Managing the complexities of English Language teaching in engineering

In this 21st century, engineering employers seek professional engineers who have excellent scientific knowledge and are able to demonstrate good communication and problem solving skills. With this focus on job demands, engineering education has been restructured, balancing the emphasis between scientific knowledge and soft skills. This shift in focus has not only affected the teaching and learning in engineering education, but also English Language (EL) educators who are involved in teaching non-technical components within an engineering education curriculum. This shift in focus has raised the demand for ESP which include teaching communication skills in English language discourse used in engineering, and teaching problem solving skills in English language teaching. With this demand, challenges are inevitable among EL educators who are generally prepared for teaching English for generic purposes in school settings and who bring with them pedagogical knowledge and beliefs in English language teaching, as well as identities they have developed from their previous to their new workplace. This shift also raises questions about the ways in which English language teaching is positioned, the role of English language courses within an engineering-specific context and the implications of this positioning on the design of the English language courses. The main aim of this study was to investigate how EL educators managed the complexities in teaching English at one technical university in Malaysia. In addressing the research questions, a case study design was developed to highlight the complexities within that context and the ways in \ud which EL educators managed these complexities. The data for this study were collected through qualitative and quantitative methods to unpack the complex process of teaching English for engineering which included teaching problem solving and communication skills. These methods obtained insights into the ways in which EL educators conceptualised English language teaching, positioned themselves and framed their teaching in an engineering context. The quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire involving 12 EL educators. The data from the questionnaire were used to profile the EL educators at the English Language Department of this university. Based on the profiling, four EL educators teaching undergraduate engineering students were selected for the main study. The qualitative data were collected through document study, individual semi�structured interviews, classroom observations, video recording of classroom observations and stimulated recall protocols. This study found that there were disconnections between English language teaching and the engineering discipline at this university. These disconnections were due to the dissemination process of the engineering accreditation requirements whereby these requirements went through ii multiple layers of interpretation, adaptation and translation before they reached the EL educators, causing ambiguities in positioning English language teaching and misalignments in the role of the English language courses within the engineering academic curriculum. As a result, tensions occurred in determining the emphasis of English language teaching. The ambiguities in positioning English language teaching and the misalignments of the English language courses presented the EL educators with challenges in managing their pedagogies and framing their teaching within the context of an engineering university. The study found that the strategies that the EL educators exercised in their agency resulted from the interplay between how they positioned English language teaching and the professional identities they developed in their university context. The demand for ESP required these EL educators to teach beyond their expertise, creating challenges for them to establish their professional identities. Complexities emerged when English language teaching involved integration among English language, communication skills, engineering knowledge, and problem solving skills. This study contributed to the field of English language teaching, specifically to English for Specific Purposes (ESP) by providing knowledge and understanding of the complexities of teaching English for the engineering discipline in higher education. It also contributed to research on professional identities by highlighting the tensions, struggles and negotiations that EL educators faced in positioning themselves within this context to determine their professional identities. The findings of this study deepen our knowledge and understanding of professional identities and agency among EL educators in the Malaysian context, particularly in the discipline-specific context of engineering

Students’ Perceptions of Their Teachers’ Performance in Teaching Engineering Drawing in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions

There have been concerns about the performance of Nigerian school teachers’ in delivering occupational related courses. However, there are currently limited empirical data on this phenomenon – in particular with respect to the teaching of engineering drawing – to justify further actions from educational managers and policy makers. The aim of this study was to assess teachers’ performance in teaching engineering drawing using students’ perception as indicator of teachers’ performance. The study utilized a cross-sectional research design method with the target population of technical education students drawn from four (4) Federal Colleges of education (Technical) in Northern Nigeria. Stratified proportionate sampling technique was used to arrive at the study sample of 253 technical education students. A specifically designed instrument, the Students’ Perceptions of Teachers’ Performance Scales (SPTPS) was used to gather data on the three performance dimensions namely contextual, task and adaptability performance. The exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis methods were conducted to validate the performance constructs. The instrument has a high reliability of 0.90 based on the Cronbach Alpha method. The result of the analysis using estimation method indicates that students perceive their teachers’ performance to be at a slightly above average level (M= 3.51 ± 0.05 at the 95% confidence level). The teachers’ task performance, in particular, is found to be the least developed among the three dimension of performance while their adaptability performance is the highest while still being less than excellent. The data support the conclusion that there are aspects of teachers’ performance in teaching engineering drawing that is less than excellent and in need of further enhancements

IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT ON FLUID MECHANICS COURSE THROUGH THE USE OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA

This research aims at improving the quality of teaching and learning process in Fluid Mechanics course through the use of teaching media. The teaching of Fluid Mechanics needs communicative and authentic media. Interactive media which is made by using software is one of media that give chance to the students to learn, practice, and analyze the materials of mechanic and fluid dynamic outside the class independently and interactively. This study is categorized as an Action Research. The participants of this study were the semester three students of Diploma III of Civil Engineering Study Program of Yogyakarta State University who join Fluid Mechanics class. This research was conducted in 4 months. There were 2 cycles in this study. Each cycle consisted of planning, conducting, and controlling then the final stage was reflection. Data were analyzed using quantitative method and simple descriptive qualitative. The result of research shows that the implementation of interactive media can improve the quality of teaching and learning process on Fluid Mechanics course. The scores of the students had increased from the mean score of 68.41 on the first cycle into 75.37 on the second cycle. Moreover, 94.85% of the students responded well to the use of interactive teaching media as a medium of learning. Keywords: Fluid mechanics, learning media, action researc

Team-teaching on a Large Multidisciplinary Engineering Mathematics Class: The Lessons We Have Learnt so far

This paper presents an analysis of team-teaching on a large class first year engineering mathematics module. The teaching team is drawn from several engineering disciplines, and includes both academic staff and postgraduate teaching assistants. An interdisciplinary team was selected because the module designers wished to equip students with insights on the application of mathematics in the various engineering disciplines. Despite the prevalence of large class teamteaching in engineering and other disciplines, the literature on large class teaching in engineering is limited. A key objective of the paper is to make an attempt at addressing this perceived gap by presenting the lessons learnt on large class team-teaching on this first year introductory course on engineering mathematics. Findings from this study indicate that large class team-teaching presents significant management and communication challenges. However, these challenges can be mitigated by timely planning, effective communication and team coordination

SASICE: Safety and sustainability in civil engineering

The performance of the built environment and the construction sector are of major importance in Europe’s long term goals of sustainable development in a changing climate. At the same time, the quality of life of all European citizens needs to be improved and the safety of the built environment with respect to man-made and natural hazards, such as flooding and earthquakes, needs to be ensured. Education has a central role to play in the transformation of a construction sector required to meet increasing demands with regard to safety and sustainability. In this work, the SASICE project is presented. The aim of this project is to promote the integration of safety and sustainability in civil engineering education. The project is organised in the context of the Lifelong Learning Programme, funded by the European Community. The coordinator organisation is the University of Bologna. Nine partner universities from different countries are involved in this transnational project. The universities participating to the project constitute a network of high level competences in the civil engineering area, with several opportunities to improve lifelong learning adopting different media: joint curricula, teaching modules and professor and student exchanges. As a response to the challenge regarding new educational methods in sustainable engineering, teaching modules are developed in 4 thematic areas: (1) Safety in construction, (2) Risk induced by Natural Hazards Assessment, (3) Sustainability in construction, and (4) Sustainability at the territorial level. The development of the teaching modules is based on an extensive analysis of the need for highly qualified education on Safety and Sustainability involving all relevant stakeholders (European and national authorities, companies, research institutes, professional organizations, and universities).The main target is enabling students to introduce these advanced topics in their study plans and curricula and reach, at the end of their studies, a specific skill and expertise in safety and sustainability in Civil Engineering. With our natural resources fading away and our infrastructure in dire need of repair, new trends and challenges in civil engineering education in the concept of “Sustainable Development” are needed to be adressed.<br/

Beyond the Spoken Word: Examining the Nature of Teacher Gesturing in the Context of an Elementary Engineering Curriculum for English-Learner Students

Our research team performed an exploratory analysis of teacher gesturing via a case study of an elementary teacher. We focused on gesturing, a practice found to support both bilingual English learner students’ linguistic development and mathematics achievement, during the teacher’s engineering and science lessons. The research team systematically analyzed teacher video data using McNeill’s gestural dimensions framework and found variation of gesturing types and rates when comparing engineering and baseline science lessons. Additionally, specific types of teacher-gestures appear to be associated with either behavioral or classroom management practices, procedural instructions, and discussion facilitation. We suggest that teacher-gestures such as these have the potential to facilitate bilingual English learners’ language acquisition, while also developing their STEM literacy in general and engineering capacity in particular. Further exploration of teacher-gestures in elementary engineering curricula could lead to an integrated STEM pedagogy that incorporates gesturing as a fundamental teaching strategy, bridging STEM instruction with linguistically responsive instructional practices.Educatio

Understanding best practices in control engineering education using the concept of TPACK

This study aimed to design an integrated pedagogical approach to advance introductory Process Control Engineering Education through the application of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, and evaluating its impact on student learning. The research is initially being undertaken at Nottingham Trent University, UK but we will next adapt it to a case study in Libya. This paper aims to strengthen the teaching of introductory Process Control by using appropriate approach es in universities to improve the learning outcomes for students. From this work a new schematic for teaching Process Control ha s be en developed and, moreover, a thoughtful best practice in introducing Process Control in engineering education can be developed

Reflections on an intervention to motivate student learning through in-semester online assessment

In my experience engineering degree programmes are relatively demanding in terms of class contact hours which are typically up to a factor of two greater than many equivalent arts based courses. The predominant teaching strategy involves lectures and tutorials which usually take on the form of problem solving sessions and laboratory work. This commitment of time taken together with the necessary study required to complete assignments and coursework means that a consistently, steady work pattern is generally a prerequisite of success. In my role as a lecturer in engineering I have found that increasingly academic ability needs to be supplemented by motivation, effort and a structured work ethic. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence suggests that many students cannot manage their learning without significant levels of support, guidance and direction, particularly at levels 0 and 1. This may in part be attributed to the teaching methods that students have been exposed to earlier in their education which appear to be increasingly prescriptive. However, difficulties are often exacerbated by financial pressures which require an increasing proportion of the student body to undertake part-time work with unsocial working hours often disrupting attendance at classes. A vicious circle can ensue whereby inability to manage learning serves to de-motivate and lack of motivation in turn further reduces the ability to manage study, possibly leading ultimately to failure and/or withdrawal

Failure is an option:an innovative engineering curriculum

PurposeAdvancements and innovation in engineering design are based on learning from previous failures but students are encouraged to ‘succeed’ first time and hence can avoid learning from failure in practice. The purpose of the study was to design and evaluate a curriculum to help engineering design students to learn from failure.Design/Methodology/ApproachA new curriculum design provided a case study for evaluating the effects of incorporating learning from failure within a civil engineering course. An analysis of the changes in course output was undertaken in relation to graduate destination data covering 2006 to 2016 and student satisfaction from 2012 to 2017 and a number of challenges and solutions for curriculum designers were identified.FindingsThe design and delivery of an innovative curriculum, within typical constraints, can provide opportunities for students to develop resilience to failure as an integral part of their learning in order to think creatively and develop novel engineering solutions. The key issues identified were: the selection of appropriate teaching methods, creating an environment for exploratory learning, group and team assessments with competitive elements where practicable, and providing students with many different pedagogical approaches to produce a quality learning experience.OriginalityThis case study demonstrates how to design and implement an innovative curriculum that can produce positive benefits of learning from failure. This model can be applied to other disciplines such as building surveying and construction management. This approach underpins the development of skills necessary in the educational experience to develop as a professional building pathologist