ENGLISH LECTURERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARD TEACHING READING SKILLS IN ENGINEERING COLLEGES - A SURVEY

Abstract

Recruitment” is mostly based on their demonstrations of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing skills. Even though English is the medium of instruction in the field of engineering education, the language ability is not enough for them to communicate effectively as large number of engineering colleges are located in rural areas and most of the students are first generation learners. To overcome this problem and make the students competent and suitable to the industry, JNTU Kakinada has introduced  two new text books for R16 batch students of  , first Year .B.Tech  “ English for Engineering and Technologists”  in first semester and in the second semester “ English Encounters” .Both text books are based on ESP i.e English for Specific purpose and also consist  of soft skills topics like “Goal setting, Team work, Attitude, Self Management ,Body Language, Being Assertive, etc. Apart from these, emphasis has been given to improve reading and writing skills. To improve reading skills, comprehension strategies such as skimming, scanning, intensive reading, and extensive reading, are penned  and for writing skills topics like letter writing, email writing, report writing, essay writing etc were  given emphasis .The purpose of these skills is to make the learners proficient users of English(Padmamma, 2013. Both processes should develop as a natural extension of the child’s need to communicate (Wilson, 1981).  As the old saying goes “ teachers are born not made “ many  English  faculty members who are employed in various engineering colleges are working finger to bone to enhance reading skills and  make the students confident and industry ruddy but unable to get fruitful results.