Abstract
The globalization of world markets which has led to the hegemony of English language over other languages requires graduates from different fields of specialization to equip themselves with English communication skills to communicate effectively in local and international workplace contexts. This study was conducted to investigate the English speaking skills needed by engineering students in the Kwara states of Nigeria. A survey was carried out to compare how the respondents’ (undergraduate engineering students and industry workers in the Kwara State of Nigeria) self-rated their speaking interaction and production skills and to observe their perception of the importance of speaking interaction and production sub skills for workplace communication. The study concluded with suggestions for creating a better perception of the importance of English speaking skills among engineering students and creating a better workplace English curriculum so that students’ workplace speaking skills can be improved.
Highlights
Due to the globalization of world markets, the emergence of English as the first language of engineering worldwide has required that graduate engineers be well equipped with technical knowledge and communicative competence
A number of two hundred respondents was involved; hundreds of whom were undergraduate students who were randomly chosen from the engineering faculty of a public university in the Kwara State of Nigeria, while the other hundred respondents were graduate industry workers who were purposively chosen from different engineering workplaces in the state
The majority of students rated their speaking interaction skills to be at CEFR B2 level, while most industry workers rated theirs to be at CEFR C2 level as well
Summary
Due to the globalization of world markets, the emergence of English as the first language of engineering worldwide has required that graduate engineers be well equipped with technical knowledge and communicative competence. This is because their success in their professions lies on them having a good command of English language (Rajprasit, Pratoomrat & Wang, 2015). Most non-native English speaking engineers would encounter difficulties using professional terms if they fail to enhance their proficiency in the language.
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