English Language Needs Of Student Entrepreneurs In Startup-based Master's Dissertations: An Esp Needs Analysis
Auteurs : Zahaf Fatima Zahra .
Résumé
The growing importance of students’ English language abilities in the process of startup creation has been caused by the increasing role of entrepreneurship in higher education. The elaboration of the master’s dissertations based on startups in Algeria has introduced new communicative needs that go beyond usual academic standards. This study examines the English language demands of master’s students who are working on startup-based dissertation projects according to the needs analysis theory of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The study also explores the gaps between the language skills required for entrepreneurship and the current language competency of the students. This study adopted a convergent parallel mixed methods design. The quantitative data were acquired by a questionnaire distributed to 50 masters students from different Algerian universities. The qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 student entrepreneurs. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used for data analysis, and findings were triangulated to provide a thorough knowledge of participants’ language needs. The findings reveal that English is mostly utilized for academic research, market studies, and for getting technical knowledge. However, some obstacles were highlighted in the productive communication skills in the context of pitching startup ideas, persuading investors and jury members, presentations, usage of specialized business vocabulary, and professional document preparation. The results also showed a huge difference between the students’ ability to retrieve information in English and the ability to transmit entrepreneurial knowledge successfully. The results of the study indicate that student entrepreneurs represent a special category of ESP learners with specialized communicative demands. It is recommended to create specific Entrepreneurial ESP programs including oral communication, professional writing, and startup communication assignments to foster entrepreneurial success
Mots clés
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) ; entrepreneurial communication ; needs analysis ; startup-based dissertations ; student entrepreneurs
