Developing the Ecosystem to Enhance Engineering Students’ English Language Abilities

Abstract

English language teaching in higher education has become more challenging with the growing needs to address English language abilities of students of various fields of study. In Malaysia, English language practitioners at higher institutions hold the responsibilities of addressing the needs of English language competencies of engineering students to prepare these students for the language competency needs of working engineers in the real world. However, there may be limitations in developing these English language competencies within the walls of English language classrooms as English language practitioners may not have sufficient knowledge to contextualise English language teaching into engineering. Thus, an ecosystem is required within the engineering curriculum to provide opportunities for students to develop and apply their English language abilities within engineering contexts. One of the stakeholders that need to play a role in supporting the development of English language competencies in engineering is the engineering lecturers. This paper explores ways in which engineering lecturers perceive English language teaching and support the development of English language competencies in engineering education. Semi-structured interview sessions were conducted on three engineering lecturers from one public university in Malaysia. The data were transcribed, and thematic analysis was employed. The findings provide insights into the roles that engineering lecturers play in supporting the development of English language abilities of engineering students.