The English Programme

There are three main elements to the English Programme in the Colleges of Applied Sciences: the Foundation Programme, the Year 1 English for Academic Purposes Programme and the Year 2 English for Specific Purposes Programme. These three components are designed to address the changing needs of the students as they progress through the college: for General English at Foundation Level,  for Academic English at Year 1, and for Specialist English at Year 2.

The Foundation Programme

The Foundation Programme follows the Oman Accreditation Council's General Foundation Programme Standards, and includes English, Maths, Computers and Study Skills. The English component, which is afforded the bulk of the study time, is designed to take entrants from roughly 3.0/3.5 on the IELTS scale to 4.5 by the time they exit.

The structure of the Foundation Programme is shown in Table 1 below, which illustrates normal academic progression through the programme for students entering at each of the three levels at the beginning of the academic year.

 Table 1. CoAS Foundation Programme  Structure 

Students are grouped according to scores on a placement test. Level C is the lowest and is aimed at elementary level students. Level B is aimed at pre-intermediate and Level A at intermediate learners. Successful completion of the Level A exit assessments is benchmarked at 4.5 on the IELTS scale.

Each Level offers 20 hours of General English and 2 hours per week of Study Skills training, except at Level C where the Study Skills hours are devoted to additional General English as shown in Table 2 below.

 Table 2: Weekly hours allocation 

Following a directive from Her Excellency the Minister each college has selected its own materials for Foundation though all colleges have worked towards a common set of learning objectives.

Assessment is through final examination (50%) and continuous assessment (50%).

The Year 1 EAP Programme

There are two courses in Year 1, ENG 1111 and ENG 1222. Both focus on English for Academic Purposes (academic reading, writing, speaking and listening). The programme was designed by Victoria University of Wellington based on the College English series by Houghton Mifflin. Table 3 below shows the working allocation of hours per skill though the course is taught as a whole and teachers focus attention where needs are greatest.

Table 3: Weekly hours allocation

Assessment is through final examination (50%) and continuous assessment (50%).

The Year 2 ESP Programme

There are five courses in Year 2, ENG 2221 which is a common course for students of all majors and 2222, 2233, 2244 and 2255 which offer English for Specific Purposes courses to the Business, Design, IT and Communications Programmes.  The programme was designed by Victoria University of Wellington based on the College English series by Houghton Mifflin and ESP materials created by Victoria.

Table 4 below shows the working allocation of hours per skill, though the course is taught as a whole, and teachers focus attention where needs are greatest.

                                                Table 4: Weekly hours allocation

Assessment is through final examination (50%) and continuous assessment (50%).