A Systematic Review of Research on Pedagogical Practices for Communication Skills in Engineering Education

Abstract

Abstract : The authors carried out a review study on the pedagogy for teaching communication skills (CS) in engineering higher education institutions with a view to firstly present the trend on the instructional pedagogical approaches used in an engineering classroom and secondly, to show the impact of these approaches on learners' development of CS. In order to address the research questions, we adopted 'Systematic Literature Review' as a research methodology and reviewed empirical research studies published between the year 2001 and 2021 exploring electronic database. Having followed the review protocols, we finally selected 26 research articles for a detailed analysis and synthesis. In regard with number of publications, the trends placed the USA at the top position which was followed by India. Overall, we found a lack of experimental research, subsequently a lack of evidence-based teaching practice, in the domain of pedagogy for developing CS leading to the assumption of still prevalent conventional lecture method of teaching in the CS classroom which is further held responsible for poor CS among engineering graduates. The teaching trend indicates that engineering institutions across nations are increasingly becoming aware of evidenced-based teaching approaches and are adopting innovative, learner-centered methods blended with ICT tools to facilitate the process of developing CS, along with other generic skills which has positive impact on learners' development of skills and attributes. The findings have implications for both; research and classroom teaching. Keywords : communication skills; engineering education; instructional pedagogy; systematic literature review.