Global Journal of Human Social Science, G: Linguistics and Education, Volume 21 Issue 4

a) To examine the existing situation of the English language courses of the non-English department students at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh. b) To identify the factors that are associated with the problems in English language learning of the non- English department students at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh. II. L iterature R eview Ali (2020), Rahmah (2019) and, Prastiyowati (2016) identified the problems associated with the English listening skills of the English department students. However, Rahmah (2019) tried to find out the difficulties in listening comprehension of TOEFL test specifically. Besides, Gilakjani and Sabouri (2016) investigated the listening comprehension difficulties of English language learners. On the other hand, Gestanti (2017) tried to explore the listening strategies used by the non-English department students to overcome the difficulties they faced in listening. Moreover, this paper sheds some light on the effectiveness of these strategies to minimize the difficulties in the listening of the non-English department students. Ibnian (2019) and Nakhalah (2016) investigated the problems associated with the English speaking skills of English language students. These studies revealed that students’ lack of confidence, fear of mistakes, anxiety and, shyness are the important factors associated with the speaking problems of the students. On the other hand, Rahmaniah & Asbah (2018) and Sudjasmara (2013) tried to identify the speaking difficulties encountered by the non-English department students. These studies highlighted both the internal and external factors that influence non-English department students’ speaking skills. Satriani (2018) and Kasim & Raisha (2017) explored the problems associated with the English reading skills of the English department students. These studies explained the linguistics and non-linguistic difficulties, which were very prominent in speaking skills among the English department students. Besides, Alghail and Mahfoodh (2016) identified the problems in the academic reading of the international graduate. On the other hand, Pudyastuti (2019) tried to identify the English reading complexities of the non-English department students. This study revealed that non- English department students encountered difficulties in reading due to a lack of proper reading strategies and stock vocabulary. Alghammas (2020) and Pratiwi (2016) identified the problems associated with the English writing skills of the English department students. Pratiwi (2016) found that linguistics and cognitive difficulties are important regarding students writing skills, while Pratiwi (2016) identified semantic and syntactic difficulties are paramount in regarding students writing skills. On the other hand, Widyan & Darwish (2019), Afrin (2016), and Lathif (2017) explored the writing difficulties encountered by the non-English department students. Widyan & Darwish (2019) identified internal factors like linguistics, syntactic and morphological competence, while Afrin (2016) and Lathif (2017) highlighted the external factors like motivation, practice, and cultural aspects are important in students’ development of writing skills. Studies above, it is clear that there is an avalanche of literature available related to difficulties associated with the English language learning of the students. However, the literature on the English language learning difficulties encountered by the non- English department students at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh is quite inadequate. Therefore, there remains a research gap in this field. The purpose of this study is to fulfill the gap with a critical approach. III. M ethodology a) Research Design This research followed a quantitative approach. The quantitative research approach chose due to the effectiveness in evaluating the subject matter more accurately. The primary sources of data used to carry out this research. Data collected through a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The response of a respondent has been cross-checked with other respondents to ensure the validity of the information. b) Population and Sampling © 2021 Global Journals Volume XXI Issue IV Version I 48 ( G ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2021 Exploring the Difficulties Encountered by the Non-English Department Students in Learning the English Language: A Study on the Tertiary Level of Education in Bangladesh The target population of the study was the students who belonged to different departments (except the Department of English) at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh. This study followed the Stratified Random sampling method. Therefore, the students at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh divided into subgroups or strata based on their departments like Sociology, Political Science, History and Archeology, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, etc. Samples then selected randomly from each subgroup or stratum. c) Data Collection and Analysis Data collected from 100 students of different departments, both from public and private universities in Bangladesh, through questionnaires. A five-point Likert scale used to measure the responses. Additionally, semi-structured interviews conducted with 30 students of different departments. Data were analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics. The statistical measurements used were Mean and Standard Deviation to analyze and interpret the collected data. By using a five-point Likert scale, items were scored as Always= 5, “Often= 4, “Sometimes= 3, Rarely=2, Never=1; Very Difficult=5