-
oa Proficiency in technical report writing skills among the Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Technology streams in Nigeria
-
View Affiliations Hide Affiliations
- Publisher: Hamad bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press)
- Source: QScience Proceedings, Engineering Leaders Conference 2014 on Engineering Education, Aug 2015, Volume 2015, 56
Abstract
The study was designed to determine the proficiency levels in technical report writing skills exhibited by the three streams of pre-service bachelor of engineering and bachelor of technology within the study area. Pre-service bachelor of engineering were designated as Stream A , pre-service bachelor of technology with specialisations in engineering were the Stream B , and pre-service bachelor of technology with non-engineering specialisations as the third category, Stream C . Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study and the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study involved a stratified randomly sampled 90 respondents drawn from six federated geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The instrument used for data collection consists of a 50-items standardized test adopted from Dantes Test Preparation Technical Writing Practice Examination. 1 The mean scores of pre-service bachelor of engineering ( Stream A ) and pre-service bachelor of technology ( Streams B and C ) were all determined and compared. The standard deviations and mean score distribution within each stream was statistically analysed and interpreted based on the stated hypotheses. The study revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean scores of Stream A and Stream B pre-service graduates in their technical report writing skills. However, significant difference was observed between the mean scores of Stream A and Stream C pre-service graduates in their technical report writing skills. The results from this study suggest that there is a direct relationship between the skills acquired from the technical communication skills courses and their mean scores in the Dantes Test. The study also revealed that Nigeria's undergraduate bachelor of engineering curriculum places less emphasis on pre-service engineer trainees’ literary presentation. Unlike what is obtained in the bachelor of technology with non-engineering specialisations ( Stream C ) where a substantial number of disciplines offer technical report writing as a separate course. It, thus, becomes necessary to look for ways of enhancing the writing skills of engineering graduates.