DEFINING THE COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF COMPUTER ENGINEERS: AN EXAMINATION OF COMMUNICATION-RELATED REQUIREMENTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Brandon Lambert

M.A. TESOL Candidate

Middlebury Institute Studies of International Studies at Monterey

May 23, 2015

LANGUAGE, POWER AND THE GLOBAL LABOR MARKET

Critical Approach Power (Tan and Rubdy, 2008)

Market Conditions (Mesthrie and Deurmert, 2009)

Job Search Process (Tan and Rubdy, 2008)

ONLINE JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS

Authentic Source for “authentic as possible tasks”

(Belcher, 2009) Timely Relationship to meaningful experiences

Relevant Shifting Employer Behavior High Volume of Data

GENRE

WHY? CON’TD

There has been a strong shift away from newspaper job advertisements since 2006 (Borrell Associates 2009) and in 2011 least 70 percent of all openings were posted online according to research from Alstadt (2011).

Online tools such as job boards and employer websites are now primary modes of job announcement and job search (Jansen, Jansen, and Spink 2005)

QUESTIONS AND PURPOSES

What is the range of language used in job announcements posted online to describe communication-related qualifications and responsibilities of computer engineers? To better understand the diverse expectations of

technical employers How can instructors design meaningful tasks that make

use of the authentic language used in online announcements? To provide meaningful guidance to language learners

pursuing jobs with these employers.

METHODS

Fifteen job announcements from Monster.com 61 instances reviewed and coded:

General communication Presentation Writing Collaboration and relationships Customer service Leadership.

Job Title: Sr. Software Engineer – Computer Vision Key Duties, Tasks and Responsibilities: Develop highly scalable and accurate computer vision systems for

classification and related tasks. Design and evaluate novel approaches for analyzing high volumes of video,

audio and text data. Ability to develop novel solutions using a combination of technologies based

on engineering requirements. Collaborate with team members to develop systems from prototyping to

production level. [I-CODE: Collaboration and Relationships; S-CODE: Team] Write provisional patents [I-CODE: Writing] Collaborate with other teams to solve computer vision related problems. [I-

CODE: Collaboration and Relationships; S-CODE: Team] 

Fig. 1 Excerpt from Job Posting with Initial Coding and Secondary Coding

DATA

TABLE I 

Code Frequencies 

Skill Codes # of job announcements where mentioned

Total # of mentions

PresentationEx. “Create technical demos”

2 3

WritingEx. “Strong writing skills and organizational skills”

8 8

General CommunicationEx. “Ability to understand and diagnose problems communicated via both oral and written problem reports and effectively communicate solutions”

12 23

Collaboration and RelationshipsEx. “Ability to work with others as part of a service organization”

9 20

Customer ServiceEx. “Strong customer service orientation”

3 3

LeadershipEx. “Mentor, coach and contribute to the development of peers and other team members as appropriate”

3 4

     

TASKS

Applications of the research General Workplace Communication Communication and Collaboration Communication and Management

Storytelling

ApplicationsInterviewsCover Letters

Reflection

Job Announcements = Multi-Purpose Materials

Noticing/ Awareness Raising

RATIONALE

Dialogic Contextualized/Situated Transformational

An approach to the use of authentic materials in the classroom .

An ecological approach to SLA (van Lier 2004).

THANK YOU!References

Alstadt, David. 2011. “Aligning community colleges to their local labor markets: The emerging role of online job ads for providing real-time intelligence about occupations and skills in demand.” Report of the Jobs for the Future Foundation. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535788.pdf

Belcher, Diane. 2009. “What ESP Can and Should Be: An Introduction.” In English for Specific Purposes in Theory and Practice, edited by Diane Belcher, 1-20. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Borrell Associates. Recruitment advertising outlook 2010: A jobless recovery. Williamsburg, VA: Author, 2009.

Jansen, Bernard J., Karen J. Jansen, and Amanda Spink. 2005. “Using the Web to Look for Work: Implications for Online Job Seeking and Recruiting.” Internet Research 15: 49-66.

Leo van Lier. 2004. “The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective.” Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Mesthrie, Rajend, and Ana Deurmert. 2009. “Critical Sociolinguistics: Approaches to Language and Power.” In Introducing Sociolinguistics, edited by Rajend Mesthrie, Joan Swann, Ana Deumert and William L. Leap, 309-343. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Monster Worldwide. 2014. “About Us: By the Numbers.” http://www.monster.com/about

Tan, Peter K. W., and Rani Rubdy. 2008. “Introduction.” In Language as commodity: Global structures, local marketplaces, edited by Peter K. W. Tan and Rani Rubdy, 1-30. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group.