Lack of proper English Language and Communications
skills have been an obstacle for engineers in India. However, the mandatory
English Language curriculum at engineering colleges aims at dealing with the
problem effectively. Read the following article to know more.
Introduction
Both
the private and the public sector in India are responsible for providing
education. Currently India’s education system is ranked third in the world
after China and the United States of America. At the undergraduate level,
engineering continues to be the most sought after course. Home to several
engineering colleges, every year thousands of students graduate with degrees in
engineering and as the demand for engineers continue to grow, engineering
colleges mushroom almost every year.
Later
in the early 1990s, the Information Technology (IT) transformed the face of
Indian employment opportunities in India especially for engineers. These days’
most engineers are usually found to be placed with the IT giants. Despite
scaling such good heights, of late, it was found that in spite of possessing
immense technical expertise in their own areas, scaling heights in the
professional world are becoming increasingly difficult for Indian engineers. A
matter of serious concern, it was found that it was sheer lack of proper
communication skills that posed as a hurdle for engineers to make it to their
dream job.
Lack of Communication Skills among Indian Engineers
In
a recent survey conducted by an employability measurement company, shocking
results were revealed. It was found that more than fifty percent of India’s
engineers could not comprehend the meaning of simple words like ‘absurd’ and
‘emaciated’. On the other hand a certain percentage of engineers were unable to
follow lectures in English. What was more disappointing was the fact that many
of these engineers belonged to prestigious colleges like the Indian Institutes
of Technology (IIT). More than 40% of engineering students could not engage in
a proper conversation in English while others were unable to compose a
grammatically correct sentence. This implies that they could not frame a proper
sentence while writing an e-mail that has become the most favored method of job
application throughout the world.
This
came is real surprise in a country like India, where English happens to be de
facto lingua franca.
Language Laboratories
This
dearth in communications and language skills jolted the system of higher
education in India—especially in the technical field of engineering. The huge
demand for engineers began to subside and those who lacked severe
communications skill were unable to get the best jobs.
This
growing apprehension led to the introduction of mandatory language and
communications studies in technical colleges across the country. Engineering
colleges in Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata were among the
primary institutes that made language studies compulsory for all engineering
students.
One
of the first engineering colleges in the country to introduce a proper language
laboratory was the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai. The lab aimed at imparting
communications and language skills to all engineering students.
Language Laboratory at IIT Mumbai
The
language lab at IIT Mumbai is a part of the Department of Humanities and Social
Sciences. One of the oldest language laboratories in India, the language test center was founded in 1986.
A
well-equipped laboratory, tutorials are held on a regular basis to impart
language education to engineering students. The numerous functions offered by
the language lab are recording, high speed copying, test preparation,
student-monitoring and regular teacher-student conference. They
fully-functional laboratory is equipped with every necessity such as CDs,
cassettes, monitors and books and e-books for all level of learners.
Exercises
and lessons are recorded on a daily basis in order to give a better exposure to
a variety of speaking and listening skills. Remedial classes in English are
also available for some students. The lab holds demo interviews at regular
intervals that help students in preparing for facing interview boards in the
near future.
Other
educational sessions include extempore, debates, quizzes, and word games. Such
activities are not only aimed at improving and sharpening communications skills
of engineering students, but also help work on their body languages. It can be
said that the curriculum’s main motive is to prepare students to face the
corporate world with élan.
The
curriculum comprises teaching courses in English Pronunciation, Reading and
Listening, Pronunciation Practice, and English Language Laboratory Drills. A
section of the course is also dedicated to the study of literature. In this
section, teachers seek help of dramatized excerpts from plays and novels like Macbeth, Othello and Pride and
Prejudice to teach English.
Lessons
on Business Communication and Communicative English are also imparted to
students through online activities. The online activities include reading
comprehension, online tests, English idioms, language polls, grammar glossary,
phrasal verbs, and also classes on phonetics.
The
laboratory conducts Spoken English and interactive classes on regular basis in
order to ensure that students gain enough mastery over the English language.
These
days’ language laboratories in engineering colleges have become quite common.
IIT Mumbai was the pioneer in the field and others have followed suit. Later
engineering institutes that opened language laboratories were
· Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai
· Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, Rajasthan
· Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Presently,
all major engineering colleges have introduced language laboratories that
promise to provide students with the best of both the worlds.
Author Bio: Sampurna Majumder
writes on the behalf of Shiksha.com, which is the leading education portal providing sincere and accurate information about the current
education trends and different courses available in various engineering
colleges across India.
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