Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/56239

Title

Teaching and evaluation of critical appraisal skills to postgraduate ESL engineering students

Author(s)

Melles, Gavin

Abstract

Enrolments in postgraduate engineering in Australia include a significant proportion of Asian ESL (English as a Second Language) students, and there is some debate in the literature about whether they are capable of critical appraisal. Content-based discipline-specific EAP (English for Academic Purposes) courses provide an environment for addressing the language, writing, and critical appraisal needs of such students. In particular, there is evidence that a 'sustained' approach to critical appraisal through engaging with engineering content is the best environment for this significant cohort. Despite this, such programmes are relatively rare in higher education partly as a result of the peripheral status of language and academic skills in relation to engineering knowledge and practice. This case study outlines the curriculum framework and rationale for a content-based EAP response to teaching critical appraisal skills and examines evaluative feedback from an open-ended survey of three semester cohorts of students (n=64, 85% response rate) regarding their encounter with critical thinking and practice. The paper argues both that discipline-specific EAP courses are an appropriate place to teach critical appraisal skills and contributes to the debate on the capacity of ESL students to develop this skill.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Design

Source

Innovations in Education and Teaching International, Vol. 46, no. 2 (May 2009), pp. 161-170

Publication year

2009

Keyword(s)

Critical appraisal;  Engineering;  English as a Second Language;  ESL;  Higher education;  International students;  Language skills

Publisher

Routledge

ISSN

1470-3297

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14703290902843810

Copyright

Copyright © 2009 Taylor & Francis.

Peer reviewed