Abstract:
This study is based on an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) approach to second
language teaching and learning. ESP is an approach to second language teaching and learning
that arose in Britain as the outcome of efforts at formulating and designing more effective
methods of second language teaching and Learning among tertiary students. It seeks to refine
and develop learners' existing knowledge and abilities towards desired target competence in
order to enable them to cope with clearly defined communicative tasks. Thus, needs analysis
of students' communicative requirements in specific disciplines is the bedrock of ESP.
Having introduced ESP in Nigerian tertiary institutions, the National Universities Commission recommended the design of effective and meaningful curriculum for teaching
communicative skills as part of the Use of English Programme. This invariably necessitates
studies to analyse the specific target requirements of students in various disciplines. It is
based on this that this study investigates the expository writing of engineering students in
order to reveal the lacks of this population in the manipulation of syntactic and cohesive
features of the engineering register. The purpose is to create rich data base for the design of
more competency-based English programme for second language Engineering students.
To carry out this investigation, we extensively examined issues and concepts about
ESP. Our literature review centred on theoretical and empirical ESP-based studies spanning
countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, (with particular attention to Nigeria). Moreover, formulated three research questions and four null hypotheses. An essay was administered for
the sample population and the scripts analysed using frequency and percentages. We also
obtained a checklist of syntactic and cohesive features of engineering register from ;In analysis
of tluee standard engineering texts. The data from the students' scripts and the checklist of
syntactic and cohesive features of engineering discourse provided means for answering the
research questions. The Chi-square Statistic on the other hand was used to test the
hypotheses. The data analysis revealed areas of deficiencies of' the study group as well as
gender-related lacks in the use of syntactic and cohesive strategies. Several contributions this
study makes to scholarship were discussed and the implications noted. Finally, we made
suggestions for further research.
