Targeted English course for agricultural and environmental engineering students: a tool to increase motivation and competitiveness

Abstract

Being a lingua franca in science and technology, English is still second-rate among agricultural and environmental engineering students in Russia as they do not consider English to be a profession-related subject. The article addresses an issue of revealing the needs of agricultural and environmental engineering students in language learning and designing a tailored course that integrates English into a range of professional subjects. Themainpurposeistomakethecoursebetteradjustedtothelearners’needs. A survey involving 85 agricultural and environmental engineering students and65researchers,engineersandlecturerswascarriedout.Thepurposewas to identify students’ expectations from the course, as well as gather information on professional communication areas where English is used. Professional engineers turned out to struggle with speaking necessary for oral communication and delivery of presentations, as well as writing. The students had low motivation due to lack of practice and unawareness of benefits that English may bring for professional career. The revealed needs wereincorporatedintothetailoredmoduleofEnglish forSpecificPurposes. ItcontainedTask-basedlearning,carefullyselectedprofessionalandcultural materials. The module proved its effectiveness that resulted in increased motivation of students to learn and use English as they got aware of new prospects that English had tooffer.