Communication needs of Thai civil engineering students

Kaewpet, Chamnong

doi:10.1016/j.esp.2009.05.002

Cited by 67 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Another related study that English language lecturers could refer focuses on the English communicative events for Thai civil engineers into the four core English skills [20]. The findings of the study indicated that the communicative events for Thai engineers occurred and involved all of the four English language skills namely reading, writing, speaking and listening.…”

Section: Using Educational Research To Inform Focusing Inquirymentioning

confidence: 87%

“…In the study, engineers working in 10 Malaysian multinational companies were surveyed to identify the types of communicative events required of engineers at workplace. The results indicated that events such as teleconferencing, formal discussion of work related matters, giving oral presentations, networking, instructing, explaining and demonstrating as the most important communicative events for engineers.Another related study that English language lecturers could refer focuses on the English communicative events for Thai civil engineers into the four core English skills [20]. The findings of the study indicated that the communicative events for Thai engineers occurred and involved all of the four English language skills namely reading, writing, speaking and listening.…”

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The Use of Educational Research Findings to Develop Engineering Students’ Workplace Communication Skills

Sanmugam¹,

Shamsudin²

2017

IJLLL

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Abstract-In the 21st century workplace, future engineers are not only required to possess technical knowledge but also relevant soft skills for effective workplace communication purposes. Specifically, the demand of communication skills among engineers has accelerated since the workplace expects professional engineers to be equipped with excellent communication skills for global interaction. The responsibility to develop proficient future engineering workforce are mainly shouldered by the English language lecturers. Thus, it is paramount for English language lecturers to use the most effective teaching and learning approaches to prepare engineering students for future workplace expectations. Educational research in language teaching and learning provides evidence-based pedagogical strategies which English language lecturers' could consult in making pedagogical decisions. This article describes the use of educational research findings to develop engineering students' workplace communication skills based on the model of 'Teaching as Inquiry' developed by the New Zealand Ministry of Education. Index Terms-educational research, Teaching as Inquiry, workplace communication skills. I. INTRODUCTIONThe teaching of English in higher education institutions in Malaysia mostly endeavors to prepare students for workplace communication. However, it is viewed problematic when graduates are not employed due to not having skills to communicate effectively in English. Specifically, the issue of poor communication skills among engineering graduates has been linked to inadequacy of English language courses and poor preparation of engineering graduates for the workplace [1], [2].What is delivered inside world's higher education classrooms leaves an intense impact on not only students' grades but also towards the global economic, social success and international survival [3]. Previous studies have mentioned that the real challenge in producing proficient graduates is unspokenly shouldered by the English language lecturers [2], [4] and recommends that the teaching of English should undergo changes in pedagogy by focusing more on effective communicative strategies [5]. Thus, it is paramount for English language lecturers to use the most effective teaching and learning approaches in higher education institutions to prepare engineering students for the emerging new world reality.Teachers' professional knowledge comes from a variety of sources and the sources used to make instructional decisions Manuscript received April 9, 2017; revised June 19, 2017. The authors are with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia (e-mail: thivviyahs@gmail.com).by teachers are readily available -through colleagues from informal discussions, official curriculum documents, professional magazines/newspapers and professional training programmes [6]- [9]. In addition, most teachers rely their teaching practices based on tradition, opinions of experienced practitioners, ideology, faddism, marketing, politics and personal experience attained through trial and erro...

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Section: Using Educational Research To Inform Focusing Inquirymentioning

confidence: 87%

mentioning

confidence: 87%

The Use of Educational Research Findings to Develop Engineering Students’ Workplace Communication Skills

Sanmugam¹,

Shamsudin²

2017

IJLLL

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“…However, for the intervention to be effective, a study was conducted as a needs analysis to determine the students' specific needs in the reading of Sociology texts. The importance of a needs analysis in enabling course designers to develop discipline-specific language, reading and writing courses to meet the learners' specific needs is emphasised by researchers such as Chen (2006), Jiajing (2007) Kaewpet (2011) and Robinson (1991). According to Jiajing (2007) analysing the specific needs of a particular learner group serves as the prelude to English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course design, because it determines the 'what' and 'how' of an ESP course.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Needs Analysis for a Discipline-Specific Reading Intervention

Boakye¹,

Mbong²

2016

ELT

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This paper reports on a needs analysis that sought to explore students' reading challenges as an initial step in designing an appropriate reading intervention programme for first-year Sociology students. The aim of the paper is to suggest conditions for the production of an effective reading intervention programme by determining the needs of the students in the first-year Sociology class. A survey using an open-ended questionnaire was used to explore students' reading challenges. The responses were analysed using content analysis. The analysis showed a variety of learner needs and revealed that most of the students have difficulty in reading their first-year Sociology texts. Comprehension was the main challenge, but other specific areas such as vocabulary, length of texts, language, and affective issues such as motivation and interest were also mentioned. The findings show that this cohort of first-year Sociology students had reading challenges that involve cognitive, language and affective issues. Based on the results of the needs analysis an intervention programme that addresses cognitive, language and affective issues is recommended for this cohort of students.

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“…Over the last decade, a myriad of studies were specifically designed to examine the English language needs of non-native speakers. Some of these studies collected the data by means of a single research method, such as semi-structured interviews (İnceçay & İnceçay, 2010;Jackson, 2005;Kaewpet, 2009;Lehtonen & Karjalainen, 2008), diagnostic test (Read, 2008), questionnaires (Bacha & Bahous, 2008;Bosuwon & Woodrow, 2009;Kassim & Ali, 2010;H. H. Kim, 2013; S. Kim, 2006;Rostami & Zafarghandi, 2014;Taillefer, 2007), and analysis of course syllabi (Cooper & Bikowski, 2007).…”

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confidence: 99%

Comparing Hedges Used by English and Indonesian Scholars in Published Research Articles: A Corpus-Based Study

Sanjaya¹,

Sitawati²,

Suciani³

2015

TEFLIN

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Abstract:The study examines whether English and Indonesian research articles written by their respective native speaker scholars are significantly different from each other in terms of the number of hedges used. Hedges are rhetorical features (e.g. may, perhaps, suggest) used to withhold complete commitment to the truth-value of propositions. The ultimate goal of the study is to examine whether Indonesian scholars need special instruction in hedging propositions. The assumption underlying the present study is that when they write in English, Indonesian scholars will deploy rhetorical features inherent in the Indonesian academic writing. Statistical analysis on 52 Applied Linguistics research articles (26 from each language) reveals that English research articles contain significantly more hedges than their Indonesian counterparts (Mann-Whitney U = 68.00, n1 = n2 = 26, p < 0.05, r = -0.69), suggesting that Indonesian scholars are indeed in need of instruction that specifically focuses on hedging propositions in English.

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Communication needs of Thai civil engineering students

Cited by 67 publications

References 6 publications

The Use of Educational Research Findings to Develop Engineering Students’ Workplace Communication Skills

The Use of Educational Research Findings to Develop Engineering Students’ Workplace Communication Skills

A Needs Analysis for a Discipline-Specific Reading Intervention

Comparing Hedges Used by English and Indonesian Scholars in Published Research Articles: A Corpus-Based Study

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