INTRODUCTION

ARTICLE 1

A summary of the articles shows that the first one, “University graduates workplace
language needs as perceived by employers” by Tuula Lehtonan and Sinikka Karjalainen,(2007)
discusses the issues of workplace language needs as perceived by employers. This article focuses
on the language needs of university graduates at today’s workplace as seen through the eyes of
their employers. The researcher cites that Literature on Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) and
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has found that individuals working in specific contexts have
specific needs or are expected to have specialized skills in a particular language, and languages
used in the workplace are often from used in other contexts. Besides that, language teaching
courses in LSP / ESP are targeted at specific groups with specific needs but it is not very clear
because the language centers of the university does not know enough about future careers and
language skills required at work. Not only that, the research focus on the 'core' of the workplace
to help teachers plan courses for students from many disciplines.

They also find that current international teaching assessment (Horppu and Niskanen, 2004)
at the University of Helsinki is proposed in this assessment that Language Center to identify the
language needs of the workplace to bridge the gap between language teaching and linguistic needs
at work. The researches purpose this article is to focus on the needs of university graduates in the
workplace today in the view of their employer. Although, they also use the interview data to
highlight language trends related to a particular language in the workplace of graduates of Finnish
universities from developed countries. Otherwise, they also assume that the languages needed are
not a specific language and specific usage. In addition, they always pay attention to the cultural
aspects related to the workplace in the multicultural / multilingual world today.

Lastly, the research hope that purpose of this study is to assist LSP / ESP teachers and
curriculum planners at university language centers or other similar institutions to plan their
language program even in cases where the future work of the student is somewhat uncertain.
Furthermore, they also hope that this research will assist practitioners in setting goals for work-
related goals, particularly on the Joint European Reference (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2001).
ARTICLE 2

The second article, “Communicating in the Workplace: Self-Reports by New UWI

Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduates” by Crista Mohammed also focuses on the
importance of communication to job performance and career advancement. This article shows that
technical writing instruction from Connors (2004, p.4), cites "a series of critics of illiterate
engineering graduate articles" which began to appear in 1903 and the complaints continues few
years later. From the research the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) (2008, p.182)
found that although UK employers "were not critical of engineering knowledge and graduate
understanding led to their first job", they were unhappy with "lack of major skills possessed by
graduates such as interpersonal skills, collaborative and weak writing. Simultaneously, Trinidad
and Tobago industry, Shrivastava (2004) complained that there was "deep stamina and broadening
efficiency", especially in writing skills and technical communications.

Therefore, from that the Engineering schools around the world are responding to this
efficiency gap in various ways (Reave 2004). Russel (2001, p.261) argues that regardless of the
curriculum allocation that addresses this deficit, it is necessary to understand "where the student is
headed", so that we can assess the "schooling way of helping or preventing them from going there".
But, in the United States in particular, have different advantages because their curriculum can
attract a number of workplace studies that describe the context of communication where graduates
will work. So, the research also discussed about the gap from United States by explaining, in terms
of broad quantitative, communication requests made by beginner engineers working in Trinidad
and Tobago.
METHODOLOGY

These two journal articles contain different methodology about communicating and
language skills at the workplace for the fresh graduates. The methodology uses in the first journal
articles about by Communicating in the Workplace: Self-Reports by New UWI Electrical and
Computer Engineering Graduates by reporting quantitative data gathered by means of a
questionnaire while the second journal articles about University Graduates’ Workplace
Language Needs as Perceived by Employers are using interview data from the representatives
of 15 Finnish employers.

ARTICLE 1

On the first journal article by Crista Mohammed, quantitative data were collected by means
of a questionnaire. Alumni of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UWI
(DECE), who are employed in local industry, were polled. They were drawn from the three
graduating cohorts—2010/2011, 2011/2012, 2012/2013. The questionnaire was piloted using a
test-retest method. The questionnaire was administered twice to five graduates from a cohort other
than those investigated. The coefficient of stability was found to be 0.71, which is acceptable
according to Frey, Botan and Kreps (2010).

The questionnaire was distributed electronically to all 155 graduates for the 2010/2011;
2011/2012 and 2012/2013 cohorts. The questionnaire was mailed twice, with a three-week interval
between mailings and posted twice in a closed Facebook group for the DECE. Based on those
completing the questionnaire, Crista Mohammed mentioned that seven were unemployed, five
were in fields outside of engineering, and nine were working abroad. Therefore, 58 responses
(n=58) were usable.
ARTICLE 2

On the second journal article by Lehtonen and Karjalainen (2008), University Helsinki
launched a project called Language Needs at the Workplace in 2003. This project consisted of two
parts, a postal survey to employees and interviews with employers. First, Horppu (2005) carried
out a postal survey on the actual use of languages at work. The respondents represented all
faculties, and the response rate was highest among those who graduated from the faculties of
Science (52%), Behavioural Sciences (51%) and Arts (50%).

Based on the result’s, the Finnish language is the highest percentage that is 90% people are
using in workplace, followed by English (37%) as the second highest language people are using
in workplace every day. Horppu’s findings suggest that English is needed on a regular basis, and
about a third of the Finnish-speaking respondents use Swedish regularly. In addition, the
respondents suggested that they would need to improve their vocabulary knowledge in all the
languages they reported on. Based on this data, most of people in Finland are using Finnish and
English language at workplace. Horppu and Lehtonen, (2003) mentioned that (90%) graduates
from 1999 and 2001 had fulfilled the degree requirement in English.
RESULTS

ARTICLE 1

From the first journal one, the aim of the project was to investigate the actual language use
of employees with an academic degree and to interview representatives of employers and also to
interview representatives of employers about issues related to language use. There was two part of
project which are a postal survey and employer interview. The first part of the project, a postal
survey which is a structured questionnaire.
The survey was sent to 2474 and returned by 1190 graduates, from the University of
Helsinki. The respondent represented from all faculties which are, science (52%), behavioural
sciences (51%) and arts (50%), as shown on Table 1. From the second part, they make a survey
from the employer by interviewing them. The interview was collected in Helsinki, Finland. 19
staff members was involved. The interview was about various matters that related with foreign
language the use and need at work.
From the survey, we notice that the language skills are important in professions and these
skills are often regarded as self-evident, and job applicants with a poor knowledge of language are
not even considered. The interview also shows that both national language, Finnish and Swedish,
play a role at the workplace.
ARTICLE 2

In article two, this article shows that technical writing instruction from Connors (2004),
cites "a series of critics of illiterate engineering graduate articles". They use questionnaires as their
survey method. 155 Electrical and computer engineering graduates as their respondents. The
questionnaire was piloted using a test-retest method. 79 graduates complete the survey. From the
survey seven of them unemployed, five from them in fields outside of engineering and nine
working abroad. The respondent result by using the gender, the number of male is more than
female, as shown in Table 2.
For the year of working experience, most of the respondent are less than one year of
working. Result that get from the survey are “Less than one year” (52%), “one year to three years
(38%) and 10% for “more than three years. Most of the novice engineers, 48% spent 21-40% of
their workday with writing and 22% from them 41-60% taking time spent writing per day, besides,
spent time on greater than 60% is 14%.
Data on time spent on communication in relation to the number of thematic areas in which
respondent practiced. 43% respondent that practicing in 1 area, 48% practicing in 2 thematic area,
3% practicing in 3 thematic areas and 5% practicing in 4 or more thematic areas. They report that
in the recruitment process, proficiency in technical writing and interpersonal skills are deemed the
most valuable. All communication skills and in particular strong presentation skills are needed for
promotion.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This review has considered two different journal articles. Each journal article focuses on the issue
of “University graduates workplace language needs as perceived by employers” and
“Communicating in the Workplace: Self-Reports by New UWI Electrical and Computer
Engineering Graduates”. Both articles related on university graduates needs a good language and
communication skills at workplace. The first journal article by Lehtonen and Karjalainen (2008),
confirmed that foreign language skills are an increasingly important basic component of
professional academic skills, particularly in a country like Finland. Close co-operation with
employers in planning language Centre courses like ESP/LSP is thus needed in order to tailor
language teaching to adequately meet the needs of the future academic workforce. Author
mentioned that findings may be generalized to other countries with a similar language situation
like Malaysia.

Based on journal article two, Crista Mohammed mentioned that engineering students
believed “maths” and “language” are two unrelated disciplines. It can be argued that for the entry-
level engineer the biggest impediment to getting the job done and done well is their uninformed
belief that they will not be required to write and speak formally and they therefore are not mentally
prepared for these tasks. The author also said that if over half of the workday is absorbed by
communication tasks, then employers are expending a large part of salaries for the communication
artefacts needed for and generated by their business process.