A Practical Approach to Improving Speaking Skills for Engineering Students

Abstract

AA Practical Approach to Improving Speaking Skills for Engineering Students Effective spoken communication is a critical employability skill for engineering graduates, yet a significant gap exists between industry expectations and student proficiency. Most engineering colleges in India still follow traditional, grammar-focused English instruction that emphasizes written accuracy over spoken fluency. This results in graduates who understand technical concepts but struggle to articulate them during placements, presentations, and workplace interactions. The present study addresses this gap by designing and testing a practical, Task-Based Pedagogy approach to improve speaking skills of B.Tech students. The study adopted a quasi-experimental pre-test post-test control group design with 60 second-year Computer Science students from a private engineering college in Telangana. Participants were divided into an Experimental Group and a Control Group of 30 students each. The Experimental Group received an 8-week intervention using Willis’ three-stage Task-Based Language Teaching model. Each session involved pre-task input, task cycle, and language focus through industry-relevant activities like Technical JAM, Mock Interviews, Product Pitches, Incident Reporting, and Group Design Problems. The Control Group was taught using conventional grammar-translation and textbook methods. Data was collected through recorded speaking tests, a 5-point analytic rubric, observation checklists, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data was analysed using Mean, Standard Deviation, and t-tests. Results showed statistically significant improvement in the Experimental Group. Mean speaking scores increased from 11.2 to 18.5 with p<0.001, while the Control Group showed minimal gain. Key fluency parameters improved markedly: speech rate rose from 68 to 95 words per minute, hesitation count dropped from 8.2 to 3.1 per minute, and task completion improved from 56% to 91%. The decrease in standard deviation indicated that weaker students also benefited, making performance more consistent across the group. Qualitative data revealed 86% of students reported reduced speaking anxiety and 90% preferred task-based classes over traditional methods. The study concludes that Task-Based Pedagogy is a practical and effective method for engineering classrooms. By shifting focus from grammatical perfection to meaningful communication, TBP reduces fear, builds confidence, and develops fluency that directly aligns with placement and workplace needs. The approach requires minimal infrastructure but delivers measurable gains in employability skills. The findings recommend integrating 1–2 hours of structured speaking tasks weekly, training faculty as facilitators, and adopting performance-based assessment. Future research should examine long-term retention and application across other engineering branches.