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ENGLISH FOR
SPECIFIC
PURPOSES
English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278
www.elsevier.com/locate/esp

Communication needs of Thai civil engineering students

Chamnong Kaewpet *
Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Department of Western Languages, 2
Nanglinchi Road, Tungmahamek, South Sathorn, Bangkok 10120, Thailand

Abstract

This article reports on an examination of the communication needs of a group of Thai civil engineering students.
Twenty-five stakeholders helped identify the communication needs of the students by participating in individual interviews.
These included employers, civil engineers, civil engineering lecturers, ex-civil engineering students of the technical English
course, and ESP teachers. Based on the stakeholders’ recommendations, the teacher/researcher determined that four com-
municative events should be incorporated into the course, namely, talking about daily tasks and duties, reading textbooks,
reading manuals, and writing periodic/progress reports. The findings highlight the increasing demand for professional
English in the engineering field and the degree to which English is required in various circumstances throughout Thailand.
It is crucial to add more professional English courses to engineering programmes and to conduct further research to pre-
dict learners’ needs as specifically as possible. Those needs can then be more efficiently satisfied in the ESP courses.
Ó 2009 The American University. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The most important aspect to keep in mind when running ESP courses is that the course content should
consist of material that the learner can authentically use outside class (e.g., Dudley-Evans & St John,
1998). The focus of this article is on stand-alone courses, for other forms of course design are likely to be
approached in a different manner; for instance, when courses are taught collaboratively by both teachers of
English and technical departments (e.g., Andrews, 2003). For this study, the Department of Civil Engineering
selected a technical English course, Technical English 1, by reviewing the university’s English curriculum offer-
ings through the Department of Western Languages. There was normally no contact between the technical
and language departments. At the end of each semester, the English teacher reported the students’ results
to the registrar’s office.
A group of civil engineering students in a 3-year program was going to attend the course. These students
had finished diplomas in areas such as construction before commencing their study at the university. The
2-year diploma course was comparable to the first two years of the university’s undergraduate degree.
Therefore, the students were not required to repeat two fundamental English courses that they had already

*
Tel./fax: +66 2 286 4165.
E-mail address: chamnongkaewpet@yahoo.com

0889-4906/$36.00 Ó 2009 The American University. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.esp.2009.05.002
 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278 267

completed in their technical colleges. The technical English course would consist of 12 lessons of 3 hours per
week. Instruction would be completed in 10 lessons, while the sixth and twelfth classes were for official mid-
term and final examinations.
The course was designed approximately 10 years ago while the university was a campus of an institute of
technology (Faculty of Liberal Arts, 1996). The ‘communicative events’ (Munby, 1978) listed in the course
description included reading articles, documents, periodicals, textbooks related to students’ fields of study,
writing descriptions and reports, conversing in the target disciplines, and giving oral presentations on topics
related to the profession. Listening was categorised under ‘study skills’ (Jordan, 1997), that is, listening for
gist, interpretation and summarising. The purpose of the course was clearly to support the need for profes-
sional English.
As a teacher of the course, the researcher questioned whether or not those communicative events contin-
ued to be significant for civil engineering students in the current situation. It was determined that an update
of the course should be carried out. If the communicative events were up-to-date, there was still strong moti-
vation to establish more thorough knowledge concerning the communicative events such as types of reports,
their content and length, who wrote them, and who read them. This led to the idea of creating a profile of
communication needs as recommended in Munby’s (1978) sociolinguistic model for defining the content of
purpose-specific language programmes. The model has been criticised for its complex and time-consuming
procedures (West, 1994). However, its framework comprehensively embraced the interests of the research
in terms of the content of reports, as stated above. Adapting Munby’s model, a profile of communication
needs would be comprised of information regarding a communicative event, a purposive domain of commu-
nication, the setting of the communication, the main communicators, the person or persons with whom the
communicators have interactions, variety of English use, attitudinal tone, subject content of the communi-
cation, level of specificity of the subject content and the target level required for communication (Munby,
1978).
Communication needs become more apparent when a needs analysis reflects precisely how ESP can help
learners with real-world language use, and also when the needs analysis is involved with understanding the
discourse practices in which the language is situated and in which the learners must operate (Long, 2005a,
2005b; Munby, 1978; Orr, 2002). Reports on a full analysis of English communication needs in engineering
such as those laid out by Munby are hard to find. However, knowledge of the needs from this perspective
can be found in several publications. Based on an exploration of international journals such as English for
Specific Purposes, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, and research reports in Thailand, engi-
neering students and engineers around the world may be engaged in up to 18 real-world types of communi-
cative events. These communicative events include listening to presentations in a meeting, delivering oral
presentations, engaging in professional conversations, reading professional texts and writing periodic or pro-
gress reports (e.g., Anthony & Lashkia, 2003; Boyette, 2007; Brinkman & Geest, 2003; Freeman, 2003; Levis &
Levis, 2003; Pritchard & Nasr, 2004; Rujipornwasin, 2004; Torres & Barbera, 2002, see Fig. 1). Some commu-
nicative events such as reading textbooks may appear to be classroom activities; however, they are genuine
real-world communicative events. Engineering students are normally assigned to read English textbooks
(Mudraya, 2006) as part of their studies.
Classification of the purpose of communication into two domains, that is, work and professional study
(e.g., Jordan, 1997) is not always the case. Many communicative events are practised to help transition from
study to work situations such as writing reports (e.g., Artemeva, Logie, & St-Martin, 1999). There are also
fewer reports on English for occupational purposes than those that are linked to educational purposes.
The setting of communication might be a workplace location or a classroom in an educational institution.
Alternatively, the setting could be a meeting, seminar or conference room. In these various settings, engineer-
ing students may find themselves playing different roles, either that of a student, or of an engineer. Interactions
in work situations can occur with bosses, managers, supervisors, and other engineers. In study situations, com-
municative events can take place with ESP teachers, instructors of professional courses, teaching assistants,
senior students, and classmates. In the case of other communication events such as reading, interactions take
place with the writers of texts (Wallace, 2001). For writing, for example, writing research papers, interactions
can occur with readers in general. It can also be concluded that the attitudinal tone of communication is likely
to be formal, academic, professional and not trivial.
268 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278

1. What do civil engineers/civil engineering students require English for here?

2. If English is not required, do you have any expectations regarding the engineers’/ civil
engineering students’ ability in English?
3. Please give me details about the English.
4. This is a list of communicative events that engineers or engineering students are likely to
perform worldwide. Please choose the degree to which Thai engineers and/or
engineering students are likely to engage in the communicative events in the Thai
context.
The degree to which Thai civil engineers and/or
Communicative events Thai civil engineering students are likely to perform
the communicative events
None/ Less Moderate Much Most
Least
1. Listening to English-speaking boss’s instructions
2. Listening to presentations and discussions in a meeting,
seminar or conference
3. Delivering oral presentations on project designs
4. Reporting orally on project progress
5. Reporting orally on project completion
6. Engaging in professional conversations (this includes
elements of informal, casual, and/or business conversation)
7. Reading product specifications/descriptions
8. Reading textbooks
9. Reading professional texts, e.g. rules of practice, contracts
10. Reading technical papers
11. Writing proposals/ design projects
12. Writing periodic/progress reports
13. Writing completion reports
14. Writing literature reviews on professional topics
15. Writing reports on selecting materials for specific
application
16. Writing reports on applying fundamentals to solve
practical problems
17. Writing technical papers
18. Writing research papers

5. A group of Thai civil engineering students in a Thai program is required to study one
technical English course. The course is 10 weeks with one three-hour lesson weekly. Of
the English/communicative events you specified (or the ones in the Number 2 list), which
one/s or any others should be incorporated into the course? Please give reasons why you
think the English/communicative events should be built into the course.
6. Please give (or anticipate) details about the English/communicative events (if not yet
described previously).
7. Please provide other suggestions concerning civil engineering students’ needs for
English.

Fig. 1. Interview schedules: communication needs of the Thai engineering students.

Concerning the variety of English used in locations where communicative events are generated, English is
used either between native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs) or among NNSs of English. In
these situations, the variety of English used in engineering can be identified as ‘international.’
In the literature on communicative events, subject content is seldom reported in detail. Examples of the few
cases where students wrote reports were on the subjects of metallurgical engineering, nuclear materials, and
pressure vessel reliability (Andrews, 2003). In the study by Artemeva et al. (1999), the students selected their
own course of focus, for example, Introduction to Engineering Materials, and chose to write a proposal based
on that content, such as methods of corrosion prevention in metals.
The level of specificity of the subject content variable has been added to the framework adapted from Mun-
by. The concern arose during the trialling of interview schedules in the context under investigation (Section
 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278 269

3.2). When looking at the publications where the 18 communicative events are generated, the specificity of sub-
ject content is close to engineering and its specific disciplines, for example, electrical engineering. Drawing on
data gained during the trial and online visits to ESP courses offered in Thai universities, specificity of subject
content in the Thai context can be grouped into three levels: (1) science and technology, when students from
all science and technology areas attend the class; (2) engineering, when only engineering students study; and
(3) specific-discipline, when only civil engineering students take the course (e.g., Burapa University, 2009;
Khon Kaen University, 2009; Silpakorn University, 2009).
Finally, it has been determined that an advanced target level is required for communication in all 18 com-
municative events. Some communicative events might appear simple, such as listening to an English-speaking
boss’s instructions. However, this situation might be problematic for EFL students whose listening ability is
probably their weakest language skill.

2. Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study was to discover the communication needs that should be incorporated in an ESP
course for a group of Thai civil engineering students. It is important in needs analysis to focus on a particular
group of students to provide sufficient understanding of the learners’ needs (Long, 2005b). The information
presented in Section 1 has mostly been generated from outside Thailand, from both undergraduate and post-
graduate environments. Some of the reports are based on only one particular branch of engineering. Informa-
tion has not yet been provided with adequate explanation concerning the communication needs of Thai civil
engineering students.

3. Research methods

The research methods for this study included purposeful sampling in the selection of stakeholders, data col-
lection using semi-structured interviews with individuals, and qualitative data analysis.

3.1. Stakeholders

Twenty-five stakeholders participated in individual interviews to identify the communication needs of Thai
engineering students. These were five people from each of the following groups: employers, civil engineers,
civil engineering lecturers, former civil engineering students, and ESP teachers. Three main principles were
employed in selecting these stakeholders: multiple perspectives, purposeful sampling, and having a suitable
number of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders.’
Multiple perspectives were taken into account when selecting the stakeholders. The identification of needs is
dependent to some degree on individual interpretation and perception (Brindley, 1989). It was important to
ensure that the teacher/researcher’s interpretations were based on all of the perspectives involved. The key
stakeholders included those witnessing two main language use situations of ESP, namely, work and profes-
sional study. The employers and civil engineers were selected from eight workplaces. The civil engineering lec-
turers, former civil engineering students and ESP teachers came from four Thai universities. The former civil
engineering students had already completed the technical English course under investigation, but were still
studying other civil engineering courses. The workplaces and universities were located in the same geograph-
ical area as the university under investigation, namely, Bangkok and the neighbouring provinces. It was antic-
ipated that knowledge of real language use at these locations would be advantageous for the students who
were going to attend the course.
Purposeful sampling is a technique often used in qualitative studies when a researcher wants to establish a
unique case that is informative (Lynch, 1996; Neuman, 2000). Using purposeful sampling to select the stake-
holders was particularly appropriate for this study because there was a concern with the proportion of ‘insid-
ers’ and ‘outsiders.’ While outsiders may provide more objective information, insiders have a better
understanding of the situation (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998). The proportion of insiders was larger than
outsiders in this study. Learners’ needs are unique to their context, thus, insiders should have a stronger voice
than outsiders (e.g., Richterich & Chancerel, 1977). ‘Insiders’ in this study refers to those who were teaching,
270 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278

studying, or had graduated from the university under investigation; ‘outsiders’ refers to those people who were
not associated with the university under investigation.
To ensure varied and appropriate sources of data, information about the stakeholders was analysed before
the invitations were extended. An attempt was made to create a mixture of companies from several different
nations, which use English to various degrees in the workplace. The first four workplaces were Thai compa-
nies. Three of them did not have any international collaborations. The fourth workplace had close contact
with an American counterpart. The next four workplaces were comprised of one European, one Japanese,
one American subsidiary, and one Australian company. The bosses in the workplaces were speakers of Eng-
lish. At the Australian company, English was the medium of communication. Of the five key stakeholders
under analysis in this study, the employer group is wholly considered to be ‘outsiders,’ because universities
are usually not attached to any workplace, and graduates might be employed at any of them.
The same principles used to select the employers were applied in the selection of engineers. Additionally,
their levels of education and work locations were examined. Most of the engineers selected for the study held
bachelor’s degrees because the needs of undergraduates were under consideration. Fewer engineers were
selected from offices than engineering sites because graduates of the universities under investigation were more
likely to start their working careers at engineering sites than in offices. The proportion of insiders to outsiders
in this group was 3:2. While insiders’ perspectives were necessary, it would be beneficial to know the views of
others.
The civil engineering lecturers were drawn from departments of civil engineering. They taught the Thai lan-
guage programme of civil engineering at the undergraduate level. The students who attended the technical
English course were enrolled in a similar kind of programme. The lecturers were representative of those in dif-
ferent subject areas; they had pursued higher degrees in Thailand, English-speaking countries, and non-Eng-
lish-speaking countries. The same 3:2 proportion of insiders to outsiders was applied, as above.
The former civil engineering students selected to participate in this research were enrolled in various years
of study. It was anticipated that the students could provide useful feedback based on their exposure to the
study situation. Of the student stakeholders, one was a freshman, one was a sophomore and three were
juniors. It was expected that the juniors would be able to reflect on their full experiences of studying at the
university and performing practical work at genuine work places. The former civil engineering students were
all classified as insiders in this research. Their perspectives were regarded as useful predictors of the needs of
current students who were also in a 3-year programme.
The ESP teachers were invited to participate in this study because they had experience in teaching ESP to
engineering students. The proportion of insiders to outsiders in the case of ESP teachers was 4:1. It was antic-
ipated that the insider ESP teachers could provide more precise data related to learners’ needs in the context
under investigation. Only one ESP teacher from the outside was invited. Her perspective could bring better
understanding concerning the influence of context on the learners’ needs.

3.2. Individual interviews

Interviews are a direct way of finding out what people think or do (Long, 2005a). In using structured inter-
views, questions that have been carefully thought out can be asked repeatedly to draw on the same concerns
(Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998; Lynch, 1996). In this study, questions were posed in semi-structured individ-
ual interviews. Follow-up questions were also asked to assess more thoroughly the communication needs of
Thai civil engineering students.
The interviews (Fig. 1) were organised in such a way that a profile of suitable communication needs (Mun-
by, 1978) could be established. The first three questions and requests were for identifying communicative
events occurring in the Thai context, without the respondent being influenced by a predetermined list of
events. The list of communicative events (Section 1) mentioned in the fourth question was prepared for those
stakeholders who were not familiar with the concept of ‘real language use’ situations. (The list proved to be
helpful for only three of the respondents). The fifth question was designed to gather stakeholders’ thoughts
concerning the selection of the most suitable communicative events to address during the actual time frame
of the course. The sixth question asked the stakeholders to give reasons underlying their selection of commu-
nicative events in order to better inform the researcher in the design of the course. As in the third question, the
 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278 271

seventh question was designed for generating profiles of communication needs. In the eighth question, the
stakeholders were encouraged to express any other concerns in relation to the learners’ needs for English.

3.3. Data collection procedures

Data collection procedures included trialling of the interview schedules (Section 3.2) and using the
improved schedules to interview the stakeholders. To avoid time consuming problems arising from the inter-
view method and to eliminate any possible ambiguity in the interview questions (Dudley-Evans & St John,
1998; Neuman, 2000), the interviews were trialled with one person from each of the stakeholder groups. Dur-
ing the initial contact with potential stakeholders, one lecturer asked if the 45–60 min interview could be
reduced to 30 min. The representative of one company also set a time limit of 30 min for a phone interview.
The situation was approached in two ways. First, time was allotted as requested. It was decided that inter-
views, especially with employers, engineers, and lecturers, should not exceed 30 min. Second, the questions
were checked and made as precise and clear as possible in order to extract the data within the time limitation.
During the trial, the potential stakeholders were concerned about the specificity of the subject content to civil
engineering. This concern was added to the scope of communication needs investigated in this study (Section
1). After completing the trial sessions and improving the interview questions, genuine collection commenced.
All interviews with the 25 stakeholders were audio-taped, and the interviews were transcribed.

3.4. Data analysis

The transcriptions were analysed qualitatively. The final evaluation made during the data analysis stage was
to select suitable communicative events for incorporation into the Technical English 1 course under
investigation.
In employing the recommendations given by Macintyre (2000) and Lynch (1996), the data was first cate-
gorised by groups of stakeholders, and then checked for completeness and correctness. Second, the data
was analysed to discover preliminary themes, incidence, patterns, and trends in communication needs. This
included labelling responses and deleting irrelevant data. Third, the preliminary findings and labelling were
thoroughly read to ensure accuracy, while opening for new ones. Fourth, the findings and labelling were
checked again to confirm precision. Finally, the findings were interpreted and conclusions were drawn.
As a result of carrying out the above steps, a list of communicative events occurring in the Thai context has
been established (Section 4.1). Four communicative events were selected, and four profiles of communication
needs were constructed (Section 4.2). The four communicative events, that is, talking about everyday tasks
and duties, reading textbooks, reading manuals, writing daily or periodic reports, were deemed suitable for
incorporation into the course because they demonstrated four important characteristics of the findings, and
exhibited sound supporting reasons. The four communicative events were selected because they were most fre-
quently identified by the respondents as truly happening in the Thai context, and most frequently recom-
mended for incorporation into the course. Each of the four communicative events deemed suitable for the
course were identified by at least one person from each of the key stakeholder groups. The selected events
involved the three main language skills needed in the Thai context, that is, speaking, reading and writing, with
reading being the most frequently recommended skill. Finally, more communicative events were identified in
work situations than in study situations. Although ‘applying for a job’ was recommended as frequently as
‘writing daily/periodic reports,’ it was not selected because of the time constraints of the course (Section 1).
Training to apply for a job would take up the entire course time, requiring numerous subsidiary skills such
as reading job advertisements, writing resumes, writing job application letters, and participating in individual
interviews.
The stakeholders expressed reasons for support of communicative events being included in the curriculum
in the form of expectations. For example, civil engineers were expected to be more confident in discussing
everyday tasks and duties than currently the case (Section 4.2.1). The stakeholders generally saw the advan-
tages and necessities of the communicative events. The ability to discuss everyday tasks and duties was
believed to foster job opportunities. Reading textbooks was considered a vital communicative event. At edu-
cational institutions, a list of recommended textbooks was given to the students in every class. At workplaces
272 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278

where the main activity was specifically involved with design, engineers had to consult textbooks as well as
other publications. Some stakeholders referred to the communicative events in terms of lacks, wants or musts.
One former student said that he wanted to know more about what machines could do. Writing daily/periodic
reports was a necessity in the companies where there was international collaboration and the bosses or the
project owners were native speakers of English (Section 4.1). Two ESP teachers also supported reading text-
books, because they established a link between the communicative event and those listed in the original course
description.

4. Findings

This section will present two important findings of the study: (1) the communicative events identified as
occurring in the Thai engineering context, and (2) profiles of communication needs of four selected commu-
nicative events.

Identified from or related to Frequencies

The study The work Identified as Recommended
Communicative events situation situation happening in to be
the Thai incorporated
context into the course
Reading
1. Reading English in design drawings X X 1 -
2. Reading written instructions/advice X 2 1
3. Reading/using computer programs X 2 -
4. Reading exercise/test questions X 5 -
5. Reading textbooks X X 8 11
6. Reading abstracts of projects X 1 2
7. Reading journals/publications X 2 1
8. Reading manuals X X 8 5
9. Reading project documents X 8 2
10. Searching the Internet English resources X 1 2
11. Reading office documents X 2 -
12. Reading safety signs X X - 3
13. Reading professional texts X X - 1
Writing
14. Recording/completing equipment and safety X 2 -
checklists/forms
15. Writing English in design drawings X X 1 -
16. Communicating through emails X 3 -
17. Writing minutes of meetings X 3 3
18. Writing daily/periodic reports X 6 6
19. Writing completion reports X 3 -
20. Writing study reports X 3 2
21. Writing abstracts for projects X 3 1
22. Writing documents for projects (e.g., X 2 3
proposals, lists of building materials)
23. Writing resume X - 1
24. Writing business letters X - 1
Speaking
25. Delivering oral presentation X 1 2
26. Attending meetings/seminars X 3 1
27. Attending to occasional visits X 2 -
28. Talking about everyday tasks and duties X 10 20
(e.g., coordinating work, talking/conversing
in the professional context)
29. Talking in daily life situations X 2 3
Listening
30. Receiving spoken instructions/advice X 3 3
31. Listening in international seminars/ X X 1 -
conferences
Multi-skills
32. Using technical terms in professional Thai X X 8 1
conversations
33. Applying for a job X 6 6
Total 13 28 29 23
Other occasions
34. Doing postgraduate studies X 2 -
35. Joining field trips abroad X 2 -
36. Training abroad X 2 -
37. Using office documents X 2 1

Fig. 2. Communicative events occurring in the Thai engineering context.

 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278 273

4.1. Communicative events

Overall, 33 communicative events were identified as occurring in the Thai context (Fig. 2). All four lan-
guage skills were necessary, with reading being named as the most essential. Reading and writing together
comprised the majority of responses.
There were fewer English communicative events occurring in the study situation than in the work situation.
All of the lecturers, former students and ESP teachers identified communicative events outside the study sit-
uation without being asked. In the study situation, students had to use machines imported from abroad that
had English manuals. They also had to complete major projects in their final year. While the project reports
were in Thai, the abstracts of the reports had to be in English. Further, English was used for communication in
all workplaces. The manner in which communicative events occurred, the type of communication and the
required level of English varied between situations. Their occurrence was influenced by the nationality of peo-
ple in the workplaces and availability of international collaboration.
Only one communicative event was identified as occurring at each of the first three workplaces under inves-
tigation. At the first workplace, the event involved using technical terms in professional Thai conversations. At
the second workplace it was reading project documents in English that had been received work from a larger
company. At the third workplace the need for reading manuals occurred when the stakeholder engineer
wanted to know more about an imported machine. More communicative events were identified at the fourth
workplace than at the first three. These involved reading textbooks, journals or publications. English commu-
nicative events were predictable at the next four workplaces, as they had native English bosses. One of the
communicative events which regularly took place at the first three of the four workplaces was writing daily
or periodic reports. At the last workplace, all four language skills in English were necessary. Both conversa-
tional English and professional English were regularly used. For example, the stakeholder engineer had inter-
viewed for his job with the Australian team leader. He also received spoken instructions via face-to-face
conversations with the boss. The communications sometimes broke down, in which case the boss had to repeat
instructions or questions via email. The engineer also found it necessary to repeat answers or explanations
applying the same method. The stakeholder engineer had to attend monthly meetings employing a casual style
of English. A total of 13 communicative events were identified at this company.

4.2. Profiles of communication needs

Four communicative events were selected for incorporation in the Technical English 1 course based on the
stakeholders’ recommendations (Section 3.4), and four profiles of communication needs were constructed.

4.2.1. Talking about everyday tasks and duties

Talking about everyday tasks and duties was identified as a communicative event taking place in the work
situation. Therefore, this skill has an occupational purpose. It ensued at two main settings in the work situ-
ation, that is, offices and construction sites, and on both expected and unexpected occasions. It was expected
and occurred in both formal and informal styles at the offices of companies in which English was a medium of
communication. It also happened unexpectedly, for example, at the office of the company that generally did
not have international collaboration, but received an English-speaking visitor. There might also be an occa-
sion when an English-speaking customer or a project owner wanted to follow up work or make a change to
previously-agreed plans. Such a situation was rather unexpected for new engineers even at international com-
panies. This is because companies usually had someone else to do it, such as senior engineers responsible for
international coordination. A few other stakeholders also confirmed that it was quite likely for English-speak-
ing bosses, especially of small companies, to visit construction sites where new civil engineers would have to
talk them in person. Whenever the communicative events took place, civil engineers talked with bosses, cus-
tomers or project owners. Since these events involved collaboration involving either native or non-native
speakers of English, international English was spoken. The interaction in the Thai context could be with
Americans, Australians, British, Chinese, Germans, Indians, Japanese, Jordanians, Swedish, and Taiwanese.
The contents of communication might concern work completed, work in progress, problems occurring and
problem-solving methods, as well as other relevant issues such as weather conditions. Other content included
274 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278

information about projects; for instance, project specifications, working procedures, duration of construction,
and the use of machines. Civil engineers required English to discuss everyday tasks and duties at various levels.
If possible, everyone wanted to speak both general and professional English at the same level as their mother
language. In real situations, senior engineers who worked with an English-speaking leader had to be able to
speak as much as possible like native speakers. Newly-graduated engineers were only expected to communi-
cate at a comprehensible and confident level. The companies that required English provided supporting pol-
icies such as in-service training or funds for those needing help with English.

4.2.2. Reading textbooks

Reading textbooks was identified as an English skill that was required in both work and study situations.
Therefore, it was required for both occupational and educational purposes. This communicative event was
identified as arising in both work and study situations, including at a library, a reading area, or a private study
or work area. A participant was classified as a reader, whether they were a civil engineering student or an engi-
neer. The interaction of the readers was obviously with the authors of textbooks. Textbooks referred to in this
study were those marketed worldwide. The variety of English use could generally be called international.
Because the textbooks were related to civil engineering or engineering, the content was considered academic
and formal. Most stakeholders did not recommend any specific content because they considered all types of
subject content to be important. However, if something had to be chosen, one of the lecturers suggested three
types: one was introductory chapters, since they provided an overview of the complete work; the second was
content concerning problem-solving methods; and the third, although not specific to civil engineering, was
reading strategies/techniques that could help students to cope with difficulties in reading textbooks. Most
ESP teachers thought that the subject content could be anything assigned in technical classes. The former stu-
dents did not specify any subject content. They looked at textbooks only to find test questions and sample
calculations. Target level in reading textbooks was referred to in two ways. In one case, the stakeholders spec-
ified clearly what the students or engineers should be able to do. This included abilities at a micro level, for
example, identifying language patterns and pronouncing technical terms correctly; comprehension level, e.g.,
answering questions and getting the gist of reading; and productive level, e.g., writing to show comprehension
and translating the content into Thai.

4.2.3. Reading manuals

Reading manuals was identified as a requirement in both work and study situations. Therefore, it was for
both occupational and educational purposes. Because manuals could be in the form of hard copy or computer
software, the setting could be a place where a machine or a computer was located, a library or private study/
work area where the hard copies and the computer software were kept. A participant or a language user was
classified a reader who was either a civil engineering student or an engineer, and the interaction was with the
writer of the manuals. Because the manuals were imported from overseas and marketed worldwide, the variety
of English use was considered international. The content of the manuals included information or instructions
for using machines in the field of civil engineering or engineering, software designed to be used with the
machines, or other computer software that had not been designed to be specifically used with any machine).
This included design manuals that contained content such as codes of practice or engineering laws. Conse-
quently, the content of manuals was particularly technical. The stakeholders expected civil engineering stu-
dents and civil engineers to be able to read manuals at a level that enabled them to use the machines
correctly, apply the information in design projects, and install computer software correctly.

4.2.4. Writing daily/periodic reports

Writing daily/periodic reports was identified as an English skill required in work situations for occupational
purposes. It took place mainly at construction sites. The participant or writer was usually a civil engineer. In
most cases, the responsible site engineer was the person who wrote daily/periodic reports. However, there was
the occasion that a report would be written collaboratively by an engineer and a person from another com-
pany who was managing the construction site. The communication took place between the report writer/s and
the project engineers or project owners. This communicative event occurred when a project owner was a native
speaker of English, or when a project involved international collaboration. It arose at workplaces employing
 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278 275

people with a diversity of nationalities. Therefore, the variety of English can accurately be described as inter-
national. The main subject content included quantity of finished work; work progress, and day-to-day prob-
lems such as a power crane not working. The attitudinal tone of the daily/periodic reports was formal, factual
and brief. Some subject content such as work progress was found to be similar to the content of everyday tasks
and duties. The level of English required in writing the reports was not very high. The simplest level required
only a few words, including both technical and non-technical terms. The more complex level was said to con-
sist of only two or three lines of text.

5. Discussion

This section presents a consideration of the applicability of the findings to the case in which this study orig-
inated, as well as to the wider Thai community. The ideas offered are intended as an additional, rather than the
exclusive, option for assessing the communication needs of Thai engineering students. As explained in Section
3.1, this study was geared towards the context under investigation by including more insiders than outsiders.
However, it is anticipated that the ideas offered in this section might be beneficial in a wider array of contexts
in Thailand.

5.1. The context under investigation: An initial consideration

Prior to the data collection, the major concern of this research was with updating the course content by
investigating authentic language use. However, two of the insider ESP teachers’ also expressed interest in
how the findings of this study could be related to the original course description (see Section 1). As far as
the course description was concerned, the communicative events did not match the original content very well.
There was only a minor relationship between them. Talking about everyday tasks and duties was related to
conversing in the target disciplines, whereas reading textbooks was in the course description. Reading manuals
could be classified under the domain of reading skills, while writing periodic or progress reports was clearly
categorised under the topic of writing reports in the course description. As the new content would be based
on real language use situations, it can be stated that the new course content would be based on the ‘social
and economic efficiency’ philosophy of curriculum development. This philosophy argues that a curriculum
‘‘should above all focus on knowledge and skills that are relevant to the learners’ everyday life needs and that
curriculum should be planned to meet the practical needs. . .” (Richards, 2001, p. 117). Berwick (1989) points
out that a curriculum that is designed around the needs and interests of learners constitutes a sound founda-
tion for instruction.
When looking at the communication needs identified by the present research in conjunction with the four
communicative events, the teacher could be selective in choosing which communication needs most needed
attention. For example, it was possible to train students to a level that could be further improved, but not
so that the students could discuss their everyday tasks and duties like native speakers (Section 4.2.1). For read-
ing textbooks (Section 4.2.2), two types of subject content were deemed to be inappropriate for the course: test
questions and sample calculations. After surveying these, the content was found to be highly technical and
very difficult to manage. It is recommended in ESP that the teachers’ main task is not to teach specialised con-
tent, but to strengthen the students’ English ability associated with the specialised content that they already
have (e.g., Hutchinson & Waters, 1987). Teachers are recommended to teach supplementary content that is
equally useful. Teachers are advised not to teach students to translate the textbooks that they read into Thai,
as was recommended by some stakeholders. The students in the Thai context were expected to be able to ‘com-
prehend,’ rather than produce, a translated version of textbooks. Other types of recommended training were
found to be more important, such as reading for gist.
In the case of reading manuals (Section 4.2.3), using instructions as course content is preferred. Instructions
are a major language feature of manuals. Some of the stakeholders recommended ‘reading instructions’ as a
separate communicative event. Moreover, instruction texts appeared to be comprehensible to both teachers
and students. Two of the specified target levels did not appear suitable, that is, ‘use machines correctly’
and ‘apply the knowledge in design projects.’ These topics were more suited to a course conducted in the envi-
ronment, for example, ‘situated learning’ (Artemeva, 1998), where there was collaboration between the Eng-
276 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278

lish and the technical departments. As stated earlier, this study was conducted separately from the technical
department because it was the normal practice of the university under investigation during the time of inves-
tigation. In addition, no problems were foreseen to be arising from incorporating writing daily or periodic
reports (Section 4.2.4) into the course.

5.2. Wider applicability

Based on the findings of this study, several issues concerning the communication needs of Thai engineering
students in certain contexts merit further consideration. In considering communicative events that should be
incorporated into ESP courses, it was learned from the real-life data that there were important concerns other
than those contained in the courses which the learners would use in authentic situations. For example, the
stakeholders in this study reasoned that there was an expectation of having some communicative events, even
when said events were infrequent. These reasons supported the recommended selection of communicative
events for the Technical English course, which also encouraged ESP teachers to address learners’ needs as they
were perceived in their own contexts.
As seen in the research literature (Section 1), training in writing skills is being emphasised for engineering
students and engineers in the present international community. For civil engineering in the Thai context, train-
ing in reading and writing communicative events should be further promoted, as they have been determined to
be the most frequently needed skills.
As in previous publications, the findings of this study also suggest that English is required more for occupa-
tional than educational purposes. The findings were obtained more from stakeholders in the professional study
and learning situations (lecturers, former students, and ESP teachers) than from work situations (employers and
engineers). ESP course design in the Thai context should be oriented in the suggested direction. Settings of com-
munication, roles of communicators and people with whom communicators have interaction in the Thai con-
text are likely to be the same as those identified from among the 18 communicative events.
What distinguishes the communicative events found in the Thai context from those in the existing list lies in
the variety of English use, attitudinal tone and the target levels required for communication. In this study, pure
standard English was not always needed in the Thai context. The use of technical terms in professional Thai
conversations was a very likely scenario. As such, ESP lesson preparation should consider the style of English
used in local situations among locals and that used by native speakers when conversing with non-native speak-
ers. The attitudinal tone of communication required in the identified communicative events in both Thai and
international contexts is generally formal, academic, and professional. ESP course designs should be made con-
gruent with the findings. However, they should be more relaxed, as indicated by the attitudinal tone of commu-
nication in the Thai context. In addition, it was found that a less advanced level of English communication was
needed in Thailand, such as when looking at recordings, or completing equipment and safety checklists and
forms. In international situations, engineers write technical papers. When considering several factors together,
the appropriate target level that should be set for the first ESP course should be intermediate. The students are
likely to have learned some English before entering university. The majority of them have disadvantages in Eng-
lish ability. They are also facing authentic English use situations. It is important to note here, however, that a
target level set in the sociolinguistic perspective is meant to be a determinant rather than a requirement (Munby,
1978). As most language teachers are aware, all students cannot be expected to achieve the same things even
though they have been taught at the same time (Holliday, 1994; Hutchinson & Waters, 1987).
It has also become clear that the subject content of communication in both the Thai and international engi-
neering contexts are primarily specialised. Other content such as that needed in business were also identified in
the context of this study. However, these have not been strongly recommended for incorporation into the
course. This can mean that the content of ESP courses should be closely related to a particular engineering
focus because the courses can be organised to be useful for a specialised field.

6. Conclusion

The findings of this study have highlighted the increasing demand for English in engineering in Thailand,
and the diversity of English required in various locations. It has been suggested that engineering programmes
 C. Kaewpet / English for Specific Purposes 28 (2009) 266–278 277

should consist of more than one or two ESP courses. More research should be conducted to identify the com-
munication needs in the engineering field and to address those needs within ESP courses as much as possible.
In the Thai EFL environment, English classes are likely to be the only opportunity for the majority of students
to become acquainted with professional English.
To address learners’ specific needs, it might also be necessary to design a new set of instructional materials.
The learners should be personally exposed to professional English that is specifically useful for their context.
When preparing instructional materials alongside their class activities, classes could benefit from learning
vocabulary and reading strategies, as recommended in both the literature and by the stakeholders (e.g., Mud-
raya, 2006; lecturer in Section 4.2.3). Much of technical language is lexical, thus reading strategies and vocab-
ulary would help students handle the specialised content.
Other considerations are also significant for addressing communication needs in ESP courses. Firstly, learn-
ing needs and communication needs should be undertaken simultaneously. Focusing on communication needs
alone might not provide sufficient understanding of learner needs. For example, some target levels required in
communication might not be suitable in real teaching and learning contexts. Teaching and learning are also
influenced by learning needs such as learners’ background knowledge of the specialised contents, knowledge of
the English language, preferred teaching and learning styles (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987). Secondly, commu-
nication needs and learning needs should be incorporated in ESP courses through the process of curriculum
development. A curriculum should be designed based on identified needs. It should then be implemented and
evaluated to determine whether or not it has met the learner’s needs in real teaching and learning (e.g., Brown,
1995; Richards, 2001). Allwright (1988) and Holliday (1994) recommend studying what actually happens in
real classrooms, as knowledge about real classrooms is not only insufficient, but also lacking.

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