TESTING LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY OF STUDENTS OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY: AN EXPERIMENTAL METHOD (Pages 127-131) by M. Murali* and Dr. R. Narayanan** in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Due to advancement in technology and globalization, there are more and more chances for engineers and technical professionals to convey technical information in English for various purposes. In India, English is taught as a second or third language. Even after ten to two years of learning, many of the students fail to communicate in English. If we analyse the factors which affect teaching and learning process in ESL, we can find out that the methods adopted for testing language proficiency of the students play a major role in the failure of ESL learning. Knowingly or unknowingly the teachers of ESL are directed to concentrate on the pass percentage of students in the end semesters which lead them to train the students to get pass in the end semester examinations. Further, there is no adequate system in testing all the skills required for proficiency in communication. At the end semester examinations, the students are tested with Writing Skill and to some extent Reading skill alone ignoring the parental skills of Listening and Speaking skills. This leads to utter failure in achieving the goal in ESL teaching or testing. Good English language proficiency can be a contributing factor to the professional recognition and career prospect of engineers. Keeping in mind, designing testing methods/elements becomes necessary. Using different methods in testing the language proficiency of students of engineering and technology tests were conducted for a number of 50 students of I semester in Sri Ramanujar Engineering College in Keywords: globalization, engineering, communication skills, ESL, aids, proficiency, etc