Investigating the Aims of University Departments of English in Iraq

Abstract

In order to measure the success of the educational process of teaching English language in university departments, the aims of these departments should be acheived. The aims of university departments of English give sights, descriptions and information about what is happening in these departments. This study addressed the following questions: (1) What are the aims of the Colleges of Education for Human Sciences, Colleges of Basic Education, Colleges of Languages and Colleges of Arts in which English is taught? (2) What are the aims of university departments of English in the above colleges in Iraq?  (3) To what extent are the aims of the English departments in different colleges consistent with those of their corresponding colleges?

 The aims of this study include the following: (1) Listing the aims of university departments of English in Iraq.  (2) Listing the aims of the Colleges of Education for Human Sciences, Colleges of Basic Education, Colleges of Languages and Colleges of Arts   which teach English.  (3) Analyzing the aims of the university departments of English in Iraq to see   if they are consistent with the aims of the colleges. In this study, it is hypothesized that: (1) The aims of university departments of English are different in each college.  (2) The aims of the English departments in different colleges are not consistent with the aims of corresponding colleges. It concludes that all hypotheses of the study are proved. The study conclude that : (1) The aims of the above colleges differ because they are related to the type of graduates for Colleges of Education for Human Sciences and Colleges of Basic Education which graduate Teachers and university teachers and differ from the aims of other colleges. (2)The aims of the English Department in the Colleges of Education for the Human Sciences differ from the rest of the aims of the English Department in other colleges because it leads to graduate teachers as mentioned in the second point. (3) It is necessary to reformulate the aims of University Departments of English in order to coincide the aims of corresponding colleges in which departments of English are found.