English for Occupational Purposes Curriculum and Course Design for Students of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

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In response to the dramatic changes in the labor market, various higher education institutions in Vietnam have placed priority on reforming and redesigning education curriculum, especially English language curriculum. Among pioneering institutions in this movement, Hanoi University of Industry has carried out a project to improve the effectiveness of English language education. In particular, English language education programs have been renovated and redesigned following the blended learning and occupation-oriented approaches to facilitate students’ development of English skills and competences that are required at work after graduation. Initial outcomes of the project are quite positive with considerable increase in students’ learning motivation and engagement as well as high appreciation from the teachers and administrators. Aiming to share the successful experiences to the interested teachers, educators and researchers, this paper will present the procedures taken to design English language curriculum for students of Electric and Electronic Engineering at HaUI as one example of the project activities. Various steps including initial evaluation of the relevance of the former education, the analysis of the target needs, the design of the 6- course matrix basing on the target needs, the selection of learning activities on face-to-face and online learning components, and the development of teaching and learning materials will be presented together with reflections and evaluative opinions from the involving teachers and researchers. The presentation carries practical implications for teachers and researchers in similar educational contexts that are looking for a solution to improve their English language education programs.