The English Department Students’ Perceptions of the Difficulties in Comprehending Academic English Lectures at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University

Abstract

Academic lectures are one of the areas that university students encounter most often. Comprehending these lectures is crucial for English language learners. In order to bring about more effective and inclusive learning experience, an understanding to the difficulties facing the English department students should be provided. This study aims at acquiring an in-depth understanding of the difficulties and challenges that female students in the English department at Prince Sattam Bin Abdelaziz University face, from their own unique perspective, while listening to English lectures. Participants were undergraduate female students in the English department at Prince Sattam Bin Abdelaziz University (n= 112) who randomly responded to a twenty five multiple choice online questionnaire and one open-ended question. The study examined two types of difficulties; linguistic and non-linguistic. Those difficulties were categorised according to two variables; the students’ level and GPA. A mixed-method research design was adopted and a quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were employed during the first semester of the academic year 1440-1441. Findings indicated that students’ difficulties in relation to the linguistic factors were at a high level whereas difficulties related to the non-linguistic factors were at a medium level. In light of the study findings, recommendations and implications were presented.