A Needs Analysis of English Communication Skills for Engineers in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Yu-hsuan Huang, 黃羽璿
• Other Authors: Ai-ling Wang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/y4kre2

博士 === 淡江大學 === 英文學系博士班 === 104 === The purpose of this study is to survey the English communication proficiency of engineers in high-technology industries in Taiwan and explore the English courses for those engineers to enhance their communication skills at work. Thus, by connecting the workplace with the academia, the researcher hopes to shed light on on-job training and tertiary English curriculum, sort out English communication skill(s) vital to engineers, provide an insight into English curricular designs at workplace, and help engineers develop or strengthen their job skills. A total of 169 engineers from various leading companies in hi-tech industry around Taiwan were invited to complete either on-line or paper questionnaires. 123 of them are engineers, and nine of them are randomly selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. Of the 169 participants, 46 from administrative positions were also invited to complete either on-line or paper questionnaires, with 18 of them randomly selected to participate in semi-structured interview as well. To answer the research questions, Hutchinson and Waters’ (1987) tripartite categorization of needs serves as a major framework to analyze the English needs in the workplace. The results suggest that English reading and writing tasks are most frequently required for engineers in different divisions, while English listening and speaking and writing are not. Most of the participants reported that they would like to enhance their English listening and speaking skills, and the most wanted English training courses are English daily conversation and English office conversation.