An English Language Bridge Course as a Project Outcome

On the basis of the overall analysis of the academic results of Bachelor's degree first year students at Mahendra Ratna Multiple Campus, Ilam in the then-preceding three years (2010-2012) it was identified that the failure in Compulsory English had had a considerable share for the low pass rate in all the three faculties (Education, Humanities and Management) offering the subject. With an aim to minimize the failure rate the campus authority assigned the author to prepare an English language bridge course to be commonly implemented in all the three faculties for a month before the actual classes started. In such a situation, the first task for the author was to analyze and identify the English language learning needs common to the learners from those faculties. This paper highlights how, as a process of research, those common needs were identified to be used as the contents of the course; what methodology was used; how the inadequacy of materials was dealt with; and how the assessment aspect was designed. One important message stemming out of the endeavor was that it is sometimes pointless to seek a theory or philosophy to be based on before beginning a project, or during the process: a theory is ultimately a generalization observed in this world rather than something imported from another planet. However, the paper also sets out to pinpoint and assess the theory and principles underlying the then-pragmatically developed course aimed fundamentally at fulfilling the immediate institutional need.