Nursing students’ information-seeking behavior in ESP courses: Do quality of education and reflective practice matter?

Abstract

Background: Quality of education plays a key role in the development of education. Having this perspective in mind the researchers explored the quality of ESP courses from ESP instructors point of views and investigated the role of quality of education of ESP courses in information-seeking behavior of the students. They also probed the possible relationship between EFL instructors reflective practice and the quality of ESP courses. Methods: 79 ESP instructors, were given the researcher- made quality of education in ESP and the English language teaching reflection inventories. At the end of the term, 317 nursing students received an information-seeking behavior questionnaire. To consolidate the findings, 15 volunteer students were interviewed. Results: Based on the findings, the quality of ESP courses as reported by ESP instructors was poor. As the responses to the questionnaire of quality of education in ESP revealed, the instructors reported that they do not have sufficient information on subject matters, the content of the lessons is not updated and is not motivating. It was also reported that not all language skills are included in the course and at the same time the teacher-centered courses are not communicative. Conclusions: It was disappointing to find that students are not encouraged to use resources other than their coursebook and their needs are not taken care of. The instructors reflective practice was also under the expected mean. It was also found that there was a significant correlation between EFL instructors reflective practice and the quality of ESP courses.