Designing Classrooms with Information and Communication Technology for Language Instruction: A Paradigm Shift in Engineering Education

Abstract

The article addresses the revolutionary impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on language teaching to engineering students. Engineers require effective communication competence, and reading and comprehending technical literature, attending international academic conferences and cross-cultural communication cannot be done without civil language. The conventional language teaching practices have shortcomings that require the introduction of new practices that will encourage engineering students to use the language in real-life context and application. ICT presents interactive language learning support- system, including language learning software, multimedia clips and virtual simulation, which supports various learning styles and helps students to understand and retain language skills better. Adaptive language software enables personalized learning, as it modifies experiences according to individual levels of proficiency and promotes faster language acquisition. Language understanding can be enhanced by multimodal learning that involves the use of videos, audio recordings, and interactive quizzes. The implementation should be successful and it will involve training faculty on technology tools, provision of technology infrastructure needed, incorporation of language modules in the curriculum and working partnership between language professors and engineering faculty. Impact assessment is performed through the measurement of the change in language proficiency, the measurement of engagement and motivation, academic performance measurement, and feedback gathering. Conclusively, language teaching that is ICT-based will provide engineering students with critical language skills and international competencies.