Redefining Writing in the Engineering Profession : Towards Engineering Proficiency

In this paper, we share our experience of organising and teaching a compulsory academic writing course in the first term of an engineering degree programme in computer science. The course we teach is a 4.5-credit (ECTS) course entitled Writing in the Engineering Profession. The language of instruction is Swedish, the L1 of the majority of students. Planning and giving such a course poses a number of organisational and pedagogical challenges. Our 230 students have diverse levels of writing experience, and our task is to offer a short but highly relevant introduction to academic writing that will bridge any knowledge gaps and prepare students for written assignments at university. At the same time, students need an understanding of the various text types they may encounter in their future workplaces. As is well known, the importance of excellent communication skills for a successful engineering career cannot be emphasized enough, as discussed by e.g. Lappalainen (2009) and Gustafsson et al. (2014). From experience, we draw the conclusion that general principles of academic writing could well be used as a starting-point for the teaching of other text types. We problematise the relationship between writing academically (as part of a university degree) and writing in the engineer’s workplace. We discuss why the course needs to be further developed in order to meet the requirements from both programme coordinators and the industry, and conclude by presenting some possible strategies for this development.QC 20191125