Research Report: English Language Needs of TVTC Fashion & Cosmetology

This report presents a data analysis of the English language needs of fashion designing and cosmetology students at The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) in Saudi Arabia. Data was collected through an online questionnaire distributed via WhatsApp and Twitter, with 12 participants, all TVTC graduates, responding anonymously using a Simple Random Sample technique. The results highlight a 50% satisfaction rate with the current English curriculum, despite deficiencies in speaking and writing skills. Participants indicated a need for major-related English content and expressed uncertainty about the curriculum's usefulness in their future work environments. The report concludes with recommendations for curriculum changes to address these gaps and improve learning outcomes, emphasizing the importance of English communication in global trade and academic pursuits. It also acknowledges potential biases and limitations in the data collection method, suggesting future research incorporate diverse data collection approaches for greater reliability. Desklib offers this and similar resources for students' academic needs.

Introduction
The data was collected through an online-questionnaire using Qualtrics. The main aim
behind collecting the data was to help answering the research question: What are the specific
English language needs for fashion designing and cosmetology students in The Technical and
Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) in Saudi Arabia. This was an important question to
be answered in order to improve the current English curriculum. The questionnaire was sent
through WhatsApp and Twitter and was answered by 12 participants, all graduate from
TVTC Cosmetology and Fashion design in Saudi Arabia vocational colleges. I created a
twitter account for the survey and sent it to the official twitter accounts of TVTC in eight
cities that includeDwadmi, Alkharaj, Almadinah, Alahsa, Jeddah, Tabook, Meccah, Buraidah
and Taif. I also sent it to a WhatsApp group of my previous students who are all graduates.
Participants answered the questionnaire anonymously and the survey technique was Simple
Random Sample commonly abbreviated as SRS. According to this method, participants were
chosen randomly from TVTC colleges .It was noted that four participants out of twelve did
not complete the survey for unknown reason.
Presentation of Results
Participants answered questions about their English-major related needs that whether
these needs are present in their current English curriculum or they have to find other sources
to fulfil these needs. The first part of the question was about general background questions,
for example, English proficiency level, major, are they graduates or students and so on and so
forth.
The second part of the questions, aimed to survey their weakest English skill, between
the four options of Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing. Then they were asked about

their views if these weaknesses were met in the curriculum. Also, it aimed to survey the
existence of major-related English in the curriculum. The third part was about their future
work environment needs in relation to what they have learned in TVTC’s English curriculum.
The open questions were included in the survey for participants to comment on problems not
covered by the questionnaire.
Eight out of twelve participants answered the questionnaire (66%). 62.50%
cosmetology and 37.50% fashion design students who have graduated from TVTC.
The satisfaction rate showed that 50% of participants were satisfied with the English
course (Chart 1). Although, 50% of participants acknowledged that they rarely learn any new
major-related terminology in the English course they study in TVTC.
37.50% of the participants agreed on writing and speaking being the two weakest
English skills. 37.50% were weak in writing and 50% in speaking. They also mentioned that
they unlikely to use other sources to develop this skill other than the English course in TVTC.
Listening reported a relatively lower rate, with 25.00% of respondents considered listening
the weakest English skill and 0% respondents for reading, but 62.50% reported that
sometimes they use extra sources to improve their reading skill. To develop the skill of
listening, 37.50% responded that they sometimes use other sources to learn more about major
related topics in English by listening to audios and watching videos from other sources than
the TVTC English curriculum, like YouTube.
The participants also answered three questions regarding their expected work
environment. To understand the needs in a major related content in the English curriculum,
While 62.50% were cosmetology graduates, 0% wanted to work in a beauty salons. 50%
would like to work in an academic career as teachers in TVTC colleges. 37.50% would like
to work as freelance designers and 12.50% chose other careers without specifying .The

second question was about the areas in which they would need English in their work
environment. 37.50% will use English in order to develop contact in overseas services.
12.50% went for the option of publishing major related material in English. 25% to stay
updated in their field and 25% will use it for communication with clients and colleagues. The
third question that was asked was about the usefulness of the English curriculum in their
future work environment. The majority 62.50%, answered ‘undecided’.
There were few answers for the two open questions. Only four of the participants answered
which topics they want to study in TVTC’s English curriculum, the answers are: writing,
communication, design and the cosmetic terminology in English .The second open question
asked about the strong and weak points of the English course, the cons was about the online
structure of the course, as not having enough time for the online activates. Another comment
was on the irrelevancy of the curriculum topics and the major. The pros they mentioned
where mainly about learning basics English for beginners.
chart 1

Discussion
The main highlights form the result was that a 50% satisfaction rate was revealed .Although there must be
different explanation for this rate, it might be due to the fact that 50% of the participants prefer an
academic career, therefore a major related English course is not an issue as most of the subjects in the
academic career is taught in Arabic though an academic career in TVTC colleges is highly competitive and
most graduate will eventually need to look for other options. As 37% indicted that they will need English
to communicate with overseas services, which is a topic that need to be consider when teaching English in
TVTC.
One of the major answers that came out of the results was regarding the deficiency in the English course.
According to the data, speaking and writing are the most two skills that students need to improve whereas
writing and communication were also mentioned as weak points in the open questions. So, it may be
concluded that these two skills might have been overlooked in the course. As far as reading and listening
is concerned , these were the least weak skills for students, which goes on to suggest the need for more
application of writing and speaking skills in the course to achieve better learning outcomes. Also a high
rate indicated help of external sources are needed for materials and other learning processes and tools ,
which suggest the need to develop sufficient material to the course to meet students’ needs.
It is worth mentioning that a potential bias in the data might occur due to the fact that many of the
participants were my previous students and they may have thought that choosing “satisfied” option, in the
course stratification rate, may affect the result .Another major drawback in the questioner design is the
neutral option “undecided”. When asked about their opinion about the usefulness of the material in the
English course in the work environment, the majority chose ‘neutral’ as the option. According to early
research, between 10-20% of participants tend to go for such options ,if it is provided ,in comparison to
the same survey that does not have it .( Presser and Schuman 1980 as cited in Sauro 2011)
Conclusion
Through the survey there have been considerable amount of
evidence collected which goes on to demonstrate the current need of
changes that has to be brought in TVTC. English is a major tool of
communication throughout the world and people commonly communicate
in English. Though it may be ethically wrong to place it above any other

language as each language has its own aesthetic beauty, we cannot deny
the fact that English has become an official language of many
international summits and globak trade is taking off well because people
happen to communicate in one common language which is English (in
most cases). Through this research study we can note the areas where
there has to be major academic work done by TVTC and this reseravch
study could also become a source of secondary data for other researches
that would take place in this field, in future (Kong 2018).
English communication has become a backbone of global trade. One of the essential roles is
played by the language. Whereas it is difficult to learn the native language of every country
we provide services to or send goods to, it is possible to communicate freely through the
medium of English (Sun 2018).
The survey was an eye-opining tool regarding the students’ opinion on their
experience and expectation of the TVTC English curriculum. Although, the method of
sending the questionnaire online helped in saving of time though it also led to a loss of a few
data as some of the graduates did not answer it. Yet the data collected were valuable. As
shown above, this method has its limits in providing a reliable data as some questions were
ignored and some answers contradicted with others. Thus, other forms of data collecting must
be presented in the future in investigating this paper. With a few modifications in the method
of collection of data there could be achieving of greater reliability in the evidence collected.
Evidences are the base of research study and it is important that the method is sound, accurate
which yields trusted results which has longer validity (Sauro 2011).

Reference
Sauro, J. (2011). MeasuringU: Survey Items Should Include A Neutral
Response: Agree, Disagree, Undecided?. Retrieved from
https://measuringu.com/neutral-option/
Kong, Y. (2018). A Discussion on the Curriculum Design of College English and Its
Effective Implementation Based on the Need Analysis. Theory and Practice in Language
Studies, 8(9), 1200-1207.
Sun, L. (2018, March). Curriculum Development of College English Followup Courses
Based on Need Analysis. In 2nd International Conference on Culture, Education and
Economic Development of Modern Society (ICCESE 2018). Atlantis Press.