scholarly journals English Language Use in Malaysian Government and Private Civil Engineering Workplaces

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noor Shahariah Saleh ◽  
Siti Fatimah Murtaza
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Engineering Industry ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Training Experience ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Industrial Training ◽  
Language Courses

Employers in the engineering sector require certain standard of English proficiency among their employees as the language is widely used for numerous job scopes. In order to understand the current demand of the civil engineering industry on the use of the English language in the workplace, this study was conducted on 20 undergraduates of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia who undertook the industrial training. Based on focus group discussions, the participants learned and shared significant use of English language through their industrial training experience. The findings of the study highlighted the activities that were conducted in English for speaking, listening, reading and writing including the language skills. In addition, the amount of time spent on each activity in English was also identified in understanding the importance of English language in the civil engineering sector. The findings of the study are vital in making informed decisions for the design and development of appropriate English language courses for present and future civil engineering students.

The problem of teaching communicative tactics in English-language professional discourse

2021 ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
Svetlana S. Andreeva
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Professional Communication ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Written Discourse ◽  
Professional Discourse ◽  
Professional Field ◽  
The Will

The work discusses the problem of teaching students of civil engineering departments English-language civil engineering discourse, in particular, communicative tactics of this type of discourse. We substantiate the need to form students’ skills in using the communicative tactics applied in civil engineering discourse in professional communication. We give an overview of com-municative tactics of written discourse used by the authors of English-language documentation in civil engineering professional field. The purpose of the study is to determine the level of students’ skills in using communicative tactics in a foreign language professional written speech. Theoretical and practical research showed that in a modern technical university, insufficient attention is paid to teaching students this component of professional discourse. At the same time, the level of students’ skills to use communicative tactics in professional communication is quite low, which led us to the conclusion that it is of paramount importance to include this component in the pro-gram of teaching a foreign language in a professional field. The results of the will serve as the ba-sis for the development of a methodic model of teaching civil engineering students the communic-ative tactics of professional civil engineering discourse.

scholarly journals When and Why of Mother Tongue Use in English Classrooms

1970 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 42-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok Raj Khati
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
English Classrooms ◽  
Teachers And Students

It is often felt that teachers and students overuse their mother tongue, in this case, most probably the Nepali in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom particularly in government-aided (Nepali medium) schools of Nepal. This, in result, minimizes the students' exposure to English. This article starts with defining mother tongue. Then, it presents the use of mother tongue in EFL classroom in the global and Nepalese contexts followed by summary of three classroom observations and two focused group discussions among teachers and students studying at the secondary level. The final part of the paper presents some simple and applicable strategies and ways of enhancing English language use in the classroom on the part of students provided by three teachers' trainers based on their experience. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/nelta.v16i1-2.6128 NELTA 2011; 16(1-2): 42-51

scholarly journals The siLang Simulation Tool for Business Secondary Technical Education E.S.P. Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (04) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charilaos Tsihouridis ◽  
Marianthi Batsila
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
English Language ◽  
Technical Education ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Simulation Tool ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Learner Motivation ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research

The purpose of the paper is to detect Technical Secondary Education learners’ views on the siLang software. Particularly the aim is to investigate its effectiveness on learners’ reading and listening English language skills competence. A number of 64 learners and their four teachers participated in the research, conducted with quantitative and qualitative research methods. According on the results of students’ questionnaire answers, focus group discussions and teachers’ interviews the particular software is considered to be an authentic-like tool for business purposes, relevant to learners’ future working needs, and capable of promoting learner motivation and participation in the lesson. The software was also found to improve learners’ reading and listening skills in English.

From pedagogy to communities: Issues within and beyond the Spanish heritage language classroom

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia Magaña
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Language Courses ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Rural Variety

AbstractResearch on Spanish heritage language pedagogy has flourished in the past few decades, revealing both challenges and successful models to address them. The discussion here will focus on some of these major challenges and models, specifically, heritage language assessment, language variety validation, biliteracy approaches, and connections beyond the classroom. Students enroll in heritage language courses to develop their language repertoires and to become better prepared for professional opportunities that require formal uses of Spanish. However, one of the problems that heritage language instructors may face is guiding learners to develop biliteracy skills while also validating students’ language varieties. Heritage language learners frequently enter the classroom with feelings of inferiority about their language use either because their variety is stigmatized (e.g., they speak a rural variety), their Spanish is limited to oral/informal registers and/or their Spanish has English language influence. For these reasons, instructors’ role in empowering students and their language use is particularly crucial. Heritage language classrooms are also ideal for establishing stronger connections with local communities and professional sectors where Spanish is in demand (e.g., health care).

scholarly journals Vocabulary demands for engineering students studying English in Russia: Comparing ESP course materials across three engineering disciplines

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Nekrasova-Beker
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Unique Challenge ◽  
Language Courses ◽  
Specific Discipline ◽  
Language Needs

With English language instruction becoming increasingly more specialized in higher education institutions around the globe, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) practitioners are facing a unique challenge in developing language courses that require considerable knowledge of a specific discipline in order to make it applicable to students and to meet their specific language needs. In the case of Engineering, which is the target discipline in this study, substantial empirical research has been published describing general discipline-specific requirements as well as common challenges that second language (L2) students face in various pedagogical contexts (e.g., Kaewpet, 2009; Pritchard & Nasr, 2004; Rowley-Jolivet, 2015; Rozycki & Johnson, 2013). Yet research investigating the vocabulary demands of pedagogical materials utilized in various sub-fields within the same discipline is limited. Therefore, the present study examined the extent to which the vocabulary demands of the pedagogical materials employed in ESP courses in Thermal-Power, Computer, and Chemical Engineering in Russia were comparable across the courses and achievable for the students. The results indicated that vocabulary coverage varied considerably across the three disciplines, with Chemical Engineering texts requiring the largest vocabulary size for adequate comprehension. The implications of the study for materials development and teaching ESP courses in various Engineering sub-fields are discussed.

scholarly journals CHALLENGES IN OVERCOMING THE USE OF TOPIC FRONTING AMONG TESL TRAINEES IN MALAYSIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (43) ◽  
pp. 13-29
Author(s):  
Megawati Soekarno ◽  
Irma Wani Othman ◽  
Ameiruel Azwan Ab Aziz ◽  
Nik Zaitun Nik Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Verbal Communication ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Linguistic Strategies ◽  
Grammatical Rule ◽  
Paralinguistic Communication ◽  
Esl Learners

Communication strategies include the use of nonverbal or paralinguistic communication strategies such as the use of mime, gestures, facial expressions and eye contact as well as the use of pauses for emphatic expressions could be assimilated. Communication strategies also include the use of verbal communication strategies which need to be learned and developed. One of the verbal communication strategies is a Malaysian classified variety, topic fronting. The issue is that, despite being an achievement communication strategy, topic fronting does not abide by the English language grammatical rule. Thus, a high use of this strategy among ESL learners might affect them adversely especially in academic discourse. This study looked into this strategy among the TESL trainees in two universities from two states in Malaysia. The findings obtained from their focus group discussions (FGD) identified the utilisation of topic fronting in online interactions and methods of overcoming it as well as the inculcation of suitable communication strategies. This study’s findings show a low utilisation of topic fronting (1.142 per thousand words) with the highest theme on the “concession of topic fronting in teaching” at 2.20% average. In the effort to inculcate the TESL trainees’ awareness of their use of topic fronting communication strategy, they need to be involved in active FGDs and be provided with communication strategy trainings on alternative strategies, specifically linguistic strategies like exemplification, circumlocution and paraphrasing.

Analysis of Language used in Gikuyu Marriage Negotiation Discourse

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Kinuthia, Jane Wanjiku ◽  
Wathika Lucy Njeri ◽  
Mwai Wamaitha Loise ◽  
Yakobo, J. K. Mutiti
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Significant Phenomenon ◽  
Social Acts ◽  
Relations Of Power

<p>This paper which focuses on language use within the formal discursive process of negotiating and legalising marriage in the domain of ‘<em>Ruracio</em>’ or bride wealth payment amongst the <em>Agikuyu</em> of Kenya was conceived on the premise that language is a significant phenomenon in the production and maintenance of social relations of power. The focus is on language elements that are both linguistic and non-linguistic and their influence on the concepts of gender and power as brought out through the data collected for this study. Data, consisting of five recorded discourses from sampled negotiation sessions and five focus group discussions from Kiambu County Kenya, was translated, transcribed and analysed with a view of examining how people use language to accomplish social acts. The findings are that language use, linguistic or non-linguistic, demonstrates that <em>Gikuyu</em> marriage negotiation discursive domain is male dominated, it constructs roles and identities and also defines how people can have power over others to a level that they control their behavior. It is hoped that the findings will be useful to all language users in this domain as well as contributing to knowledge in discourse analysis. </p>

scholarly journals Unravelling English Language Space Constituted in Model School Construction in Nepal

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 30-44
Author(s):  
Kamal Raj Devkota
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
School Management ◽  
School Construction ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Model Schools ◽  
Instructional Activities ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Model School

School Sector Development Plan (SSDP, 2016-2023) has envisaged the establishment and operation of ‘model schools’ to demonstrate improved management and teaching-learning therein. One thousand secondary schools representing all provinces and districts are planned to be developed as model schools, and three hundred and five have already been selected for initiating the project in 2017/18. Model School Guideline has been developed in the framework of SSDP; and in accordance with that, the selected schools are provided with certain financial support for building infrastructure, improving classroom delivery and instructional activities, and bringing efficiency in school management. Based on the fieldwork in four sample schools of Nepal, this study has unraveled how these ‘model’ schools have understood, experienced and enacted with English language space (ELS) in the course of model school construction. The analysis of the field data especially derived from school observation, qualitative research interviews and Focus Group Discussions with teachers, School Management Committee members and students unpacks how English language, which is often defined as the key for students’ and parents’ choice of school, is equally associated with confusion and ambivalence in the construction of model schools in Nepal. The analysis shows that the confusion and ambivalence concentrate around three major constructs: ELS as instrumental to school sustainability, ELS as a conflicting zone, and ELS as the educultural reality in the current educational discourses.

English Language Needs of Industrial Trainees in Chemical Engineering Industry: A Case of UniKL MICET

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noorhayati Saharuddin ◽  
Sa’adiah Hussin
Keyword(s):  
Content Knowledge ◽  
English Language ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Industry ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Industrial Training ◽  
Actual Usage ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Chemical Engineering Industry ◽  
Language Needs

Industrial training, or internship program, is always a must in any academic institutions, especially those offering engineering programs. Since industrial training is always structured at the end of the program, students going for internships are considered to be already well prepared with the content knowledge of their field of study. However, the job scope of an engineer does not entail content knowledge only. An engineer still has to carry out various other tasks like writing reports and letters as well as participating in meetings or discussions; thus the needs to ensure that these trainees are competent in the English language and effective as communicators. However, which English communication skills in particular do the industries in general require of these students? Venkatraman&Prema (2007) claim that “In the globalized context, students of Engineering and Technology need a specific set of language skills for their success in education and career.” All academic institutions should balance their curricula between future professionals and workplace needs of their graduates (Kaneko, Rozycki& Orr, 2008). In light of this, this paper will look at the English language needs of 18 organisations related to the chemical engineering industry where industrial trainees from Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Institute of Chemical & Bioengineering Technology (UniKL MICET) were sent to. A survey conducted found that all but one of the organisations see that English language is important even though not all of them use the language at work. This paper discusses the tasks in which English language is most required and what language functions are most commonly used in the organisations. Trainees’ feedback on the actual usage of English language while they are on industrial training for three months will also be discussed.

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