Article 2024

Experts’ consensus on the design of a technical communication module for vocational college students in the manufacturing sector

Language Teaching Research
Journal
Abstract

In the twenty-first century one of the most significant challenges is preparing professionals to adequately communicate technical information when writing and speaking. A number of studies have been published on various aspects of technical communication (TC), but few studies in China have investigated the curriculum design for TC. In this study, expert consensus was sought to explore elements required for a TC module for vocational college students in the manufacturing sector using the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM). The FDM was employed to determine consensus among a panel of 12 experts. Two rounds of data collection were conducted to garner opinions from the experts. The first round was semi-structured interviews among five experts to design the items for the FDM questionnaire with a five-point linguistic scale. The designed FDM questionnaire was distributed to 12 experts to gather their opinions on the elements required for the TC module. The data analysis determined the consensus on the elements of the TC module in four categories: objectives, contents, learning activities, and assessment methods. Their levels of agreement were assessed to determine elements that needed to be highlighted for implementation in the classroom. These findings could be used to develop a more relevant instructional module for TC in the manufacturing sector. © The Author(s) 2024.

Keywords

Author Keywords

curriculum design Fuzzy Delphi method cognitive apprenticeship technical communication module

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Funding & Acknowledgements
Grant: GXJK117
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The work was supported by Social Science Planning Project in Heyuan (No:HYSK23Z10) and Educational Science Planning Project in Guangdong Province (No:2023GXJK117).
Grant: HYSK23Z10
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The work was supported by Social Science Planning Project in Heyuan (No:HYSK23Z10) and Educational Science Planning Project in Guangdong Province (No:2023GXJK117).
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