Perceived importance and levels of technical English communication skills among stakeholders in engineering fields

The purposes of this study were to examine stakeholders’ perceptions of the importance of technical English communication skills in engineering and academic teachers and industry professionals’ perceptions of current engineering students’ and graduates’ levels of technical communication skills. Survey questionnaires were designed to collect data from different research participants. The data were subsequently analysed using descriptive statistics. The study identified a discrepancy between students’ self-perceived performance on technical English communication skills and their perceived standards of these skills required by the programmes in which they were enrolled. Technical communication skills, including writing in engineering genres, essays and technical reports, reading and speaking, were viewed to be fairly important for their academic success. The findings also indicated that the students’ abilities in writing in engineering genres, and essays and technical report writing were perceived to be below the standards. In addition, the study highlighted that industry professionals viewed the technical communication skills of engineering graduates working in the engineering sectors as inadequate. Based on these results, it is vitally important to develop a tailor-made enhancement course to cater for the specific needs of engineering students, including technical communication skills for their study programmes and to prepare them for workplace needs of engineers in the near future