著名教授论坛第162讲

题    目: Assessment of Communicative Competence of Professionals in Engineering

主 讲 人：Winnie CHENG (香港理工大学教授)

时    间：2011年10月18日（周二）15:30

地    点：北校区图书馆负一层报告厅

主办单位：人事处

承办单位：商英学院           

主讲人简介

Winnie CHENG，香港理工大学英语系教授、博士生导师，国际期刊Asian ESP Journal 主编。

研究兴趣：交际学、会话分析、语料库语言学、语用学、CDA、体裁分析、跨文化交际研究、词汇学、在线学习、职业交际、教学与评估、教学大纲设计与教材研发等

讲座简介

Research into English in intercultural and international business and professional communication has been gaining interest. Douglas (2000), for example, proposes the notion of ‘specific purpose language ability’, which comprises language knowledge, strategic competence and background knowledge. The first component, ‘language knowledge’, comprises grammatical, textual, functional and sociolinguistic knowledge. Strategic competence “serves a link between the external situational context, or the specific purpose language use situation, and the internal knowledge that forms the wherewithal for communication” (pp. 33-34). The last component, ‘background knowledge’, associated with discourse domains, refers to the framework of references, or past experience, that the language users base on to make sense of the present and to predict the future.

Cheng (2009) reports on a web-based search conducted in 2006-07 to investigate the four key industries in the Hong Kong economy in terms of what constitutes communicative competences in their professions (Cheng, forthcoming). An examination of 264 organizations and professional associations shows that only few organizations (19.6%) contain, explicitly or implied, information about (professional) communication competences.  For the 52 organizations which stipulate communicative types, events and contexts, as well as evaluative criteria, norms and expectations, they describe such information in their Codes of Ethics or Guidelines for Practice or Continuing Development Programme.  It is suggested that a much more explicit and prominent weighting be accorded to the construct of professional communicative competences in all the texts.

This talk describes the findings of a study conducted in Hong Kong that aims to identify what constitutes ‘professional communicative competence’ in selected professions in engineering, and to describe the levels of professional communicative competence specific to these professional engineering. The paper also describes how the findings of the study are used for designing and implementing an ESP course for professional engineers.

Throughout the process of the project, collaboration and trust between the professions and the project team are important.  The proposed project represents professional-oriented knowledge transfer and close partnership with the professional community.

References

Cheng, W. (2009). Professional communicative competences: Four key industries in Hong Kong.  In W. Cheng and C.C.K. Kong, (Eds.). Professional Communication: Collaboration between Academics and Practitioners (pp. 31-50). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.