Cebu International EFL Conference

Abstract of paper

Author
Asst. Prof. Piyatida  Changpueng
Chulalongkorn University,
Bangkok,
Thailand

Title
'Genre-based approach: an alternative to teaching e-mail writing for engineering students'.

Abstract
With the expansion in international business, writing courses and lessons for engineering students have witnessed a sharp rise in demand.  Despite this, ESP courses and lessons designed particularly for engineering students are still limited.    In response to these needs, this paper aimed (1) to describe the design of a guided English writing lesson (request e-mails) for engineering students based on the genre-based approach (GBA: ESP genre) and (2) to determine the effectiveness of the lesson.  Data regarding the lesson were collected via questionnaires and interviews conducted with engineers, engineering students, and ESP teachers to elicit samples and shed light on the content of engineers’ request emails, common writing problems, as well as the necessary sociolinguistic knowledge needed for communication in an engineering context. 

The concept of genre was employed to analyze the written samples from the engineers.  In the teaching stage of the lesson, the teaching and learning cycle concept was employed.  The findings which can be seen from the results of the statistic analysis (t-test) showed that the GBA lesson helped engineering students to learn the generic structure, sociolinguistic knowledge, grammar, and vocabulary necessary to write request e-mails.  It was also found that students were enabled to develop positive attitudes toward writing through the GBA lesson.

Bio:-
Piyatida  Changpueng is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Applied Arts at King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Thailand.  She is currently studying in the English as an International Language program, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.