Saudi Student and Teacher Perceptions of Poor High School Results and Overall Proficiency in English

English is the only foreign language taught in Saudi schools as part of the mandatory curriculum and therefore enjoys a relatively high status” (Carfax Educational Projects, 2016, p. 10). The teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL/L2) within the basic curriculum of Saudi Arabia commences in the fourth grade. However, in spite of the best efforts of the Saudi Ministry of Education (MoE) to develop English learning in schools, the language proficiency of Saudi high school leavers remains insufficient to carry out even basic interactions, let alone undertake university study through the medium of English (Al-Johani, 2009; Al-Seghayer, 2014; Alhawsawi, 2013; Alrabai, 2016; Khan, 2011; Rajab, 2013). In fact, the recent Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT, 2017) demonstrated an overall average score of 64 of 120 for Saudis who took the TOEFL iBT between January and December 2016. This paper therefore seeks to examine the factors responsible for the low EFL performance of Saudi students on completion of their high school studies. In order to do so, the researcher randomly selected 60 school leavers and 30 teachers who responded to an interview designed to elicit the underlying causes of such poor English proficiency. The results revealed that the reasons fall into a number of discrete categories related to the student, the teacher, the learning environment, and the curriculum.

the level of proficiency actually represented by a score of 69 or determine its adequacy in any absolute sense.
Thirdly, and finally, it may be possible to prescribe a benchmark of proficiency and attainment for school leavers in EFL countries and measure Saudi school leavers against this standard. Such a level needs to be defined in an absolute way; for example, in relation to measures of vocabulary size or an established international classification system of levels of English ability such as the widely used Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). English proficiency level purported as suitable for school leavers in any country is one which allows a learner to begin to operate as an independent user of the language, such as reading authentic non-specialist English texts like newspapers or popular novels without excessive difficulty. That corresponds to CEFR level B2 and a vocabulary size of perhaps 5000 words (Laufer & Ravenhorst-Kalovski, 2010). Another way of approaching this is to consider the proficiency level which universities in English-speaking countries like the US and UK take as the minimum requirement for students entering BA programmes. Again, this is typically CEFR B2, which equates with IELTS scores in the range 5.5-6.5 (IELTS, 2019), and a minimum of TOEFL iBT 72 (Papageorgiou et al., 2015). On this basis, the average Saudi testeeiBT score of 69 exceeds the ability than school leavers and falls short of the requisite 72. This is supported by studies including that of Al-Masrai and Milton (2012), who found that Saudi freshmen (first year, level 2) studying English at university had assimilated an average of only 1650 to 3000 English words. While their vocabulary knowledge had extended to 3000 to 5000 words by the time they graduated from their B.A. programme, this level of attainment is actually the target for school leavers.
Thus, the question remains: why does Saudi high school leavers' English language performance fall beneath the required MoE level and that of most other countries? To date, considerable commentary and research has attributed the low efficiency of EFL learning in school in Saudi Arabia to a diversity of multidimensional factors. The present study will therefore outline a number of factors held to contribute to this phenomenon and provide new evidence from data elicited from students and teacher interviews in order to address and overcome these barriers and to improve the learning of English as a Foreign Language across schools in Saudi Arabia.

Previous Research on Factors Leading to Low English Proficiency of High School Leavers
The various studies which have sought to investigate this topic include that of Al-Nasser (2015). He concluded that teaching and learning English in Saudi Arabia faces many challenges and barriers, not least the interference of the mother-tongue as Arabic and English belong to completely different language groups. However, since comparable Arab countries such as Oman, Bahrain, and Palestine score higher on the iBT, and the many other higher scoring countries where the L1 is also vastly different from English (e.g., Thailand and Taiwan) this does not satisfactorily explain Saudi learners' weak performance. This study comprised approximately 65 Saudi Arabian participants and used semi-structured interviews to elicit both reflections on their English academic writing skills and perceptions of how preparation for academic study at English medium universities could be improved.

Purpose of the Current Study and Research Questions
Eight years of mandatory state school study equates to 720 contact hours of English language instruction. Yet in the majority of cases, high school leavers are unable to either speak or write an error-free sentence in English or attain a sufficient threshold level of English proficiency to advance to higher levels, such as CEFR B2. While this issue has been explained in a number of ways, the argument of insufficient teaching allocation can be immediately refuted since authoritative recommendations concur that approximately 600 hours should suffice to progress from A1 beginner through A2 and B1 to B2 in the CEFR English proficiency framework (Cambridge Assessment English, 2019). While other explanations have examined the competence of teachers, the suitability of teaching methods, student motivation, the adequacy of the syllabus/textbook, and sundry additional elements, their research is not exhaustive. Furthermore, many explanations are informed by subjective opinions without support from evidence or argument, and the supposed "factors" have been neither properly assembled nor critically reviewed to allow for a comprehensive overview to be made and/or the optimum recommendations to remedy the impasse. While the various educational bodies have held conferences, seminars, and courses to devise appropriate solutions for the causes of unsatisfactory student attainment, this study aims to review and advance knowledge of appropriate solutions to this challenge. As such, it explores the following questions:

1) Why do most Saudi students leave high school with inadequate proficiency in English?
2) Why do Saudi students fail to assimilate the English language effectively during their many years of study in school?
3) What recommendations can we make to the relevant stakeholders to address the problems of learning English in Saudi secondary schools?

Key Terms
STUDENT: a person studying at state school in Saudi Arabia.
LOW/POOR: of lesser degree, size, or amount than is expected at a particular educational level, such as the conclusion of high school.
PROFICIENCY: a level of English knowledge and skill measured independently of any particular course of instruction on an internationally recognized scale which rates from zero to native speaker-like. ACHIEVEMENT: the degree to which a student has mastered the knowledge and skill delivered by a previous course of English instruction, as measured by the exams associated with that course.

Objectives
Through my ongoing interest in linguistics and student activities I observed that English language learning consistently falls beneath the requisite standards, and thus set out to determine the root causes of such poor attainment which I ultimately attributed to either one or any combination of the following factors: student level of interest; teacher efficiency; parents and/or learning environment. In light of this, the present study aims to formulate solutions for this problem. As such, my goal was to extend the scope of my enquiries among samples of all grades in secondary schools to elucidate the current situation and devise practical solutions which contribute to the high school student challenges of learning the English language. Since mastery of English language skills is a foremost priority, it is hoped that rather than just scraping through their final exams, higher standards may be achieved. In short: the objective of this research was to directly confront the problem faced by students in Saudi schools and to offer practicable and systematic solutions to facilitate the best possible learning outcomes. Moreover, the study sought to provide recommendations and proposals to enhance the capabilities of Saudi school students, to raise the standard of English in a well-structured academic environment, and to build upon previous studies which effectively engaged with the issue.

Context
English as an educational subject was introduced in the late 1950s (Al-Shammary, 1984) and remains the only foreign language routinely taught in Saudi Arabian schools. Al-Johani (2009)  It is here noted that many local private schools negatively impact overall student achievement and English proficiency in particular, by employing poorly qualified teachers and awarding inflated grades despite low level performance. A number of international schools in Saudi Arabia are governed by embassies, while others are privately run and host multiple curricula under a single roof. Thus, many local parents opt to send their children to these schools in the misguided belief that the tuition will be superior to state school and due of the international importance of the English language. b. The data collection instrument used in this study is a structuredinterview: arigidly organised interview with a pre-determined schedule designed to avoid any possible bias of either researcher or interviewee.
c. Interview questions were designed to elicit the reasons behind the low English proficiency of Saudi high school leavers following eight years of English instruction.

Results
This section presents and elucidates the results of the study in relation to the extant literature in this field. The comparison of the views of students and teachers which were used as a means to pinpoint possible overlaps and reasons which fall into the following categories:

Student reasons for their low proficiency in English:
1) The absence of an educational goal. It is clear that most of the students learn English just to pass the exam and move from one grade to another. In other words, most of the students do not perceive or accept that higher goal of deferred gratification. For instance, even when aiming to pursue a degree course they do not see any great need to learn English as they assume it will be taught through the medium of Arabic.
2) Absence of motivation or incentives among students.
3) Students do not take the subject seriously.
4) Neglect of the student. 5) General lack of student enthusiasm to learn English.
6) The practice of language is usually confined to English classes.

7)
There is a large volume of students in the class.
8) There is no consideration for differences in ability among students. 9) The absence of reading English books or opportunities to listen/watch to English programmes.
10) The existence of psychological barrier: e.g., student reluctance to talk to others in simple English when opportunities to do so present themselves. 11) Lack of understanding the importance of learning English language worldwide, and other languages in general.
12) Fear of potential embarrassment through mispronunciation or misreading aloud in the classroom.
13) Spelling poses a serious problem for a large number of students, mainly in terms of ability to pronounce/spell words correctly as English sounds/phonetics are substantively different from those of Arabic.

Teacher reasons for low student proficiency in English:
1) Weak preparation of English teachers who are generally untrained in linguistics and thus focus on progressing students through the exam system.
2) Difficulties with teaching methods and inability to access the subject correctly.
3) Heavy volume of contact teaching hours per week.

5) Negative implications by the teacher.
6) Non-native speaker teachers. 7) Use of L1 (Arabic Language) as medium of teaching English.
8) Lack of teacher attention to weaker students' errors.
9) Poor performance of tests.

School reasons for low student proficiency in English:
1) Lack of appropriate environment and educational aids such as language laboratories and so on.
2) Lack of modern education techniques in schools.

5) Lack of means and resources.
6) While private schools routinely award students inflated marks in English, students attain considerably lower marks in both the national exams (Giyas) and/or in international exams (TOEFL).

Family environment reasons for low student proficiency in English:
1) Disinterested parents.
2) No knowledge of the English language to assist or practice with their children.
3) Family estimation of the importance of the subject.

Curricula reasons for low student proficiency in English:
1) Analysis of the textbooks used has shown that even if the students learned everything in them they could still not attain the required vocabulary size for B2. Since the MoE selects and prescribes all textbooks and syllabi, this suggests that they have not fully considered the optimum attainment level.
2) The weakness or inappropriateness of curriculum relevance to the stated objectives.
3) The difficulty of assimilating audio texts which students cannot tune in to on English radio or television programmes.
4) The evaluation of all textbooks and teaching materials in terms of their efficacy to meet the needs of the learners.
5) The absence of English reading materials or English programmes to listen to or watch.

Discussion
The findings above reveal a number of reasons for poor performance which are related to students perceptions and rationales. These findings align with those of Sajjadllah Alhawsawi (2013) and Ahmed Sulaiman Al-Nasser (2015) and underscore that students English learning needs and objectives must be identified and addressed. Students should be made aware of the centrality of learning English going forward rather than merely satisfying transitory high school requirements. To this end, considerable efforts are needed to modify student thinking and attitudes towards learning English as students are the core of learning.
There is also a widely-heldview that students of English under-achieve because their teachers of English are inadequately trained. Since teachers clearly play a vital role in delivering English language skills, it follows that approaches which do not conform to modern teaching can exert a negative impact on students' understanding of English in their correct form. From personal experience, it is all too apparent that very few teachers of English in the Saudi context attend the specialized language-teacher programmes or pre-service and in-service training which facilitate effective, interesting, and smooth learning. Indeed, Britten (cited in Murdoch, 1994) purports that novice teachers must be fully skilled and equipped. To this end, they must be trained in the use of audio-visual aids, introducing grammatical structures, posing questions and handling student responses, along with the use of teaching dialogues, group work activities organization, and other innovative strategies.
The rubrics and resources of individual schools, and in particular, those of private institutions, combined with the additional burdens of extracurricular activities, can weigh heavily on the teacher and delimit the realization of educative goals. Curriculum deficiencies, including both shortcomings in the curriculum and additional factors related to the language itself and the framework of a general educational system which often lacks clarity around the roles of learner and parents, can also give rise to further constraints. Studies of the local examination process demonstrate many weaknesses due to the fact that they are moderated by individual teachers and thus lack an objective and professionalised MoE system to set and grade national end of year exams. Hence, the exams do not properly adhere to the prescribed curriculum. Instead watered-down local arrangements such as testing a single unit and even telling the students which unit that will be, are the norm. This essential lack of backstop fosters little incentive for students to study properly in order to pass the exam (Scholfield, 2019).
Social and cultural factors greatly influence people's ideas and behaviors, and include the mother-language and collectively imbedded mores and beliefs. Despite the traditionally held view to the contrary however, there is absolutely no evidence that learning the English langauge affects students' potential to learn Arabic, especially among younger age groups, or that exposure to English language or culture displaces local language, culture, customs, and/or Saudi identity. The use of Arabic as a medium of education (L1) in language classes has been criticized for encouraging students to think positively about the L1 language, which eventually leads to a completely opposite result. Nonetheless L1 has been widely used in teaching English with 75% of teachers reporting the use of Arabic to teach English in school. This practice inevitably compromises the expected results, giving rise to disappointing final outcomes that are merely exacerbated by an outmoded examination system which compels the student to blindly memorize rather than fully understand and hone their English language skills.

Recommendations
1) Break the fear barrier of the students and develop a smoother approach to appeal to them.
2) Upskill teachers with the latest scientific methods.
3) Create innovative teaching approaches that help students to improve their language skills.
4) The integrated skills adoption of English language curriculum from early elementary stage. 5) Adoption of good English language curricula beside modern systems.
6) Evaluation and motivation prior to examining and questioning students. 7) Audiovisual means used in the classroom.
8) Individual assessment of students to identify and address weaknesses. 9) Periodic intensive English training and activities to boost low standards of student proficiency and skills.

Conclusion
In summary, the study postulated a number of reasons for the low standard of English language attainment among the Saudi students and demonstrated why most of them leave schools with low proficiency. In so doing, the researcher has outlined the ongoing problems and contributed to the development of potential solutions. It is evident that student skills and abilities are of vital importance since Saudi student must learn English as a Second Language (L2) in order to remain abreast of global