Self-Assessment of Engineering Learners’ Perception of Usefulness of Pre-Writing Strategies

doi:10.53103/cjlls.v1i3.18

Abstract

The engineering undergraduate students at premiere institutions give more importance to core subjects often neglecting the English language. Specifically, these students consider academic writing less important than other language skills such as speaking, reading, and listening. As a result, these students are at a big disadvantage in the industry and while applying for higher education. Hence, the present study has attempted to understand the students’ perceptions of usefulness of pre-writing strategies. For this purpose, 439 engineering undergraduate students (357-males and 82-females) have been administered a self-assessment questionnaire of pre-writing strategies. The main research tools used in this study were a structured self-assessment questionnaire and informal interviews with the students. The quantitative data was analyzed through statistical procedures in SPSS-26 software. The analysis of the students’ interviews was described. The findings showed that the majority of the engineering students have positive perception towards the usefulness of pre-writing strategies. The results revealed that there was no significant difference between the male and female students’ perceptions of usefulness of pre-writing strategies. The study recommends improving engineering students’ pre-writing strategies and also proposes remedial teaching for fostering basic ESL writing requirements of students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Highlights

IntroductionWe have learnt that engineering students have to study all subjects in English language throughout the academic career
It is our experience of teaching the undergraduate engineering students at a premiere institute in India that has driven the need for this research
In order to find out students’ perceptions of pre-writing strategies, 439 (357 – males; 82 – females) undergraduate first year engineering students studying at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, India were chosen for the study

Summary

Introduction

We have learnt that engineering students have to study all subjects in English language throughout the academic career. Of all the skills, writing becomes a fundamental skill for students which decides their academic success from submitting written assignments to writing final examinations. Based on the academic backgrounds they come from, it is observed that most of the engineering students’ writing is seen as average and below average. In the global education context, academic writing is increasingly becoming important for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) students all over the world. Engineering degree programmes require students to complete various academic assignments, internship programmes and other activities from time to time. If the students are not equipped with adequate academic writing skills, they may face real-word problems in the work place or in similar situations

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