ESP syllabus design: Developing a needs based communicative course to enhance the employability skills of engineering students

Engineering students expect a systematic proceeding of a job specific needs based course to practice all the necessary skills relevant to communication and employment. As English communication skills are the indispensable professional need of any industry, the present research is concerned with analyzing learner's and their learning needs and the demands of the corporate working professionals to promote successful on-campus recruitments. An ethnographical qualitative research based study is undertaken by involving the third year engineering students, HR Managers, syllabus designers, teachers and practitioners in conducting a needs analysis to understand the purpose, process and outcomes of learning. The views of all the participants are considered in designing a needs based English for Specific Purposes (ESP) syllabus and it aided to understand the significance of skills and strategies in specifying the product and process objectives of the course. This helped them to analyze the gap between learning practices and their achievements in seeking placements.