The Linguistic Needs of Engineering Students: A Case Study

The aim of this study is to discover whether the materials being used in Engineering Faculty fit the learners‟ needs in terms of language skills and learning strategies related to language skills or not. The rationale behind the choice of this topic is based on our observations at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) which is one of the universities where English is used as a language of instruction. Most of the students who are enrolled at the university come from various native language backgrounds, hence, English is not their native language. Although these students come to their relevant departments after acquiring the certain level of English proficiency, they may still have problems concerning the use of English. Moreover, most of the departments offer General English (GE) rather than English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The participants of this study are the students and instructors of the Faculty of Engineering. The students are 120 first year students who registered in Communication in English courses in 2015 academic year and three English Language instructors teaching English. Communicatin in English course books are EAP courses, and are taught under the name of ENGL 191 and ENG 192 course in the Engineering Faculty, EMU University. The aims of ENG 192 course are to improve and develop English language siklls and knowledge within an academic context, to imrprove and develop academic study skills and knowledge of academic convention, to improve and develop critical thinking skills, to develop interest in and knowledge of a wide range of academic issue across the curriculum, and to develop an understanding of interdisplinary links, to develop an autonomous and self-directed approach to learning, and to develop skills in exploiting computer both as a study iv resource and as tool for producing professionally presented work. While the aims of ENG 191course are to improve English language skills (speaking , reading , writing) in an academic context, to engage students with high-interest reading and lively activities to help them develop vocabulary and reading skillsand strategies that can be used in their writing, to improve different reading skills and strategies, to enhance students speaking skills throughtout pre- and post reading group discussions, to allow students to hone their writing skills befor produce their own reading through writing models and writing skills practice, to lead students step-by-step through the writing process with the help of the writing assignment, to improve critical and refelective thinking skills, to develop an autonomous and self-direct approach to learning, and to develop skills in exploiting computers both as study resource and as a tool for producing academic work. The researcher used the triangulation method to increase the reliability of the data. In other words, three sources of data were used: questionnaire for students, interviews with the ESP teachers, and classroom observations. The obtained data were analyzed to discover the perceptions of the students toward their needs and teachers‟ perceptions toward students‟ needs.The researcher used SPSS to process the data to obtain descriptive statistic. Also, the qualitative methods were used to describe the data. The findings of the study revealed that although the used materials did not include some activities, they met the learners‟ needs. Finally, the study presented pedagogical implication, limitation, and recommendation for further research. Keywords: ESP, EAP, EOP, learning strategies (LS), Need analysis