Problems in English Communicating Skills for Learners of English Dr .

This paper is devoted to presenting the methods in English communicating skills for Learners of English in general and the problems specific to University of Bahri. English language major’s graduates then; i t discusses the notion of communicative competence, and defines strategic competence. It also briefly deals with the various definitions of communication strategies and taxonomies of conversation strategies. Also, I give brief definition of the word conversation, that is the act of talking together or exchange ideas, opinions, skills, and information. As accustomed, speaking is natural and automatic but communication is an art which must be learned and practiced. Also the aim of this paper is to present you with suitable suggestions about how you can solve problems while reading English? In order to comply with this objective: we considered two variables. The first one is that within our daily practice at the university we have students with different abilities while reading English. Therefore, we need to help them increase the ability in reading comprehension. However, we don’t have enough teachers and needed resources to supply them with the help they need. The second variable is related to the fact that at University there are different centers where the students’ skills can improve and their reading comprehension skills deficiencies could be overcome by getting help from the teachers. This study is small component of a larger curriculum review exercise. The findings of study in general suggest that both students and English language lecturers were in agreement that Sudanese students had a problem in writing and speaking English and due to that the conversational problems are raised. Finally, the paper concludes by representing the pedagogical implications of conversation strategies.

Many studies have been concluded in Jordan to investigative lexical syntactical and phonological errors made by Jordanian school learners of English (e.g.. Abdul Haq. 1982: Zughoul andTamniman. 1984). Abdul Haq (1982:1) states that "One of the linguistic areas in which students in the secondary cycle commit errors is in the writing skill". He adds "There are general outcomes about the continuous deterioration of the standards of English proficiency of students among school teachers, university instructors and all who are concerned with English language teaching." In support of Abdul Haq's view, Zughoul (1984:4) finds that "Jordanian English as a Foreign Language student commits serious lexical errors while communicating in English." The ministry of education in Jordan has specified goals of teaching English at the secondary stage. Among such goals, students should be able to write English passages that are grammatically correct, properly punctuated and effectively organized. They are also expected to understand and communicate using a variety of notion and linguistic functions based on everyday situations. Accordingly, all Jordanian secondary school graduates are expected to develop native-like facility in English. Which will enable them to communicate spontaneously, effectively and confidently about a board range of topics (Jayyusi et al. 1990)? The result of the studies conducted in Jordan lead to the conclusion that the goals set by the Ministry of Education are ambitions and have not yet been achieved.
In Sudan Kambal (1980) analyzes errors in three types of free composition written by first-year Sudanese University students. The study gives an account of the major syntactic errors in the verb phrase and the noun phrase made by these students in attempt to improve the quality out the remedial English programs in the context of the Arabization in Sudan.
Kambal (ibid) reports on three main types of error in the verb phrase: verb information, tense, and subject-verb agreement. He discusses errors in these under five categories: tense sequences, tense substitution, tense marker, deletion, and confusion of perfect tenses. With regard to subjectverb agreement three types of errors were identified. These involve the third-person singular, marker used redundantly, and the incorrect form of verb to be similarly. Egyptian learners of English face problems. But the majority of these problems are related to pronunciation. Wahba (1998:36) summarizes problems: Egyptian students face certain problems related to pronunciation some of these problems are related to stress. Other is related intonation. However, most of these problems can be attributed to the differences in pronunciation between English and Arabic.
In Yemen. The situation is almost the same as in the other Arab countries Abbad (1988:15) admits the weakness of Yemani learners of English, and adds that "in spite of the low proficiency level in English of most applicants, they are accepted into the department" this is what happens in most of the Arab universities. English language departments accept high school graduates. Without taking into consideration their proficiency level and whether or not they will be able to manage in a program of English studies.
Above all, another important area of difficulty that Sudanese learners of English have communication, Sudanese learners find it difficult to communicate freely in the target language. This maybe due to the methods of language teaching. It can be also due to the learning environment.
Which some judges to be unsuitable for learning a foreign language? This is noticeable in Jordan where the formal language of communication is Arabic language. My experience in teaching English as a foreign language in schools, university and other educational institutions in Sudan -Khartoum led me to believe that English language majors/ graduates in Sudan have difficulties in using English for communication when engaged in authentic commutative situation, they often lake the necessary vocabulary, the need to get their meaning across as a result, they cannot keep the interaction going for an extended period of time.
There have been several complaints made about the weakness in English of school graduates who join the universities as English language major or English language learners. Because of the seriousness of the problem. The first Conference on the problems of teaching English language and Literature at Arab Universities was held at the university of Jordan / Amman in 1983 Many papers were presented at the conference, (1983) . Zughoul (1983) and Mukattash (1983).
Mukattash (1983) divides the problems that Arab learners of English face into two types. First, university students continue to make some basic errors in pronunciation.. spelling, morphology and syntax. Secondly, they continue to be enabled to express themselves "comfortably and efficiently either when dealing with academic topics" or " common everyday topic (1983:169). He argues that the students' major difficulty arises from the fact that they cannot use English correctly and appropriately in and out the classroom when required to do so. This means that the difficulty is related to the students' deficiencies in communicative competence and self-expression. He also attributes the students' failure in using English as a tool of self-expression to achieve their communicative goals to study plans and methods of teaching (1983:169).

Causes of Arab Weaknesses:
The weakness of English language learners in general. And English language department majors, graduates more specifically, has been attributed to various factors: lack of permit information on the part of school graduates when they join the university, school and English language department curricula, teaching, teaching methodology, lack of the target language environment, and the learners' lack of motivation ( Zughoul (ibid.) claims also that rarely does a department of English in certain country offer solid language training. i.e. training reading comprehension. Listening comprehension, term paper writing, or speech. In fact, the curriculum assumes that the incoming student is proficient in the language and that he does not need any other language training, indeed. Is a very unrealistic assumption (Zughoul. 1989:223).
Furthermore, about one-third of Bachelor degree courses are taught in Arabic, especially in Faculties of Arts and Education. These courses include Islamic Studies, Arabic, Social Studies, History, Computer Science and Education. I think that the remainder of the course is not enough to help graduates communicate freely and effectively in the target language. They are thus, Likely to face difficulties in their Performance. I suggest that it would be more helpful if such courses were taught in English rather than in Arabic. In discussing ways of learning a foreign language. Holliday (et at) say In Nigeria. English is used in almost all the teaching in high schools. This has two important results; in the first place the first place the quantity of classroom experience that each pupil receives is much greater outside the English lesson than within it. Some people have said that if the English language lessons were removed entirely from the schools in Nigeria little or no effect would be noticed on the ability of the pupils in English when they came to leave schools, But, in the second place the children are influenced by class teachers other than those who are trained in English. If those teachers' English is not very good the pupils will suffer. Teaching in a language is an excellent way of teaching a language, but all those who teach subjects in the foreign language need to be able to perform well in themselves." (Holliday et al ..

1984:18).
If this is the case in high schools, it would be even more advisable to use English in teaching all the courses at university level. I am therefore, of the opinion that all university courses except Arabic language course (s) should be taught in English. Which would certainly improve the English major& linguistic ability, which would in turn, improve their communicative competence.
Lack of knowledge on the Part of the incoming English majors could be another reason for this phenomenon Suleiman (1983: 128) claims that school graduates lack the knowledge necessary for them to communicate. Basing his arguments on his observations and his personal experience, he claims that transition from an introductory level. i.e. .. school, to more advanced level. i.e .. the university, is "as difficult as passing from the lack of knowledge to an introductory lever". Zughoul (1987:224) supports Suleiman's point of view when he questions the competence of the incoming students: "In fact, it can be safely generalized that the linguistic competence of the incoming student and for that matter, even the graduate from a university, does not enable him to make sense of a literary piece, let alone appreciate it." Suleiman (1983:129) argues that the most noticeable problems, which impede the progress of Arab students at university level may be authentic to the "inadequate mastery of the four language skills; namely listening. Speaking, reading and writing." This supports Zughoul's (1987) who states that English language departments should offer solid language training, Suleiman (1983) adds that the major problem faced by students who attend the university is that they find it difficult to communicate in the target language. According to Suleiman, mother tongue interference is not the only factor responsible for the difficulty, but also may be attributed to the teaching learning process as a whole.
In order for language learners to use the language more successfully, they should be involved in reallife situations. Unfortunately, in Jordan as well as most Arab countries, English is used only as an academic subject, when taught in schools or universities. Without practice, English or any other language cannot be acquired. English Language Department graduates do not have enough practice in English: they use Arabic most of the time even after becoming English language teachers. They only use English whom they encounter a situation where they are obliged (forced) to use English as a medium of communication and this hardly ever happens, we may therefore come to the conclusion that most of those graduates' speaking time is in Oral masterly depends on practicing and repeating the patterns produced by a native speaker of the foreign language. It is the most economical way of thoroughly learning a language.. When one has such a control of the essentials of a language, he can almost automatically produce the usual patterns of that language (1984: I 6).
This shows the importance of using the target language in language teaching. Teachers of English in Jordan use Arabic to teach difficult words and to explain English literature. Vocabulary items are still taught in isolation though the Communicative Language Teaching approach stresses the importance of teaching vocabulary items in context. Listening materials are not used by the majesty (greatness) of school teachers, most probably because of the limited number of cassette recorders and the large number of teachers at the same school. Therefore, teachers try to read dialogues to their students, and this does not provide the learners with the necessary native speaker model.
This also denotative learners and makes them bored Dialogues are designed to be read by two or three partners, not by the teacher alone, who would read role A and role B with the same voice and intonation, a by-product of the audio-lingual method. Which was used in Jordan until the early eighties? Teachers were taught by this method. So they use it in their teaching. I feel that the Teachertraining programs were not very successful in changing the teachers' methodology. The adopted methodology is claimed to be eclectic and focuses on communicative approaches to language teaching. But because of teachers' practices in the classroom, it is more likely a grammar translation method.
Lack of the target language exposure as spoken by its native speakers could be another reason for the English majors' weakness in communication.
Before 1983, the English Language Department at Yarmouk University used to bring over American groups in summer to teach two English language courses. They used to teach 'English Pronunciation' and 'Stress and Intonation courses in which students attended tutorials all day long. It was called "The English Village." Most of the students' speakingtime was in English since they were exposed to the target language as presented by its native speakers. That was a very helpful experience for English majors. Unfortunately, the English Department there is no longer interested in having this practice. i.e. to achieve a goal. e.g. a career. It is true that some learners are interactively motivated, but they are a minority. According to Seed house (1996: 69). Those with integrative motivation have a genuine interest in 'the target speech community which the learner is "aspiring to become a member or I do not think, however, that there are many English majors who desire to be part of an English-speaking community. It might be true that a few of them have such desire, but the majority of English majors join the English department because it is easier for them to get a job with a BA in English than in any other specialization.
To conclude this section, it is obvious that Arab learners or English and English language majors in the Arab world universities encounter many communication problems either in writing or speaking. This problem is very serious and it needs a solution. Research conducted so far has Proven the importance of the development of strategic competence. i.e., the use of communication strategies to solve problems encountered during the course of communication. Thus, the following sections will deal with strategic competence, communication strategies, taxonomies of CSs and how they lead to learning, and their pedagogical implications.

Communicative Competence:
The ultimate goal of English language teaching is to develop the learners' communicative competence which will enable them to communicate successfully in the real world. Successful Tarone and Yule (1959:103) believe that strategic competence includes "the ability to select an effective means of performing a communicative act u ... strategic competence is gauged, not by degree of correctness, but rather by degree of success, or effectiveness." According to Throne and Yule (ibid), there are two areas related to strategic competence: (1) The overall skill of a learner in successfully transmitting information to a listener, or interpreting information transmitted and (2) the use of communication strategies by a speaker or listener when problems arise in the process of transmitting information (p.103).

Defining Communication Strategies:
It is difficult to find a rigorous definition of communication strategies on which Cs researchers have reached an agreement. There have been many definitions proposed for the communication strategies of second language learners. The following definitions will provide an insight into the nature of communication strategies: Learners' attempt to bridge the gap between their linguistic competence in the target language and that of the target language interlocutors (Tarone. 1981 : 288).
CSs are potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal t'Faerch and Kasper, : 1983: p36).
Communication strategies, i.e., techniques of coping with difficulties in communicating in an imperfectly known second language (Stern, 1983: 411).
All attempts to manipulate a limited linguistic system in order to promote communication. Should learning result from the exercise, the strategy has also functioned as. a learning s1rategy, but there is no inherent /feature of the strategy itself of which can determine which of these roles it will serve (Biavstok;'1983: 102 -103).
Competence strategies are strategies which a language user envelops in order to achieve his Intended meaning how becoming aware of problems arising during the planning phase of an utterance due to his own linguistic shortcomings Poulisse, 19 )0: 88  The taxonomies of Throne (l977), Faerch and Kasper (1983aKasper ( . 1983), Bialystok (1983) and Williams (1087) show many similarities, thus, Bialystok (1990) remarked:  The variety of taxonomies proposed in the tetramer differ primarily in technology overall categorizing principle rather than in the substances of the specific strategies if we ignore. Then, differences in the structure of the taxonomies by abolishing the various overall categories, then a core group of specific strategies that appear consistently across the taxonomies clearly emerges.
 Differences in the definitions and illustrations for these core strategies across die various studies are trivial (61).

Communication strategies lead to Learning:
Language learners often use communication strategies to cope with the problems they encounter while attempting to speak a foreign or a second language. They attempt to solve communication problems when they lack adequate competence in die target language. When faced with such problems. They may try to avoid particular language or grammatical.

Conclusion and Pedagogical Implications:
To conclude, Arab learners face many problems in all language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The great number of erroneous utterances that Arab learners of English produce in oral performance and their recourse to communication strategies, as shown in Rababah's study (2001), is an indication of how serious the problem is. It is also an indication that the objectives of the English departments in the Arab world have not yet been achieved, and that this situation requires solution.
Raising foreign learners' awareness of the nature and communicative potential of communication strategies (CSs) by making them conscious of the CSs existing in their repertoire, and sensitizing them to the appropriate situations is one way of solving their communication problems. Teachers should provide them with the definition of CSs and ask them to perform tasks that require them to use CSs. such as definition and story-telling role-play tasks. Then, they should be audio-or video-recorded while performing these tasks. Fina1ly, they should watch their performance in the target language and be asked to see die communication problems they encountered and how they managed to solve them?
To raise consciousness of some strategies is