The development of an English writing course based on the genre-based approach for undergraduate Engineering students at King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok

Abstract

The study objectives were (1) to investigate the needs of English writing skills of operational and managerial engineers, (2) to develop an English writing course based on the genre-based approach to enhance English writing achievement of undergraduate engineering students, (3) to determine the effectiveness of the English writing course developed based on the genre-based approach, and (4) to explore the engineering students’ attitudes toward the developed English writing course. The study was descriptive and experimental research involving three phases: needs analysis, course development, and course implementation. The needs analysis was conducted using a questionnaire and an interview protocol as the research instruments. In the first phase, the questionnaires were distributed to the three groups of subject, namely, 129 engineers, 354 engineering students, and 31 ESP teachers. The results revealed three genres were most required in engineering work (request e-mails, enquiry e-mails, and investigation reports). Next, two managerial engineers and ten operational engineers were interviewed to gather in-depth information about writing contexts and situations of engineering associated with each required genre. In the second phase, the course was developed based on the GBA course development stages and the data derived from the needs analysis. In the third phase, the course was implemented for 12 weeks with 25 undergraduate engineering students who were enrolled in the English for Engineers course at King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok. To examine the effectiveness of the course, pre-test and post-test scores were compared. Also, the students were interviewed. The attitude questionnaire and student logs were used to determine the students’ attitude toward the developed course. The findings revealed that the course was effective since it was found that the post-test scores of the students were significantly higher than the pre-test scores. In addition, the students also had positive attitudes toward the course. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that more genre-based English courses for engineering students and students in other disciplines should be developed