공과대학에서의 전공 영어 강의의 효과

The Effectiveness of English-mediated Courses with Engineering Students

This study investigated the effectiveness of English-mediated courses with engineering students at a university in Seoul. Quantitative methods(i.e., exploratory factor analysis, paired t-test, and regression analysis) were employed to compare engineering students' overall satisfaction of English-mediated courses(EMC) with that of Korean-mediated courses(KMC) over three points in time as reflected on the end of semester course evaluations. In addition, to understand engineering students' perceptions of the usefulness of EMC in-depth, interviews with 16 undergraduate and four engineering graduate students were conducted over two occasions. Students were more satisfied with EMC than with KMC, even after controlling for the effects of class size, average course grade, and student characteristics based on enrollment experience(year of study). Course satisfaction was negatively associated with freshmen ratos(%) compared to seniors' over all three occasions. The engineering freshmen felt more difficulty in learning basic subject courses due to English, but they perceived that their experiences with EMC were useful. The students' interview results also supported the findings obtained using the quantitative methods. Most juniors and seniors mentioned that an individual's content background knowledge mattered more in understanding engineering courses than their linguistic knowledge or language competency. Since engineering terminology is mostly from English, students thought that the use of English helped in learning the course. Thirteen out of 16 students perceived that their experience with the EMC were beneficial in terms of the development of their conceptual knowledge, terminology, and motivation. The EMC instructors' various teaching methods and helpful roles were also associated with students' understanding of the courses. However, cautions were needed for the university in implementing EMC with freshmen and sophomores, especially when their background knowledge was weak.