2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Present situation analysis of English education in technical universities and system development
| Project/Area Number |
10610465
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
英語・英米文学
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| Research Institution | Nagaoka University of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
KOYAMA Yukie Language Center, Nagaoka University of Technology, Associate Professor, 語学センター, 助教授 (20293251)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NAGANO Robin L. Language Center, Nagaoka University of Technology, Assistant Professor, 語学センター, 講師 (20262470)
YOSHIKAWA Toshinori Faculty of Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Professor, 工学部, 教授 (50107380)
HAYAKAWA Norio Faculty of Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Professor, 工学部, 教授 (70143815)
SHIMIZU Yuko Ritsumeikan University, Faculty of Economics, Associate Professor, 経済学部, 助教授 (60216108)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 2000
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| Keywords | English for engineering / ESP / Team teaching / Needs analysis / Text analysis / Corpus |
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| Research Abstract |
This study focused upon English education in higher education institutions specializing in engineering, with the eventual aim of designing an appropriate curriculum. The study consisted of : (1) examining the overall curriculum for 30 universities, including non-technical ones ; (2) a questionnaire on the English curriculum at technical institutions (25 schools responded) ; (3) a questionnaire on English needs in the workplace (204) ; (4) a questionnaire on English needs in academia (101 faculty members) ; (5) a text analysis.
As non-specialist universities tended to teach English with no regard to the major of the students, further inquiries were restricted to technical universities, student proficiency and motivation levels were perceived by teachers to be generally low. A few institutions offered training in English for technical fields, a promising direction for curriculum planning. The workplace survey revealed that, while reading is the most common use of English, listening compre
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hension and speaking were the most urgently needed skills. Faculty members reported that students' overall proficiency was lacking, and stressed the need for reading skills for research purposes, while a focus on communicative skills was also identified as important. In the text analysis, examples of vocabulary, syntax, and text structure were analyzed in two corpora (journal articles and popular science articles), and their use in academic writing identified. There were distinct differences between sample items in the two corpora, indicating that a focus on general English alone may not be effective in reading instruction for research purposes.
To apply these results, a pilot program involving classes team-taught by English and engineering teachers was implemented. Using English-language materials in the students' area of study, students were instructed in both content and language features. Team-taught classes have been well-received by students, and are one manner in which ESP can be incorporated into the English curriculum. Less
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