore areas of special interests in case of faculty of Medicine, and five academic year course divided into 10 semesters in case of faculty of Dentistry and Pharmacy.

2.6 English language courses of medical sciences faculties atKarary University English Language course is a total of six credit hours divided into two modules each module comprises three credit hours being delivered in semester one and semester two. The English language course contents mainly composed of general English which covers (grammar, literature, composition, comprehension) and ESP, English for Especial

Purposes, which is more specialized module that covers medical and scientific issues such as medical terminologies. The main instructional method for these modules is lectures in addition to seminars. And the evaluation is mainly done by written exams and assignments.

2.7 English language as a medium of instruction in medical sciences faculties of Karary University The curriculum utilizes a variety of instructional methods; including lectures, tutorial classes, practical training in the lab & skills lab, small group teaching, problem based learning and clinical in-patient and out-patient rounds, and computer assisted learning in many courses. Almost all courses are delivered and examined in English language in faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy,( except for Arabic language, Islamic studies and Sudanese culture course).

2.8 Early Language Learning There is evidence that early language learning improves cognitive abilities, this is supported by the following study.Foster, K. M., & Reeves, C. K. (1989). In this study looks at the effects of an elementary school foreign language program on basic skills by looking at the relationship between months of elementary foreign language instruction in French and scores on instruments designed to measure cognitive and metacognitive processes. The study included 67 sixth-grade students who were divided into four groups that differed by lengths of time in the foreign language program. There was a control group of 25 students who had no French instruction and three groups of students who had participated in the program for different lengths of time (6.5 months, 15.5 months, and 24.5 months). The students who did receive foreign language instruction had received 30 minutes of French instruction daily after 30 minutes of basal reading in English. The control group received an additional 30 minutes of reading instruction in place of foreign language instruction. The results of the analysis showed that the groups who received foreign language instruction scored significantly higher in three areas (evaluation on the Ross test, total score of all cognitive functions on Ross test, and total score on Butterfly and Moths test) than the

25 control group. In particular, the students who had received foreign language instruction scored higher on tasks involving evaluation which is the highest cognitive skill according to Bloom's taxonomy. The linear trend analysis showed that the students who had studied French the longest performed the best.

2.9 Bilingualism and cognitive skills There is a correlation between bilingualism and intelligence, problem solving ability, increased cognitive development and abilities and attentional control on cognitive tasks. Bialystok, E. (1999). Investigated whether the bilingual advantage in control (selective attention) can be found in a nonverbal task, the dimensional change card sort, used by P. D. Zelazo and D. Frye (e.g., 1997) to assess Cognitive Complexity and Control (CCC). The author contends this problem contains misleading information characteristic of high-control tasks but minimal demands for analysis. 60 preschool children, half of whom were bilingual, were divided into a group of younger (mean age 4.2 yrs) and older (mean age 5.4 yrs) children. All the children were given a test of English proficiency (PPVT-R; L. M. Dunn and L. M. Dunn, 1981) and working memory (Visually-Cued Recall Task) to assure comparability of the groups and then administered the dimensional change card sort task and the moving word task. The bilingual children were more advanced than the monolinguals in the solving of experimental problems requiring high levels of control. It is concluded that these results demonstrate the role of attentional control in both these tasks.

2.10 English language and academic performance

Many scholars investigated the relationship between English language proficiency anacademic achievement. Wille (2006) studied the relationship between English languageproficiency and academic achievement of Hispanic students at secondary level in the UnitedStates. He found that there is a positive relation between these two variables. Based on these evidences, there are considerable studies conducted in this area. Wille (2006) studied the relationship between English language proficiency and academic achievement ofstudents at secondary level and found that there is a positive relation between these twovariables.

Shahragard, Baharloo and Ali (2011) investigated the relationship betweenacademic achievement and language proficiency of Iranian college students at Shiraz.University in Iran; they revealed that there is a significant positive relation between languageproficiency and academic achievement. In Africa, Orgunsiji& O (2009) argue that English language plays the fundamental roles ofbeing the means of instruction in Nigerian schools from primary to tertiary level. Theknowledge of the contents of school subjects is transferred to the students at all levels ofeducation via English language medium. It therefore follows that how well students wouldfare in academic achievement depends largely on their level of proficiency in Englishlanguage which is the medium of instruction. Orgunsiji and O (2009) assert that their resultsshowed that ―there is a significant impact of English language proficiency on students’overall academic achievement and that English language proficiency of the students has asignificant positive relationship with their overall academic achievement‖. Sahragard, et al. (2011) carried out a research aimed to find out the relationship betweenIranian college students’ language proficiency and their academic achievement selecting asample of 151 college students majoring in English literature at Shiraz University, Iran. Theyfound the existence of a significant positive relationship between language proficiency anacademic achievement. Orgunsiji& O (2009) examined the extent to which Nigerian secondary school students’proficiency in English predicted their overall academic achievement. They proportionatelysampled 400 students from eight randomly selected secondary schools; they found thatEnglish proficiency has significant impact on students’ overall academic achievement. They62also found that English language proficiency has significant relationship with their overallacademic achievement. This study is more relevant than that conducted by Sahragard et al.(2011), since this study can be generalized according to the scope and the sample size. Kong et al. (2012) investigated the use of English language proficiency to predict the futureacademic success of English learner (EL) students. Their study revealed that Englishlanguage proficiency is a factor of prediction for future academic success. Zangani and Maleki (2007) asserted that one of the most serious problems that Iranian EFL students face in their field of study is their inability to communicate and handle English

27 which willinfluence their academic success; they carried out a survey intended to examine the strengthof the relationship between English language proficiency and the academic achievement ofIranian EFL students. Accordingly, the relation between English language proficiency andacademic achievement was examined in their study, and a significant connection was foundbetween proficiency and grade point averages (GPA) of academic achievement. Similarly,the results revealed significant correlation between English language proficiency andachievement in English speaking and writing subjects. In Sudan, to the researchers’ best knowledge; there is no evidence in the literature withregard to studies that study the relationship between English language proficiency andacademic achievement of Sudanese higher education students thus this current study examines the relationship between these two variables.

Chapter Three

MATERIAS AND METHOD

3.1 Study design: Sample and Research Design

Correlation research design is employed for this study where an independent variable explains a dependent variable. In this study, the main purpose is to explain the relationship between two quantifiable variables English language level measured by English language grades of the final high school exam, first and second university semesters and academic achievement measured by final GPA of current university level. .Therefore, this design is considered to be suitable because it is to determine whether and to what degree a relationship exists between English language level and academic achievement.A sample size calculation determined that 264 dental students would be necessary for this study. A convenience sampling approach was adopted and a total of275 students agreed to participate in this study. Therefore, we strongly believed that responses generated can be considered as a good representation of dental students’ population in the country.

Students were chosen, from faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy second, third, fourth, and fifth year student. In a systemic randomized stratified way. This sample size has been chosen according to the literature. Previous studies took sample sizes between 50-150 like Fox et al. (nd), 101, Vázquez&López (1997), 100, Zangani and Maleki (2007), 50, Sahragard et al.(2011), 151. The average of these samples gives 100.

NB. English language proficiency is ideally measured using standardized international tests such as IELTS, TOFEL … etc, which tests the main four language skills, namely reading, writing, speaking and listening, but in this study the author used the English language grades of the final high school exam, first and second university semesters because of its feasibility not validity or reproducibility.For this reason the term English language level was used instead of English language proficiency.

3.2Questionnaire development and validation: The questionnaire used in this study is a custom made one comprised of 12 questions and is divided to three sections (A, B and C). Section A consists of 7 questions that identifies demographic information, whereas section B consists of 3 questions relating to English language level and section C contains 2 questions that relating to academic achievement of the students. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was assessed by 5 academic staff and expertise from various disciplines. After addressing the feedback/comments received from the academicians the draft questionnaire was pre-tested on a sample of twenty students from dental school at IMU prior to its final use on study participants. The reliability of questionnaire was tested using Cronbach-alpha test and a value of 6.45 was considered reliable.

3.3 Study area: The medical complex of Karary University: Sudan – Khartoum – Omdurman – Banat, Established in 1997. English language is the language of instruction at the medical sciences faculties of Karary University. Karary University was chosen because it’s in the center of Sudan, and it’s a hybrid university which is governmental and at the same time private university but with low tuition fees, so it’s one of the popular and public Universities. It has both public admissions for militarystudents with high grades in the high school final exam and they are supposed to be officers in the future and private admission for civilian private students who are a mixture of average and high grades in the high school final exam and the majority of them come from outside Sudan. So regarding all of the above mentioned parameters,Karary University is a suitable site to collect my data from since it represents the whole Sudanese population. 3.4 Study population: Students of the secondthird fourth and fifth years (college of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy) at Karary University.

3.5 Study duration: The study was conducted in the period from August 2014 to May 2015. 3.6Variables understudy: English language level of medical sciences students at Karary University. Demographic data of the students Academicachievement of medical sciences students atKarary University.

3.7 Exclusion criteria: Any medical sciences colleges other than Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy(because of un matched curriculum).

3.8Data collection: A team of data collectors consists of nine individuals were trained and guidelines for the students to fill the questionnaire was discussed with them. They covered the three colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy. Then students filled their questionnaires.Data was revised with students’ records by the assistance of data collectors, registrars of each corresponding college under direct supervision of the researcher.

3.9Data analysis: Collected Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS® version 18. Data were analyzed using Pearson Correlation coefficient to examine the degree ofrelationship between English language level and academic achievement. T test analysis was used to correlate between demographic data and academic achievement at a confidence level of 95%. Linear Regression Analysis was also used to determine the impact of English language level on students overall academic achievement at aconfidence level of 95%.

3.10Ethical considerations: The research was approved by the Gezira University Ethical Committee and endorsed by the corresponding colleges’ deans of Karary University.

Students’ participation was on a voluntary basis and their identities remained anonymous. The privacy and confidentiality of the graduates was guaranteed, and their consent to take part in the study was taken.

Personal data for staff and students are only available to administration of involved faculties – only summary and aggregate data were observed by the data collectors.

3.11. Plan of dissemination: The results and recommendations are to be presented in a meeting attended by academies deans and Karary University stakeholders. The research report will be prepared as an article for publication.

3.12 What the study would add: 1. Provides data about the relationship between English language and academic achievement among Sudanese medical students represented by Karary University. 2. Provides data about the relationship between Demographic data (such as: number of family members,type of admission,residence, gender,desired to be admitted for the corresponding faculty or not and type of high school certificate) and academic achievement among Sudanese medical students represented by Karary University. 3. Serves as a baseline for later cohort follow-up, factors affecting academic achievementof Sudanese medical students. 4. Provides feedback to the Ministry of Higher Education andministry of Education about the English language level of current curricula, and gives a clue about the importance of English language proficiency especially for medical students. 5. Helps in developing policies by ministry of Education to revise English language curriculum in basic and high school level or to be used for situation analysis in the future.

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS AND DISSCUSION 4.1RESULTS: 4.1.1 Demographic data:  Gender of participants Table1 shows that the majority of the respondents were females; they represent 54.18% of the participants, where males represented by 45.82% of the participants. This indicates that both genders have participated in this study. Table 1. Gender of participants

Gender Frequency Percent

MALE 126 45.82%

FEMALE 149 54.18%

Total 275 100%

 The College to which the participant belongs Table 2 shows that 39.64% of the participants were from college of Medicine, 32.36% from college of Dentistry and 28% from college of Pharmacy.

Table 2.TheCollege to which the participant belongs

College Frequency Percent

Medicine 109 39.64%

Dentistry 89 32.36%

Pharmacy 77 28%

Total 275 100%

 Type of admission of participants Table3 shows that 35.27% of the participants were of public admission and 64.73% of them were private admission.

Table 3. Type of admission of participants

Admission Frequency Percent

Public 97 35.27%

Private 178 64.73%

Total 275 100%

 Desire of participants to be admitted to the corresponding college Table 4 shows that according to the desire of admission to the corresponding college whether Medicine, Dentistry or Pharmacy 76.84% of the participants were admitted to the college of their first desire, while 23.16% of them were admitted to a college not of their first desire.

Table 4. Desire of participants to be admitted to the corresponding college

Desire Frequency Percent

First 209 76.84%

Other 63 23.16%

Total 272 100%

 Type of high school certificate of participants

Table 5 shows that according to the type of high school certificate of participants 87.64% of them were of Sudanese one, while 12.36% of them were of Arabic high school certificate. There were no other high school certificates such as English one.

Table 5. Type of high school certificate of participants

Type Of Certificate Frequency Percent

Sudanese 241 87.64%

Arabic 34 12.36%

English 0 0.00%

Other 0 0.00%

Total 275 100%

 Residence of participants Table 6 shows that according to the residence of the participants whether with their families or not, 35.27% of the participants were not living with their families, while 64.73% of them were living with their families.

Table 6. Residence of participants Residence Frequency Percent

Not with family 97 35.27%

with family 178 64.73%

Total 275 100%

4.1.2The relationship between English Language level and academic achievement of students  English language level of students in high school

Table 7shows that the majority of students were excellent in English Table 7.English language level of students in high school

English in High school Frequency Percent Excellent 268 97.45% V.good 7 2.55% Good 0 0.00% Acceptable 0 0.00% Failure 0 0.00% Total 275 100%

 English language level of students in semester 1 Table 8 shows that the majority of students were above very good in English

Table 8.English language level of students in semester 1

English Semester1 Frequency Percent Excellent 88 32% V.good 64 23.27% Good 66 24% Acceptable 47 17.09% Failure 10 3.64% Total 275 100%

 English language level of students in semester 2 Table 9 shows that the majority of students were above good in English

Table 9. English language level of students in semester 2

English Semester2 Frequency Percent Excellent 60 21.82% V.good 70 25.45% Good 83 30.18% Acceptable 54 19.64% Failure 8 2.91% Total 275 100%

 Academic achievement of students represented by GPA Table 10 shows that the majority of students were above good in GPA Table 10. Academic achievement of students represented by GPA GPA Frequency Percent Excellent 31 11.27% V.good 52 18.91% Good 133 48.36% Acceptable 56 20.36% Failure 3 1.09% Total 275 100%

 English language grade of semester 1 and the academic achievement( GPA) The results in Table 11 Shows that there is positive weak correlation between grade of English in semester1 and the final GPA at 0.05 significancelevel.Since p value < 0.05

Table 11. English language grade of semester 1 and the academic achievement(GPA) The Correlation between grade of English in

semester1 and the final gpa

Correlation Coefficient P-value

0.391268903 0.00

 English language grade of semster 2 and the academic achievement(GPA) The results in Table 12 Shows that there is positive weak correlation between grade of English in semester 2 and the final GPA at 0.05 significance level.Since p value < 0.05 Table 12. English language grade of semester 2 and the academic achievement(GPA)

The Correlation between grade of English in

semester2 and the final gpa

Correlation Coefficient P-value

0.454817142 0.00

 English language grade of high school and the academic achievement(GPA) The results in Table 13Shows that there is positive very weak correlation between grade of English in high school and the final GPA at 0.05 significance level.Since p value < 0.05 Table 13. English language grade of high school and the academic achievement(GPA) The Correlation between grade of English in

High school and the final gpa

Correlation Coefficient P-value

0.059849074 0.322736273

 English language grade of high school and the academic achievement(final percent of high school) The results in Table 14Shows that there is positive moderate correlation grade of English in high school and the final percent of High schoolat 0.05 significance level.Since p value < 0.05 Table 14. English language grade of high school and the academic achievement(final percent of high school) The Correlation between grade of English in

High school and the final percent of High school

Correlation Coefficient P-value

0.544443553 0.00

4.1.3 The relationship between demographic data and academic achievement of students

 The Correlation between number of family members of student and academic achievement (GPA) The results in Table 15shows that there is no significant difference between students number of family members regarding academic achievement(GPA) at significance level 0.05 since p value < 0.05

Table 15.The Correlation between number of family members of student and academic achievement(GPA) GPA Residence Mean Sd Not with family 3.348866 0.320595 With family 3.290449 0.388773 P-value 0.182504572

 The correlation between type of admission and academic achievement (GPA) The results in Table 16 shows that there is no significant difference between students of public and private admission regarding their academic achievement(GPA), atsignificancelevel 0.05 since p value > 0.05 Table 16.The correlation between type of admission and academic achievement(GPA) GPA Admission Mean Sd Public 3.348866 0.320595 Private 3.290449 0.388773 P-VALUE 0.182504572

 The correlation between Residence andacademic achievement (GPA) The results in Table 17 shows that there is no significant difference between students living with their families and those not living with their families regarding their academic achievement(GPA) , at significancelevel 0.05 since p value > 0.05

Table17.The correlation between residence andacademic achievement (GPA) GPA Residence Mean Sd Not with family 3.348866 0.320595 With family 3.290449 0.388773 P-value 0.182504572

 The correlation between gender and academic achievement (GPA) The results in Table 18 shows that there is significant difference between males and females regarding their academic achievement(GPA), females were better, atsignificancelevel 0.05 since p value < 0.05 Table 18.The correlation between gender and academic achievement (GPA) GPA Gender Mean Sd Male 3.25381 0.317165 Female 3.359463 0.398456 P-VALUE 0.015029425

 The correlation between desire on admission and academic achievement (GPA) The results in Table 19 shows thatthere is no significant difference between students desired or not to study the corresponding faculty regarding their academic achievement(GPA), at significance level 0.05 since p value < 0.05 Table19.The correlation between desire on admission and academic achievement (GPA) GPA Desire Mean Sd First 3.320574 0.372046 Other 3.288889 0.351738 P-VALUE 0.549074289

 The correlation between the type of high school certificate and academic achievement (GPA) The results in Table 20shows that there is significant difference between studentswith Sudanese high school certificate and those withArabic certificate regarding their academic achievement(GPA), students of Sudanese certificate of high school were better, at significancelevel 0.05 since p value < 0.05

Table20.The correlation between the type of high school certificate and academic achievement (GPA) Type of GPA High Schoolcertificate Mean Sd Sudanese 3.331826 0.361442 Arabic 3.163824 0.374943 English 0 0 Other 0 0 P-VALUE 0.012115277

4.1.4English language level as a predictor to academic achievement

Linear Regression Analysis was also done to determine the impact of English language level on students overall academic achievement at0.05significance level.

R square= 20.83% this means that 20.83% of the variation in GPA explained by Grade of English in semester one.

One unit increase in grade of English in semester 1 will increase GPA by 0.01.

R square= 25.15% this means that 25.15% of the variation in GPA explained by Grade of English in semester two.

One unit increase in grade of English in semester 2 will increase GPA by 0.02.

Both R-square are small the 2 regression will give prediction but not of good quality

4.2DISCUSSION 4.2.1Introduction:

Determinants of student performance have attracted the attention of academic researchers from many areas. The theoretical framework adopted in this study is derived from the multiple intelligence theory discovered by a psychologist, Howard Gardner, in 1983. One of these ways of intelligence is Linguistic intelligence that ―involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals‖. Linguistic Intelligence is a part of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory that deals with an individual's ability to understand both spoken and written language, as well as their ability to speak and write themselves. In a practical sense, linguistic intelligence is the extent to which an individual can use language, both written and verbal, to achieve goals.[1] In addition to this, high linguistic intelligence has been linked to improved problem solving, as well as to increased abstract reasoning. To grasp knowledge during learning process there should be an adequate standard of linguistic skills to understand the information delivered and to express yourself in English language. Where English language is the language of instruction, for those students whose English language is not their mothers’ tongue they may find it challenging to learn as well as those fluent English language speakers. As a preliminary study indicates, students at undergraduate studies in Sudan may face difficulty to success academically concerning their English language skills. Therefore, in the view of this discrepancy, there is a need to investigate the correlation between English language level and academic achievement of Sudanese undergraduate students, especially in medical sciences and whether English language can be used as a predictor of the overall academic achievement of them or not.

4.2.2Study Limitations: As we mentioned beforeEnglish language proficiency is ideally measured using standardized international tests such as IELTS, TOEFL …etc, but in this study the author used the English language grades of the final high school exam, first and second university

semesters because of its feasibility not validity or reproducibility. For this reason the term English language level was used instead of English language proficiency. This research is a cross sectional study that reflects the existing situation so it doesn’t express what happened in the past regarding English language proficiency or level of Sudanese students, or predicts what will happen in the future. This research used quantitative data collection techniques like Questionnaire which is not comprehensiveon the other hand qualitative measures such as Focused Group Discussion and Interviews were not used which may add a new dimension to the findings. Karary University was chosen as a good representative sample but other Sudanese universities were not included in this study. Moreover only faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy were includedin this study - because of their homogeneous curricula- while other medical sciences faculties such as Medical Laboratories, Nursing, Veterinary Medicine, Optics, etc, were not included.

4.2.3Results discussion: This study was conducted in Karary University, colleges of Medicine, Dentistry and

Pharmacy of second, third, fourth, and fifth year students. 275 participants have participated in this study. 4.2.3.1Demographic data: Data analysis of demographic data Shows that the majority of the respondents were females; they represent 54.18% of the participants, where males represented by 45.82% of the participants. This indicates that both genders have participated in this study. College’s representation was as follow: 39.64% of the participants were from college of Medicine, 32.36% from college of Dentistry and 28% fromcollege of Pharmacy. Participants of public admission were35.27% while 64.73% of the participants were privately admitted. According to the desire of being admitted to the corresponding college whether Medicine, Dentistry or Pharmacy 76.84% of the participants were admitted to the college of their first desire, while 23.16% of them were admitted to a college not of their first desire.

According to the type of high school certificate of participants,87.64% of them were of Sudanese one, while 12.36% of them were of Arabic high school certificate. There were no other high school certificates such as English one. According to the residence of the participants, whether with their families or not, 35.27% of the participants were not living with their families, while 64.73% of them were living with their families.

4.2.3.2The relationship between English Language level and academic achievement of students Data collected were analyzed using Pearson Correlation coefficient to examine the degree of relationship between English language proficiency and academic achievement. It’s found that there is appositive correlation between English language grade of semester one and semester two (English Language level) and GPA (Academic Achievement), positive very weak correlation between grade of English in high school and the final GPA, while positive moderate correlation grade of English in high school and the final percent of High school was detected. The results of data analysis demonstrated that the null-hypothesis of this study, which asserts,―there is a relationship between English language proficiency and the academic achievement"was confirmed at (correlation coefficient for English language semester one=0.39 and 0.45for English language semester two). Therefore, there is a relationship between these twovariables; in other words, the English language proficiency correlates positively with theacademic success. The results are in keeping with other studiesindicating that variables other than language proficiency are relevant. The positive relationship implies that the more proficient students are in English language, the better the academic performance of such students. This findings support the view of the researchers that there is relationship between Englishlanguage proficiency and academic achievement. Ogunsiji& O (2009) investgated therelationship between english language proficiency and academic achievement of among EFLstudents in Nigeria, The results showed that English language proficiency of the students hasa significant positive relationship with their overall academic achievement and

44 that there is asignificant impact of English language proficiency on students overall academicachievement. Also this study supported our findings which investigated the relationshipbetween Iranian college students' language proficiency and their academic achievement(Sahragard, Baharloo and Soozandehfar, 2011). Proficiency over scientific English language among higher education is not only the problem of Sudanese students. In many none English speaking such as Malaysia (Gobel, Thang, Sidhu, Oon, & Chan, 2013), Pakistan (Fikree& Marsh, 1996), Tanzania (Komba et al., 2012), Spain (Abella&Urrutia, 2013) and even in English speaking countries like Australia (Mann, Canny, Reser, &Rajan, 2013), the United Kingdom (Meats et al., 2009) and the USA (Tanenbaum, 2009), it was shown that students ability in scientific English (reading, writing and speaking) directly increases the success of medical students.

4.2.3.3The relationship between demographic data and academic achievement of students

Data collected were analyzed using T test Analysis to examine the degree of relationship between demographic data and academic achievement (GPA). It’s found that there is : no significant difference between number of family members of students, no significant difference between students of public and private admission, no significant difference between students living with their families and those not living with their families, significant difference between males and females (females were better), no significant difference between students desired or not to study the corresponding faculty, significant difference between students with Sudanese high school certificate and those with Arabic high school certificate(students with Sudanese high school certificate were better), regarding their academic achievement(GPA), students of Sudanese certificate of high school were better. NB: There were no students of foreign high school certificate other than the Arabic one.

These results reflects that there was only significant difference between males and females, females are better, in terms of academic achievement, this is may be because they work harder and attend class more frequently on the other hand more extracurricular activities which results in further distraction of males.

This findings support the view of the researchers, although they indicated mixed results. However, one common finding is that females outperformtheir male counterparts in higher education Hyde and Kling(2000) stated this.

According to MeltemDayıo_lu. (December 2004) study has established that despite their lower university entrance scores andunder-representation in most departments, female undergraduate students outperform theirmale counterparts during their college years. Leonard and Jiang (1999) suggestthat females have better study skills than the male students. Other researchers have arguedthat women receive higher grades than men because they work harder and attend classmore frequently (Wainer and Steinberg, 1992). Investigating success in terms of course grades, Bridgeman and Wendler (1991)find that women typically had equal or higher grades in math classes.

In addition to thatstudents with Sudanese high school certificate were better than those with Arabic one regarding their academic achievement, this is can be explained by better English language curriculum and familiarity of students with Sudanese high school certificate to the social, , economical, educational, curricular and environment, while the later are less adapted.

4.2.3.4English language level as a predictor to academic achievement

Linear Regression Analysis was also done to determine the impact of English language level on students overall academic achievement at 0.05 level.

It’s found that one unit increase in grade of English in semester 1 will increase GPA by 0.01, while one unit increase in grade of English in semester 2 will increase GPA by 0.02, so both R-square are small the 2 regression will give prediction but not of good quality.

That means there is a weak significant impact of English language level on academic achievement, so English language level can’t be used as a predictor to academic performance or achievement.

Chapter Five CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 CONCLUSION: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between English language proficiency and academic achievement of undergraduate students in Sudan. A cross sectional survey was obtained including 275 students was selected from a cluster amongKarary University students, from faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy second, third, fourth, and fifth year students. Inside the cluster systemic random selection was done, Questionnaire with content analysis were used as a research instruments, to collect information regarding their English language level measured by the English Language mark the student obtained from his/her final high school exam, first and second university semesters and academic achievement measured by the student’s GPA from the current university level then it was tested using T test with a confidence level 95%.Linear Regression Analysis was also done to determine the impact of English language level on students overall academic achievement at 0.05 level. The results revealed that: Positive moderate correlation between grade of English language in high school and the final percent of High school was detected. No influence of number of family members of students on their GPA. No significant difference between students of public and private admission regarding their GPA. No significant difference between students living with their families and those not living with their familiesregarding their GPA. Significant difference between males and females (females were better)regarding their GPA. No significant difference between students desired or not to study the corresponding faculty in terms of GPA.

Significant difference between students with Sudanese high school certificate and those with Arabic certificate regarding their academic achievement (GPA), students with Sudanesehigh school certificate were better. NB: There were no students of foreign high school certificates other than the Arabic one. It’s found that there is a positive correlation between English language grade of semester one and semester two (English Language level) and GPA (Academic Achievement), positive very weak correlation between grade of English in high school and the final GPA, while positive moderate correlation grade of English in high school and the final percent of High school was detected. Therefore, there is a relationship between these two variables; in other words, the English language proficiency correlates positively with the academic success. The results are in keeping with other studies indicating that variables other than language proficiency are relevant. The positive relationship implies that the more proficient students are in English language, the better the academic performance of such students. Also there is a weak significant impact of English language level on academic achievement, so English language level can’t be used as a predictor to academic performance or achievement. So effort should be exerted to prepare students in the pre graduate level especially in English language and scientific English in early undergraduate levels should be considered. Other determinants of academic achievement of students should be thoroughly investigated.

5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

5.2.1 General recommendations: 1. The results of this thesis should be used by Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education and Ministry of Health in finalization of its Strategic Plan and as a minimum in the situation analysis. 2. All Factorsthat affect the academic achievement of undergraduate medical sciences students should be thoroughly investigated, scored and managed. 3. Introducing English language learning at early stages of educational course, as much as possible, in order to get use of bilingualisms benefits, and being delivered not as a subject but as a language. 4. Special attention should be given to English Language education this requires a concerted effort of all stakeholders in the education sector in Sudan such as Curriculum planners, text book writers and English language teachers. 5. English language courses should be subjected to dynamic improvement and updating. 6. Also, English language, in spoken and written form, should be given special attention at all levels of Sudan educational system in view of the potential implications of such measure in all areas of academic development. 7. Improving assessment and evaluation tools of English language courses. 8. Finally, the English language teachers in Sudan should be specially equipped through refresher courses, workshops, seminars and symposia to enable them teach the four language skills of Listen big. Speaking, Reading and Writing effectively at secondary school levels.

5.2.2 Specific recommendations: 1. ESP (English for Especial Purposes) should be seriously considered in medical sciences faculties’ curricula, and should be routinely updated. 2. Longitudinal studies to measure the effectiveness and validity of English language courses included in the curriculum of school and university life of students should be conducted. 3. If such study will be done in the future attention should be given to English language proficiency testing in term of the four skills of English language, in addition providing some qualitative means of data collection such as FGD and interviews will be beneficial. 4. Creating a system that provides feedback from all educational process stakeholders about English language situation. 5. A longitudinal study involving a cohort of students over full length academic periods can help provide deeper insight into challenges affecting students’ academic achievement. Studies using qualitative methods are recommended for a better understanding of the sources of challenges that influence academic achievement of students and how they may be managed best, based on the views of the stakeholders. 6. Interventional studies should also be designed to measure the effectiveness of existing support system in place.

REFERENCES

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11) Bialystok, E. (1999). Cognitive complexity and attentional control in the bilingual mind. Child Development, 70(3), 636-644. fromPsycINFO database. 12) Wille, J. R. (2006). Measuring the Academic Achievement and English language Proficincy of Students at Secondary level. University of Wisconsin-Stout. 13) Sahragard, R., Baharloo, A. & Ali, S. M. (2011). A Closer Look at the RelationshipBetween Academic Achievement and Language Proficiency among Iranian EFLStudents. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1(12), 1740-1748. 14) Abdirahman M. Addow et al (2013). English Language proficiency and academic achievement for undergraduate students in Somalia. Educational Research International. ISSN-L: 2307-3713, ISSN: 2307-3721 Vol. 2 No. 2. 15) Orgunsiji, Y. & O, F. D. (2009). English Language Proficincy as a predictor ofAcademic Acheivement among EFL students in Nigeria. European Journal ofScientific Research, 37(3), 490-495. 16) www.karary.edu.sd/ 17) Williams, N., Powers, S., Kong, J. & Star, L. (2012, April). Connecting English Language Learning and Academic Performance: A Prediction Study. American Educational Research Association. 18) Zangani, E. &Maleki, A. (2007). A Survey on the Relationship between English Language Proficiency and the Academic Achievement of Iranian EFL Students.AsianEFL Journal, 9(1). 19) Oso, W. Y. &Onen, D. (2008). A GenerealGuid to Writing Resaerch Proposal and Report. A Hand Book for Beginning Researchers (2nd Edn.). Kampala:MakerereUniversity. 20) Haydar, A. &Uyar, A. (2011). Factors Associated with Student Performance inFinancial Accounting Course. EuropianJournal of Economic & Political Studies , 4 (2).

21) Jones, C. K. (2006). The Relationship between Language Proficiency,GeneralIntelligence, and Reading Achievement with Sample of Low Performing, Limited English Proficiency Student.Texas A&M University. 22) Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. New Delhi: New Age International Publishers. 23) Li, G., Chen, W. &Duanmu, J.-L. (2010). Determinants of International Students’Academic Performance: A Comparison between Chinese and Other InternationalStudents. Journal of Studies in International, 14(4), 389- 405. 24) Nuthanap, G. (2007). Gender Analysis of Academic AcheivementAmong High SchoolStudents. University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. 25) Chen, Y. & Sun, C. (nd). Language proficiency and Academic Performance. 26) Cook, H. G., Timothy, B., & Lundberg, T. (2011). Academic achievement for Englishlearners; What can we reasonably expect? University of Wisconsin-Madison. 27) Sudan constitution of 2005 (English version). 28) Driscoll, D. P. (2003). English Language Proficiency Benchmarks and Outcomes forEnglish Language Learners. The Commonwealth of Massachuschusetts, Department of Education. 29) Fox, J., Cheng, L., Berman, R., Song, X. & Myles, J. (nd). Cost and Benefits: Englishfor Academic Purposes Instruction in Canada. Carleion Papers in Applied Language Studies 30) Wikipadia. (2012). Retrieved October 2012, from http://www.wikipadea.com, http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/eacwest/elptests.htm#Definitions. 31) Wainer, H. and Steinberg, L. S. (1992) Sex Differences in Performance on the Mathematics Section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test: A Bidirectional Validity Study, Harvard Educational Review, 62, pp. 323-336.

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APPENDICES

QUEATIONNAIRE Serial No……………………………………………… Section A 1. Gender: ( ) Male ( ) Female 2. Residence: ( ) With family ( ) Not with family 3. Faculty to which the student belongs: ( ) Medicine ( ) Dentistry ( ) Pharmacy 4. Type of High School Certificate: ( ) Sudanese ( ) Arabic ( ) English ( ) Other 5. Type of Admission: ( ) Public ( ) Private 6. Number of family members: ………………………

7. Desire on Admission to study in the current faculty: ( ) First ( ) Other

Section B 8. Mark of English language at Final High School Exam: ( ) 9.English Language Mark of Semester One (The First Attempt): ( ) 10. English Language Mark of Semester Two (The First Attempt): ( ) Section C 11. Percentage of Final High School Exam: ( ) 12. Current GPA: ( )

إستبٌان

الرقم المتسلسل : ) (

القسم )أ(

1. النوع:

) ( ذكر

) ( أنثى

2. السكن:

) ( مع األسرة

) ( لٌس مع األسرة

3.الكلٌة التً ٌدرس بها الطالب:

) ( طب بشري

) ( طب أسنان

) ( صٌدلة

4.نوع الشهادة الثانوٌة:

) ( سودانٌة

) ( عربٌة

) ( إنجلٌزٌة

) ( أخرى

5.نوع القبول:

) ( عام

) ( خاص

6.عدد أفراد األسره: ------

7.الرغبة فً دراسة الكلٌة التً تدرس بها حالٌا:

) ( أولى

) ( أخرى

القسم )ب(

8.درجة اللغة اإلنجلٌزٌة فً الشهادة الثانوٌة:

) (

9.درجة اللغة اإلنجلٌزٌة فً السنة الجامعٌة األولى الفصل الدراسً األول ) الدور األول(:

) (

10.درجة اللغة اإلنجلٌزٌة فً السنة الجامعٌة ااألولً الفصل الدراسً الثانً ) الدور األول(:

) (

القسم )ج(

11.النسبة المئوٌة فً الشهادة الثانوٌة:

) (

04.انمعذل انتراكمي انحاني:

) (