Abstract
The importance of English for the workplace, in addition to that of general English proficiency, is receiving increasing attention from educators and policy makers in the field of teaching English as a foreign language. In order to prepare college students for their professional development, appropriate English-for-specific-purposes (ESP) materials, including those for engineering majors, are needed for college courses. This study evaluated teaching materials on English for Science and Technology (EST), in hope of making contributions to the growth of EST materials that meet the educational needs of students in Taiwan. The EST materials were designed for college engineering majors. In the present study, it was used with two engineering junior classes in Taiwan for three weeks. After the trial teaching period, a questionnaire and a focus group interview were administered to collect learner perception on the EST materials. While the overall results of the questionnaire have indicated a positive attitude toward the materials, a careful examination of the statistics and further exploration of the interview data have revealed certain areas of the materials to be improved. Suggestions to the revision of the materials are provided at the end of the paper.
Highlights
In order to help its citizens meet the challenges of globalization, the Taiwanese government has enacted the Challenge 2008 National Development Plan, with one emphasis of which to boost foreign language mastery, in particular English competence (Council for Economic Planning and Development [CEPD], 2005; Government Information Office [GIO], 2004)
This section discusses results that have been obtained from two channels of data collection, namely questionnaire and focus group interview
The present study provided phase one evaluation of a recently developed textbook so that the textbook could be revised and better meet needs of the target population in both general English and English for Science and Technology (EST) skill development
Summary
In order to help its citizens meet the challenges of globalization, the Taiwanese government has enacted the Challenge 2008 National Development Plan, with one emphasis of which to boost foreign language mastery, in particular English competence (Council for Economic Planning and Development [CEPD], 2005; Government Information Office [GIO], 2004). Among many endeavors to meet the demands of the globalizing society and industrial sectors and to bring technological and vocational education to new heights, the MOE prescribed improving technological students’ foreign language competence, especially that of English, as one of the major educational aims of technological and vocational education. Yu argues for the need to develop English-for-specific-purposes (ESP) materials in general terms and learner-centered ESP materials that suits learners of different career focuses. Yu lists examples such as English for car mechanics, English for nurses, and English for medical practitioners. A survey study conducted by Liao, Chen, and Lee (2009) and an evaluation study by Liao and Chang (2011) have further found out that technical college engineering students in Taiwan are presently experiencing a lack of appropriate www.ccsenet.org/elt
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