Abstract

The present study is an effort to explore a cutting-edge engineering-English curriculum and a time-tested pedagogy based on longitudinal needs-analysis to best suit the students and professionals of engineering world. The needs analysis in this study drew on both English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) that the students and professionals of engineering disciplines need to master in order to perform well in their respective domains. The quantitative and qualitative surveys were conducted on one thousand respondents including the engineering students, professionals, professors and ELT/ESP practitioners of Saudi universities to collect valid and reliable data with the purpose of confirming what kinds of innovative English curricula and effective pedagogies will be the best panaceas for Saudi engineering students’ academic and occupational needs. With regard to the English curriculum, the findings reveal that it needs to be contents-based embedded in integrated language activities, vocabulary and communicative grammar teaching. For pedagogy to be effective and productive, as the findings reveal, the ESP educators have to be highly learner-centered, multidimensional, communicative, collaborative and interdisciplinary.

Highlights

  • The quest for the best English curriculum and the best pedagogy for engineering world can never culminate without a comprehensive needs analysis pertinent to a vast spectrum of academic and occupational needs of engineering students and professionals

  • The needs analysis will help the pedagogues and the course designers to embed into the curriculum the most relevant teaching-contents and linguistic components that cater for both the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) spheres

  • It calls for an immediate venture to explore an innovative English-curriculum and an effective pedagogy for engineering students within Saudi context

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Summary

Introduction

The quest for the best English curriculum and the best pedagogy for engineering world can never culminate without a comprehensive needs analysis pertinent to a vast spectrum of academic and occupational needs of engineering students and professionals. I carried a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative survey and found that an engineering-English curriculum must be designed after a thorough analysis of what level of linguistic proficiency and what kinds of language skills Saudi engineering students and professionals really need in their academic and professional disciplines. The books which are prescribed in ESP courses in Saudi universities don’t match with the level and needs of Saudi ESP students who are pursuing their higher studies in different domains of specializations such as medical sciences, engineering, business, managements and information technology, to name a few. Owing to less amount of exposure to English, they are unable to cope up with the kind of English used in their aforesaid professional courses This linguistic barrier to the emerging career of ESP students propel me to do intensive research in order to redesign sound ESP curricula and to explore effective teaching methodologies. They support each other and learn effectively

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