Investigating the English Language Needs of Petroleum Engineering Students at Hadhramout University of Science and Technology  

Oleh:

Al-Tamimi, Atef Saleh ; Shuib, Munir

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: The Asian ESP Journal vol. 6 no. 1 (2010), page 6-34.
Topik: Needs Analysis (NA); English for Specific Purposes (ESP); and English for Science and Technology (EST)
Fulltext: Untitled2.pdf (194.65KB)

Isi artikel

In engineering education, specific English language skills are needed to enable engineering students to succeed in academic settings (Tan, 1999; Pendergrass et al., 2001; Sidek et al., 2006; Venkatraman & Prema, 2007). To determine what students need to achieve through the medium of English accurately, it is imperative to carry out a Needs Analysis (NA) (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Robinson, 1991; Hyland, 2006). NA is defined as “the process of determining the needs for which a learner or group of learners requires a language and arranging the needs according to priorities” (Richards & Platt, 1992, p. 242). With such views, this paper reports on a survey conducted to investigate the English language needs of petroleum engineering students at Hadhramout University of Science and Technology (hereinafter HUST).More specifically, the study aims to identify the students' perceptions of the frequency of English language skills used, the importance of these skills, their ability in performing the skills, the areas of language use that they need training/teaching in, and their preferences for the English language course. A total of 81 third, fourth, and final-year petroleum undergraduates in the academic year 2006-2007 were identified and approached for the process of NA. A questionnaire was used for data collection. The results stressed the significance of English for petroleum engineering students and identified the students' lacks, wants and necessities with regard to English language skills. The paper concludes with pedagogical implications that may help improve the current English language course based on the students’ needs.

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