A CROSS SECTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF SELF-PERCEIVED ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AND BARRIERS TO IMPROVEMENT AMONG PHARMACY STUDENTS

Objective: The aims of this research were to determine pharmacy students' self-perceived English language proficiency level and barriers that affect the improvement of language proficiency among them. It also seeks to determine whether demographic variables such as gender and years of study will have any relationship to their self perceived and barriers towards language proficiency. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among pharmacy students at University of Balochistan, Quetta. The validated research questionnaire was used as the tool for gathering the required data. The data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences v. 20. Results: All but half of the students reported that they can communicate self-assuredly in English and a total of 69.7% respondents self-perceived that they have no problem in reading English materials. In the response of support from family and university in improving respondents' English language, 74.2% of the respondents (n=330) agree that their families encourage them to improve English language while 60% of the respondents (n=267) disagree that there is lack of support from university. In this study, gender does not show any significant association with their English language proficiency. Respondents' English language proficiency is significantly associated with their years of studies (p<0.05) in four of the survey items which are: their ability to communicate fluently in English, write effectively in English, satisfactoriness of self know-how for clearing exams and to present various assignments. The barriers that affect the improvement in English language proficiency among pharmacy students have been identified to be the self-reliance of explaining their viewpoint and lack of time. Conclusion: The present study managed to distinguished areas of trepidation among the respondents for recuperating their English proficiency. Therefore, faculty members and policy makers have to design certain interventions so that the students can advance to better language proficiency.