Reflection of thinking skills and learning objectives in English for specific purposes subjects in humanities and science faculties in a Malaysian private university

Having a good command of the English Language and being able to think critically are important aspects to prepare university students for their internship as well as the working world. Hence, it is essential that English for Specific Purposes (ESP) subjects have thinking skills integrated in their learning objectives. The categorisation of thinking skills are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and incorporated in the setting of final examination question and coursework components. This study aimed to find out the types of thinking skills reflected in the final examination questions in both English for Specific Purposes (ESP) subjects offered in the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Humanities. It also looks at the reflection of learning objectives in the final examination questions and coursework components for the respective ESP subjects. The content data analysis method was employed to look into the documents used in the assessment for these subjects. Member checking and peer debriefing sessions were held with 3 faculty members to strengthen the validity of the data as interviews and observations were not able to be done. The sessions helped to confirm the accuracy of the open codes created for this study as well as answer questions pertaining to the rationale of setting the types of questions and coursework components. The rationale behind the methods of assessments used for coursework components was also done using both member checking and peer debriefing. In terms of the reading comprehension questions, the thinking skills found in English for Communication (ENG 101) and English for Media (ENG 102) are mostly in the lower level (LOTS). When compared to English for Sciences (ENG 106), the questions are more on the moderate (MOTS) and high (HOTS) levels. The graphical interpretation section for ENG 102, ENG 201 and ENG 106 reflect the same types of thinking skills,which are the MOTS and HOTS. However, the only difference is the graphs found in ENG 106 have more relevance to the programs offered in that faculty whereas the others are more general, with the exception of some that are more related to the field of Psychology. On the other hand, for the coursework components, the thinking skills infused were mostly of the moderate to high level in comparison with the final examination questions for the ESP subjects in this study. Among the components, it wasfound that the project and article review reflected the learning objectives and had the reflection of all the thinking skills. The nature of these coursework components allowed students to have a transition from the Low Order Thinking Skills to High Order Thinking Skills. As a conclusion, coursework components play a bigger role in the reflection of thinking skills and learning objectives. The theory generated from the analysis of data showed that the transition from Low Order Thinking Skills to High Order Thinking Skills can only be reflected in a more obvious manner through coursework. Hence, the allocation should be made 60% instead of the present 40%. In order to enable students to be more effective thinkers and reflect on their learning process, coursework is a much better way compared to examinations. This makes sustainable learning a reality and students would also be more appreciative of the ESP subjects.

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