The curriculum of the four year English course offered in the faculties of Arts in yemeni universities: need for rethinking

Abstract

#A curriculum should reflect the needs of the students vis-a-vis their societal and economic needs. The courses offered on a programme based on the curriculum should attempt to fulfill those needs to a large extent. The teaching methods followed in the classes based on the curriculum should focus on the activities that enable the learners to achieve those needs. English is a foreign language in Yemen but the uses of English for Yemenis are on the increase and therefore more and more Yemenis, especially the youngsters, have started learning English; the increase in the number of students entering the English classes in the universities and the mushrooming of the 'English institutes' in the cities are an evidence to this trend. In this scenario, the curriculum of the four- year English course offered in the Faculties of Arts in the Yemeni universities is dismally poor in its fulfilling the needs of the learners; it stuffs them with too much literature and linguistics and fails to equip them for their future life. This article reviews the curriculum of the course to show that it lacks the job potential and suggest ways of strengthening the curriculum to make it need-based and purpose-oriented. This, the article points out, is the need of the hour, especially when this course attracts more girls in the present days and the government is concerned about the development of women of this country.