Exploring Gifted Secondary School Students’ Needs for English Learning in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This exploratory paper investigated female gifted secondary school students’ needs for English Learning in Saudi Arabia. It has addressed a gap in the literature regarding English Learning needs analysis of gifted secondary school students in Saudi Arabia. It tries to answer the question: What are the needs of those students? The professional needs for English learning were collected through a need analysis questionnaire addressed to gifted secondary school students in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al-Baha in Saudi Arabia. The data analysis techniques for the descriptive statistics were frequency count, percentage, means, and standard deviations. The results revealed that gifted students need to learn English primarily to access the vast body of international scientific knowledge and research, to get international certificates in English, and to deal with the media, technology, and the Internet. In addition, this study specified students’ perceptions about the characteristics that should be included in English class, the difficulties they faced while studying language, and their suggestions for better English learning strategies. Furthermore, gifted students preferred to learn English from activities that resemble daily life situations and to learn at their own pace. The research results indicated that gifted students face difficulties in class, such as making mistakes and feeling bored because they already know the information. They have demonstrated a need to insert virtual learning environments into the curriculum. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education enable gifted students to study a tailored gifted curriculum in English and activate enrichment in and out of activities.