Bridging Academic Curricula and Industry Demands: An ESP Needs Analysis for Electrical Engineering Students
Abstract
This study investigates the English language learning needs of undergraduate electrical engineering students to design a targeted English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curriculum. While general English instruction remains common in higher education, electrical engineering students face unique professional and academic demands driven by global technical documentation and international industry standards. Employing a quantitative descriptive design, data were gathered via a Google Form questionnaire comprising three domains (lacks, wants, and necessities) administered to 33 electrical engineering students at Universitas Muhammadiyah Parepare. The findings reveal that the majority of students experience significant communication insecurity and perceive the existing curriculum as insufficiently aligned with discipline-specific requirements. Most respondents strongly prioritized technical vocabulary acquisition, TOEFL preparation, and job interview readiness to support their future careers. However, the findings also indicate a complex tension between students' high aspirations for professional communicative competence and their minimal formal exposure to structured technical English training. The study argues that higher education ESP programs for engineering students must move beyond generalized paradigms and be restructured around domain-specific terminology, standardized proficiency metrics, and practical workplace communication.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.31004/jele.v11i5.3248
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