scholarly journals English Reading Proficiency of Engineering Undergraduates in Malaysia: Implications on Professional Training and Career Development

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-95
Author(s):  
Hui Min Low ◽  
Abdul Rashid Mohamed ◽  
Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed Ismail

This paper reports the English reading proficiency of a sample of engineering undergraduates in a public university of Malaysia. A standardized online reading comprehension assessment, called Reading Evaluation and Decoding System (READS) was administered with 189 first year engineering students during their enrolment into six different engineering faculties in the university. The results showed that only 7.9% of the engineering students were able to perform above secondary school level of English reading comprehension proficiency. Specifically, the students were found to perform poorer in questions related to critical thinking than those related to literal comprehension and reorganization. The implications of the findings on the English language education and the professional training of future engineers in Malaysia were discussed.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Zaimuariffudin Shukri Nordin ◽  
Mansoor Ahmed Channa ◽  
Abdul Malik Abassi

This quantitative research investigates first year engineering students’ reading comprehension using the different metacognitive strategies and scaffolding strategies. The research was undertaken at QUEST, Nawabshah, Pakistan. The respondents of this research were taken from four engineering departments including Mechanical Engineering, Energy and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer System Engineering. A set of questionnaire was used among 311 respondents. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics to analyze research variables through SPSS 17 for producing the Percentages, Mean and Standard Deviation of the data. The results acquired from data suggested that the engineering respondents used their metacognitive strategies in order to make their comprehension easy to apprehend the meaning of reading passages. This research also revealed the average uses of twenty important categories on metacognitive strategies as reported by engineering respondents. The mean score for ‘I often find that I have been reading for class but don’t know what it is all about’ category (M = 2.65) was rated by the respondents of this research as the highest; while the mean score for ‘reading instructions carefully before beginning a task’ (M = 1.54) was rated as the lowest. The results also showed that the respondents of this study revealed the average uses of the twelve important categories of scaffolding. However, the mean score for ‘When studying this course I often set aside time to discuss the course material with a group of students from the class’ category (M = 2.29) was the highest for all respondents; whereas, the mean score for ‘I ask teachers/students for help when they do not understand’ (M = 1.37) was the lowermost. However, no category of metacognitive strategies and scaffolding fell into low level of usage. To sum up, results are presented for developing effective reading strategies for engineering students to improve their reading proficiency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-199
Author(s):  
Alan Jaelani ◽  
Amalia Sadyawati ◽  
Wida Rosmawati

This article aims to stimulate students' reading comprehension skills using the Reading Aloud technique. Reading aloud is the main axis connecting reading and speaking English. Reading aloud not only increases reading and basic knowledge but also improves oral expression. How the Read aloud technique can stimulate students' reading skills. Reading plays an important role as one of four abilities in improving students' English performance. This study involved 16 respondents who were 5th-semester students of the English Language Education Program at Ibn Khaldun University. This research was a descriptive study in which the researcher used a qualitative method. Data collected by interview, questionnaire, and observation. The results of the study showed that most of them did not agree with the techniques from Reading aloud. Based on respondents' statements, we found that the use of the reading method with hard reading techniques helped students to stimulate reading comprehension, especially to help students in pronunciation.  


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansoor Ahmed Channa ◽  
Zaimuariffudin Shukri Nordin ◽  
Abdul Malik Abassi

This paper reports the results of the research conducted to explore whether students learn reading comprehension more successfully using the different approaches based on strategies in reading texts. The study was conducted at QUEST, in Pakistan and the respondents were selected from four engineering departments. Data was collected through a set of questionnaire used as the qualitative instrument among 311 respondents. However, Questionnaire data was analyzed by using SPSS 17. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze research variables for producing the Percentages, Mean and Standard Deviation of the data. The findings of this study reported that this research investigated 18 categories of reading comprehension. The highest mean score in reading comprehension was for “read aloud practices” category (=2.40) rated by all respondents; while the mean score for “asking questions before, during, and after reading” (= 1.48) was the lowest. However, no category of reading comprehension fell into low level of usage. In short, results, discussion and recommendations are presented for developing effective reading strategies to design syllabus for the engineering students to improve their reading proficiency. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-193
Author(s):  
Huma Hyder

Progressive Globalization established the necessity of workforce to possess excellent communication skills in multiple languages. Areas such as tourism, trade, media, technology, science, and others use common languages. However, countries like China, South Korea, and so forth discussed the need to teach one foreign language at primary as well as secondary school level and hence developed education policies that focused on teaching English as a foreign language or second language. Some countries like Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and India already have English language as a second official language. Hence, English Language Education was considered as second foreign language which was accepted and now it is considered as a symbol of aspiring quality education in a national as well as international perspective. In 21st century, English is considered as an international link language which is been widely accepted by people across the world. Although, English language has a historical heritage of British Empire, it is best used to develop an individual’s cultural, technological, scientific and material needs that competes with the society. It is believed that language learning is not just acquiring the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Language learning is also about the language competence and the ways communicative competence has been applied in an integrated manner. English language learning is not just an educational issue, it also addresses the issues of the society, national development, and personal advancement. In the present scenario, English Language acquired an inclusive place in most of the societies, especially in India. As a result, English Medium Schools have gained immense popularity which responds to aspiration of the people. This paper tries to present the significance of English as a Second language. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the significant pedagogies or methodologies used in schools to teach English as English language plays a crucial role in the education sector.


Author(s):  
Yustinus Calvin Gai Mali

This qualitative study explores motivational teaching strategies employed in English as a foreign language (EFL) writing classrooms and designs a sample of lesson plans elaborating the strategies that were reflected from open-ended questionnaires of sixty-five first-year students at English Language Education Program in a private university in Indonesia. The data analysis reveals possible motivational strategies that are classified into Dornyei’s (2001) framework of motivational teaching practice. Based on the analysis, the study reinforces a view that teachers can motivate their students to learn and they use particular teaching strategies to motivate their students. Eventually, this study hopes to provide insights for EFL teachers espousing similar teaching practices, so they can enhance their students’ motivation, particularly in their EFL writing classrooms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Hanae AIT HATTANI

<p>With English becoming the world’s lingua franca and the proliferating scientific and technological advances, English language education has been gradually shifting from its classical applications such as EFL (English as a foreign language) or ESL (English as a second language) toward new paradigms like English for specific purposes (ESP). The most important and problematic question in ESP teaching and learning is whether the course is effective or not. ESP is student-task oriented, thus, measuring its effectiveness is strongly related to measuring learners’ attitudes, needs, expectations, satisfaction, and achievement. For this purpose, this study attempted to investigate ESP needs analysis of Moroccan university students, case study of renewable energy engineering students at the Higher School of Technology (ESTF).  The research was conducted using quantitative surveys d. The data was gathered from 30 undergraduate renewable energy engineering students. The study findings confirmed that the participant students have highly favorable attitudes towards English language for both their personal and professional careers. However, the survey results indicated that these students have some difficulties with English language productive skills, namely speaking and writing, in addition to some other sub-skills. Therefore, this research suggests a reform at the level of ESP teaching and learning curricular, focusing on the incorporation of innovative approached and methods that aims at enhancing students’ language acquisition and competency.</p>


Author(s):  
Tripti Singh ◽  
Manish Kumar Verma ◽  
Rupali Singh

The purpose of this study is to see whether there is a relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. The study respondents were B.Tech first year students from the Agra region. Sampling is stratified, making sure that gender, race, socioeconomic status, and abilities are appropriately represented. The respondents are given Emotional Intelligence Inventory (EII–MM), developed by S. K. Mangal and Shubhra Mangal. It consists of 100 items under four scales .The analysis suggests that there is a significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement. IQ alone is no more the measure for success; emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and luck also play a big role in a person's success. This study contributes in acknowledging the fact that even engineering students’ academic achievements are attached with Emotional intelligence. Thus, teaching emotional and social skills only at the school level is not sufficient; this can be taught in engineering studies, as well for accomplishing high academic achievements.


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