Presentation Schedule
Research-informed Genre-based Pedagogy: Enhancing Critical Communication Literacy for Engineering Interviews (107309)
Session Chair: Gilman Senem Gençtürk Hızal
Sunday, 12 July 2026 14:50
Session: Session 4
Room: UCL Torrington, G08 (Ground Floor)
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation
This presentation showcases a research-informed genre-based pedagogy applied to enhance engineering students’ critical communication literacy for technical job interviews. The practice addresses a gap between student preparation and professional expectation.
The pedagogical intervention began with research involving 10 engineering undergraduates and 4 industry professionals. The guiding research questions are: (1) What are the differences between industry professionals’ and engineering students’ perceptions of technical interviews? (2) What strategies can be given to students to address technical interviews? Findings revealed a key misalignment: students prioritized delivering correct technical answers, whereas professionals assessed technical capability, logical process, and communication effectiveness as integrated dimensions.
These insights directly informed the development of an online learning platform centered on genre-specific response structures for three technical question types: experience-based, knowledge-based, and situational. Each structure models how professionals communicate complex thinking. A practice zone with authentic questions enables iterative application.
The platform was critically evaluated by students via a 15-item questionnaire informed by research about online learning platform evaluation (Gu et al., 2023). The results indicate that the platform successfully demystifies implicit communication norms, supports self-study, and fosters professional literacy. It is particularly beneficial for university students with limited interview experience.
The project experience has proved that research-based pedagogy effectively makes expert discourse in professional communication (e.g. job interviews) accessible to students and facilitates constructing their professional identities. While the project targets engineering students, this genre-based pedagogy is transferable across disciplines.
Authors:
Yanwei Nie, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
About the Presenter(s)
NIE Yanwei Eddie is a Lecturer of English Language Teaching Unit at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule
Conference Comments & Feedback
Place a comment using your LinkedIn profileShare this Presentation
Comments
Powered by WP LinkPress