The Importance of Training English Skills for College Students Especially

Engineering Students

Dhias Ajeng Maharani

Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS)

Introduction

Language is important for our communication. There are thousands of languages

in this world. Every region in the world has a local language that may not be
understood by everyone. In the modern era, english is the one of the language that you
must be able to understand.. The importance of English cannot be ignored since English
is the greatest commonly spoken language.

For students that from countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, and other countries
which do not use English as first language, it’s necessary to search information on how
learning English is important. Language is important for our education, especially for
English. But many people still find it difficult to learn English because of the listening
section. The reasons why listening is difficult for some people because the status of
language, knowledge of language, familiarity, lack of practice, speed of speaker, anxiety,
translation, test demand, lact of concentration, and facilities (Rintaningrum, 2018).
Several ways to improve difficulties in this language are more time to practice listening,
more opportunity to learning, and learning from a young age. Learning English from a
young age isn’t useless. Because during these times the children’s brains still find
experience and it is very easy to absorb information (Rintaningrum, 2015)

Question 1 : Why English is important for college student?

English Is A Universal Language

English has been arguably “the universal language” in the world, given by the
fact that it’s not only spoken in more than 54 countries. In United Kingdom and United
States, English has been spoken as the first language. The whole world has become a
global village and we have to maintain good relationships with others. Maintaining
good relationships with others can be done by communicating in a language that
everyone can understand. English is the most widely used language in the world
international trade, diplomacy, mass entertainment, international telecommunications
and scientific publications (Srinivas Rao, 2019)

Learning English as a foreign language can help an individual and community

ways of understanding what is going on around the world. The language has huge
importance in communicating with one country to another and helps widen our
knowledge in many field, . because English is spread all over the whole world into
almost all the fields such as science, engineering and technology, medicine, and more.
Especially for engineering student, English is important because technology continues
to develop fast.

Many Scientific Papers Are Written In English

Nowadays, scientific articles became the measure of scientific productivity,

language of science, culture, and the global economy are written in English (Ramírez-
Castañeda, 2020) That is why 98% of publications in science are written in English.
Local journals are often perceived as low-quality, because research work is often
reserved for international journals. As a result from Colombian doctoral students in
biological sciences whose English as a second language, 92% of them are published
scientific articles in english and only 4% of them published their articles in Spanish and
Portuguese (Ramírez-Castañeda, 2020). Scientists prefer to reading and writing in
English because the prevalence of English as the source for their words and phrases.
Scientists also need to improve their own English skill.

English Makes Communication More Easy

English may not be the most spoken language in the world, but English is
common second language in the world and most people use English to communicate
when they travel to a foreign country. Learning English is important as it enables to
communicate easily with global citizen. Many of films, books, and music are published
in English, that’s why by learning English you will have more access to understanding
cultural. English allows us to relate and therefore to understand each other.

Question 2 : How to improve English language skills?

Practice

There are many websites and apps that you can use continuously to learn english.
Keep practicing makes yourself more confident on using English. Students need to
spend more time to improve their grammar and vocabulary. If students improve more
grammar and vocabulary, they will acquire better English proficiency and it will help
them get better score when they participate in standardized English language ability
measurement test such as TOEFL.

Listening

Students need to spend more time to practice listening in English. If students

more practice their listening skill, they will be familiar with English. If they familiar
with what they hear, the speed how the speakers speak in English can be followed.
Listening to music can help a lot for your listening skill (Al- Eiadeh et al., 2016)

Keep Writing

Whatever something comes to your mind, just note it down to your notebook or
diary. Don’t worry about mistake and write its down again. Proofread your work and
write it down again in a better way.

Keep Reading

Read a book will boost your vocabulary. It helps you to learn a new word every
day. Whatever a book you get, just grab and read. You can also read newspapers,
literature, online articles, blogs, etc. keep reading also improve your writing skills.
 Conclusion

Learning English is important, especially for college student. There are many
reasons why learning English is important. First, English is a universal language.
Learning english is important to have good relationships with others by Communicating
in a language that everyone can understand. Second, many scientific papers are written
in English. Nowadays, 98% of publications in science are written in English. And the
last, English makes communication more easy. English is common second language in
the world, it makes you can communicate with someone from another country.

You can improve your English skills by practice from websites and apps that
you can use continuously to learn English. Also you can improve your grammar and
vocabulary from websites and apps. Listening is the hardest part in English that you
must practice more. You can improve your listening skills with music or film. Write
down whatever comes to your mind can improve your writing skills. Just note it down
everything on your mind. And the last part of how to improve your English skill is keep
reading. Reading a book will help boost your vocabulary.
 References

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Ramírez-Castañeda, V. (2020). Disadvantages in preparing and publishing scientific

papers caused by the dominance of the English language in science: The case of
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