A needs analysis of maritime English language skills for Bangladeshi seafarers to work on-board ships

Abstract

This research identified the maritime English skills that Bangladeshi seafarers need for working on-board ships and getting employment opportunities in the maritime sector both in the domestic and international levels. This study also sought to determine the level of maritime English proficiency expected by the recruiting agencies in Bangladesh. The present study was conducted on 135 senior cadets and 24 recruiting agencies in a mixed-method design by collecting both quantitative and qualitative responses. 68 maritime tasks on-board were identified and those were categorized on a range of ‘less needed’ to ‘highly needed’ skills. Among those tasks 23 were identified as highly needed by the respondents. This study discovered that communication efficiency (speaking) was the most important skill over the other three skills because most recruitment agencies in Bangladesh tested their spoken language skills during interviews. Most of the manning agencies expected their cadets to have intermediate level of proficiency in speaking and elementary level of efficiency in listening, reading and writing. However, the senior cadets emphasized on the necessity of using the four language skills in on-board tasks.