ERIC Number: EJ1157357
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Oct
Pages: 35
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2191-611X
EISSN: N/A
An Intensive Presentations Course in English for Aeronautical Engineering Students Using Cyclic Video Recordings
Tatzl, Dietmar
Language Learning in Higher Education, v7 n2 p275-309 Oct 2017
This article presents the design and evaluation of an intensive presentations course for aeronautical engineering students based on cyclic video recordings. The target group of this course in English for specific purposes (ESP) were undergraduate final-year students who needed to improve their presentation and foreign language skills to prepare for graduation and the workplace or further studies. This evaluative practitioner case study employed a mixed-methods design relying on a tailored paper questionnaire survey, teacher-assessed final presentations and teacher observation in class. Respondents were asked to rate course-related statements on language learning and presentation skills development on a 5-point Likert scale. With two student year groups in consecutive years, attendance at and engagement in the course were high, and student evaluations (N = 41) suggested that the course had met its targets. Both the questionnaire ratings and the free verbal survey feedback were overwhelmingly positive and accorded with teacher-assessed student performance in the final presentations. The interactive, practice-oriented and video-backed design features, therefore, enabled students to develop their language as well as presentation skills through aviation-related contents. Even though the setting presented involves aeronautical engineering students, instructors in similar Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and other academic contexts will be able to adapt the concept behind this course to their own specific teaching situations.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Undergraduate Students, Aerospace Education, Engineering Education, English for Science and Technology, Public Speaking, Skill Development, Course Evaluation, Video Technology, Technology Uses in Education, Second Language Learning, Likert Scales, Language Skills, Nonparametric Statistics, Mixed Methods Research, Questionnaires, Case Studies, Observation
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Austria
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A