AWEJ Volume.5 Number.3, 2014                                                                         Pp.343-353

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Teaching English to Cadets in Police Colleges and Academies in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf: Theory and Practice 

 

 

 Mohammed Nasser Alhuqbani
Department of Languages and Translation
KingFahdSecurityCollege
Saudi Arabia

  Abstract
Within the theory and practice of English for Specific Purposes, this study attempted to compare and contrast the teaching of English to police cadets in police colleges and academies in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. The participant police colleges wereKingFahdSecurityCollegeinSaudi Arabia,Kuwait Police College,QatarPolice College, and DubaiPoliceCollege. Data was collected through analyzing the policy of these colleges in teaching English to their police cadets as displayed on their websites and in their official documents. The analysis of the results indicated that these police institutions vary in the way they introduce English to their would-be-police officers.  Overall, English courses and teachings are not in line with the theory and practice of English for Specific Purposes.  These colleges did not base their English teaching on their police cadets’ needs and the situations in which they will possibly use English.  The results also showed that teaching English is traditional in that English is still taught as a subject in the curriculum, which makes instructions and practice limited in terms of the hours taught.  The study concludes with recommendations that can be used by these colleges to improve the teaching of English to their police cadets.
Key WordsEnglish for Specific Purposes, Needs Analysis, Police Cadets,Police Colleges

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Mohammed Nasser Alhuqbani is an associate professor and chair of the Department of
Languages and Translation at King Fahd Security College, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He received
his BS in English language and Literature in 1994 from the College of Education, King Faisal
University in Alhasa, Saudi Arabia. He received his MA in Applied Linguistics/English
Teaching in 1999 from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. He obtained his
PhD in Applied Linguistics in 2004 from Boston University, Massachusetts, USA. Dr.
Alhuqbani has published four books and several scholarly papers in local and international
journals. His current research interests include, but not limited to, ESP, discourse analysis,
forensic linguistics, bilingualism and language program planning and evaluation.