Programme-level English enhancement strategy in civil engineering undergraduate education: an application of innovative strategy

This paper documents the use of ‘assessment intervention' to better align language teaching and the teaching of disciplinary knowledge through English Across the Curriculum (EAC) strategies within science and engineering classrooms to create a language-in-use environment. The majority of Hong Kong Science and engineering university students, who are ESL learners, receive English training that does not take into account disciplinary context. The study aims to (i) improve assignment task instructions in alignment with disciplinary communication conventions, (ii) assign appropriate weights in the corresponding assessment items to reflect the importance of effective communication, and (iii) evaluate students' effective communication using specific rubrics prepared by the language specialists. Genre guides and self-learning online resources were also prepared by language specialists to facilitate students' self-learning. The results suggest that the implementation of the EAC strategies yielded an overall positive effect on the participants’ English skills. Data analysis indicated an increase in the written and verbal disciplinary communication abilities and genre awareness of the participating students. The substantially positive results of this study support further exploration of the contribution of EAC strategies towards improving student writing within the science and engineering disciplines.