A Survey of Oral Communication Apprehension in English among ESP Learners in an Engineering Course

Noor Raha Mohd Radzuan¹ and Sarjit Kaur²

¹Center for Modern Languages and Human Sciences,

Universiti Malaysia Pahang

²School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia

 

ABSTRACT

Engineering graduates today need to possess both hard and soft competencies to work effectively in a competitive professional world.  Among soft competencies highly valued in the engineering industry are effective oral communication skills (Grant & Dickson, 2006). In the Malaysian context, English has become the main language used in many established and reputed engineering companies. Hence, to be highly proficient in English is a much needed skill among engineering graduates. This study examined the oral communication apprehension in English of 193 final year chemical engineering students in Universiti Malaysia Pahang.  A set of questionnaires comprising the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension PRCA-24 (McCroskey, 1984) was administered to these ESP students. Results indicated that most of these engineering students (70.7%) perceived themselves to have moderate communication apprehension and only 10.7% had high communication apprehension in communicating in English. Practical implications and the need for specifically addressing communication apprehension among engineering students are discussed.

Keywords: ESP, oral communication apprehension, engineering students, oral communication skills

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