Addressing Engineering Students’ Needs in EMI Contexts: A Focus on Comprehension and Pronunciation

Abstract

Effective lecture comprehension in English-Medium Instruction (EMI) contexts is crucial for student learning, particularly when taught by non-native English (NNS) speakers. This study investigates the specific needs of engineering students, emphasizing the impact of lecturers’ pronunciation on effective comprehension. Intelligible pronunciation and its relation to comprehension (Munro & Derwing, 1995) are central to this exploration. Students’ judgment of NNS lecturers’ pronunciation accuracy significantly influences their comprehension (Munro & Derwing, 1995; Valcke & Pavón, 2015). Kornder and Mennen (2021) note that learners’ linguistic backgrounds affect their perception of accented speech, which then impacts their evaluation of teaching quality (Jensen, 2013). This study involves a survey of 104 students (both Italian and international), attending MA lectures in engineering taught in English by Italian L1 lecturers. Students were asked to evaluate their lecturers’ pronunciation and indicate whether it interfered with their comprehension of the lectures. It also includes assessment of a lecture attended by some of the students surveyed, recorded and transcribed, in order to compare students’ subjective impressions of lecturer discourse with objective observations of lecture delivery. Findings reveal that students’ perceptions of EMI lecturers’ language performance and their comprehension in the classroom are influenced by several different factors, which affect comprehension regardless of the lecturer’s actual English language skills. This study highlights the importance of understanding and addressing the specific needs of engineering students in EMI contexts. By focusing on factors that influence lecture comprehension, we can develop more effective pedagogical strategies and training programs for both EMI lecturers and students.