Investigating Current Undergraduate English Syllabuses' Shortcomings that Impede Communicative Competence Promotion in Sudanese Universities

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the shortcomings of undergraduate English syllabuses that impede communicative competence promotion in College of Education first year in Sudan University of sciences and Technology. The researcher adopts a mixed methodology of research. The study manipulates the descriptive analytic approach of the research methodology. A questionnaire is distributed to fifty of the staff members from two Sudanese universities to gather quantitative data. The investigator also manipulates an observation checklist to scrutinize the college of Education first year English syllabuses to check their compromise with communicative approach principles (CAPS) and to collect qualitative data. Later, the collected data of the two tools have been analyzed statistically to check whether they assert the hypotheses of the study or not. The study adopts Statistic Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) technique. The findings of the study indicate that current English syllabuses in the College of Education in Sudan University of Sciences and Technology are not prepared enough to develop the students' communicative competence. That is attributed to the shortcomings of the syllabuses design like language-based syllabuses and lack of thorough application of communicative approach principles. Therefore, students are unable to communicate with English Language in real life situations. Students' inability is attributed to structural nature of the syllabuses and the traditional teaching methods, too. The researcher recommends the syllabus developers to avoid structural syllabus designing, focusing on grammar and teacher-centered instruction, and to apply CAPS. The researcher asks investigators to carry out further investigations in CAPS constraints of application and language knowledge versus language use.