Mentoring Experience at University Level: EFL Mentees' Perceptions and Suggestions

Abstract

The research paper aims to investigate EFL mentees' perceptions of mentoring experience in one of the Higher Education institutes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Academic years 2019 and 2020. The mentoring experience includes four domains: the mentorship program, mentors' roles and responsibilities, benefits of mentoring, and barriers to mentoring. The researcher attempted to answer two questions. The first explores the mentees' perceptions of the mentoring experience, and the second question attempts to find out the mentees' suggestions to make the mentoring experience more effective. A questionnaire of 4- Likert scale was used to collect data from thirty-three newly recruited instructors to answer the first question. The mentees were also asked to add their suggestions for the betterment of mentoring experiences as an answer to the second question. Descriptive statistics in the form of means, standard deviation, and percentages were used to analyze the collected data. The findings revealed that the mentees were satisfied with the mentoring experience. They have a positive attitude towards the mentorship program and the mentor's roles and responsibilities. However, a few mentees have certain concerns regarding some factors related to their mentoring experience. These were highlighted and discussed under each domain. In addition, the mentees had a number of suggestions that would contribute to having a more effective mentoring experience. Based on the findings, the researcher presented a number of conclusions and recommendations.