TY - JOUR
T1 - Helping university students discover their workplace communication needs
T2 - an eclectic and interdisciplinary approach to facilitating on-the-job learning of workplace communication
AU - Chan, Clarice S.C.
N1 - Funding: Hong Kong Polytechnic University for providing funding support for the module evaluation part of this paper (Project G-UAAC).
PY - 2021/10/21
Y1 - 2021/10/21
N2 - Although work-integrated learning (WIL) programmes such as internships and placements can provide valuable opportunities for students from different disciplines to learn much about workplace communication, ESP research has not investigated how on-the-job learning of workplace communication during WIL can be facilitated. To address this gap, the present paper first illustrates how an eclectic and interdisciplinary approach was taken in designing a WIL module for some students at a university in Hong Kong, with a view to facilitating their experiential learning and informal workplace learning during their WIL and helping them to discover their workplace communication needs. The paper then evaluates the impact of the module, using data from the students’ reflections on their WIL experience and a questionnaire survey that solicited their perceptions of the WIL module. It was found that the module, with its specially designed components, helped the students to learn proactively and enabled them to identify four aspects of their workplace communication needs, namely, 1) their target situation, 2) workplace discourse, 3) their current language skills and lacks, and 4) effective ways of learning workplace communication. Overall, the present paper argues that on-the-job learning of workplace communication is an area that warrants more pedagogical innovation and research attention in ESP.
AB - Although work-integrated learning (WIL) programmes such as internships and placements can provide valuable opportunities for students from different disciplines to learn much about workplace communication, ESP research has not investigated how on-the-job learning of workplace communication during WIL can be facilitated. To address this gap, the present paper first illustrates how an eclectic and interdisciplinary approach was taken in designing a WIL module for some students at a university in Hong Kong, with a view to facilitating their experiential learning and informal workplace learning during their WIL and helping them to discover their workplace communication needs. The paper then evaluates the impact of the module, using data from the students’ reflections on their WIL experience and a questionnaire survey that solicited their perceptions of the WIL module. It was found that the module, with its specially designed components, helped the students to learn proactively and enabled them to identify four aspects of their workplace communication needs, namely, 1) their target situation, 2) workplace discourse, 3) their current language skills and lacks, and 4) effective ways of learning workplace communication. Overall, the present paper argues that on-the-job learning of workplace communication is an area that warrants more pedagogical innovation and research attention in ESP.
KW - Workplace/business communication needs
KW - Business English
KW - Higher education
KW - Work-integrated learning
KW - Experiential learning
KW - Informal workplace learning
U2 - 10.1016/j.esp.2021.07.002
DO - 10.1016/j.esp.2021.07.002
M3 - Article
SN - 0889-4906
VL - 64
SP - 55
EP - 71
JO - English for Specific Purposes
JF - English for Specific Purposes
ER -