Developing global citizenship in engineering – let’s talk languages

I was settling in my seat for the 10-hour flight from Dubai to Narita Tokyo and offered my neighbor gum for the ear-popping experience we were able to have on take-off. He spoke very little English but spoke French. ?I’ve been learning French over the last few months, so I was delighted at the chance to communicate in a second language. Without a translator app to help and with my elementary French we managed to communicate enough to help translate the English-written visa form. Granted, I need to work on my French, but it was achievement. In fact, learning a language is a valuable skill that is not talked about enough in higher education, especially in engineering.

There is always a need for wider skills as part of our toolkit in developing ourselves as competent engineers who can operate with different contexts including cultural and ethical awareness. Cultural context, like ethics, needs to be unpacked. It can’t be taught in a single lecture or even a hands-on workshop and I won’t attempt to deep dive into it here. However, language is inextricably linked to culture and therefore is one of many pathways to help develop cultural awareness. The use of language in itself uncovers an understanding of others (empathy), of underlying values, social norms and nuances in language use.

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What do our accreditation policies say about language learning?

Directly? Not very much, but implicitly there is an underlying call for bridging between what society needs and what engineers provide. With the Engineering Council UK’s ?accreditation of higher education programmes (AHEP-4) suggesting:

“Engineers have a crucial role to play in helping to solve the world’s problems, ensuring the benefits of innovation and progress are shared equitably...”. There is, therefore, an implicit reference to developing cultural sensitivity in the work that is done, most demonstrated in competences C5/M5 and C12-16/M12-16.

It’s also important to view how Engineering Council UK’s AHEP-4 sits within the wider global context: as signatories of both the European Union’s EUR-ACE? framework and the global Washington Accord, where UK, Japan and the US are among 23 national signatories.

The EUR-ACE? framework aims to provide students a route to “...to facilitate their professional mobility and to enhance their individual and collective ability to fulfill the needs of economies and of society” (expressed under competencies: communication and teamwork, making judgments).

The Washington Accord poses the visionary question: “How do we build mutual understanding among nations about the quality of engineers who enter the globally connected workplace?” And with this question in mind, the Washington Accord sets out to provide globally agreed attributes for a successful engineer to possess. Working within the “cultural” context is mentioned in two attributes and one of the knowledge profile statements (WA3, WA6 and WK7).

With Aston University’s Mechanical and Design Engineering programs embedding the global CDIO (conceive-design-implement-operate) framework for teaching engineering, this is taken further. With the CDIO initiative describing 12 standards and 4 optional standards for programs to develop, the fourth of these optional standards is “internationalization and mobility”.

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Extrinsic and intrinsic demotivators

Back to language learning: since this could be an effective way of developing better cultural awareness. ?Surely, we could do more to facilitate language acquisition in engineering programs. Unfortunately, learning other languages in the UK has waned over the last few decades. Language departments are closing, which would often offer intensive or yearlong courses for students studying other subjects, providing them with valuable skills that would further their employability. As a result of these closures, course offerings are becoming less available. The problem with this lack of interest is actually costing the UK economy, “3.5 per cent of GDP” as reported by the British Council, who suggest Spanish, Mandarin, French, Arabic and German should be learned as the top 5 languages for the future.

Putting aside these extrinsic barriers, there is also the problem of a lack of intrinsic interest. Anecdotally, not many engineers consider widening their skill base in language while at university. Perhaps this could be a false belief that they wouldn’t be/are not good at languages. A reluctance to language study in turn is closing a potential pathway to developing ‘global’ skills in our engineers.

I’m here to propose a different take that I hope will smash that belief out of the park. And that is this: engineering students are already studying a second language, but most just don’t know it.

Learning a second language: Engineering language

Engineers speak to each other through engineering drawings, a blended visual, spatial and numerical language that can be understood by other qualified engineers from anywhere in the world.

A nice example is Jaguar Land Rover, who have effectively managed several car manufacturing plants in different locations across the world (Brazil, Slovakia, China etc), with some assembling the same models. It is incredible to think that a Land Rover made in the UK has practically the same identical spec to one made in Brazil.

During my visit to a local technical college in the Ishikawa prefecture I observed students operating a manual lathe to machine a metal part from an engineering drawing. We didn’t speak the same verbal language but looking at their drawings, the 2D views, notations and tolerances, I understood what they needed to do. We have a common universal language, precise and unambiguous. Every line and line density communicates meaning.

Perhaps we should consider teaching engineering language as a form of secondary language acquisition. There is much research on second language acquisition that we could tap into. With this mind shift change, this could perhaps help provide more effective ways of teaching this language, which can be a challenge for some students. ?

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There are also added benefits to knowing a second (or third) language such as improved cognitive ability in later life, even if second language acquisition was achieved in adulthood (Bak et al. 2014). The same study suggests that 3 or more languages shows a stronger effect.

As my efforts to learn French and this current immersive experience in learning Japanese continues, it has helped me understand the overarching values and social norms that shape this wonderful culture by the way phrases are used, the way we greet each other, the expressions of apologies and thanks, and so on. I urge engineers to pick up a third or even a fourth language.

You can do it! Gunbatte! Bonne chance!

It will strengthen your mind…quite literally.

Sarah Junaid

Churchill Fellow

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?Thank you Shinya Takehara for the helpful photo translation and teaching me the history of how written Japanese has evolved over the years.

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NOTE: any reflections and comments are the opinion of the writer alone and are not necessarily shared by associated institutions or collaborators.

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#winstonchurchillfellowship

#globalcitzenship

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#engineeringforsociety

#engineeringcitizenship

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Resources:

Washington Accord 25YearsWashingtonAccord-A5booklet-FINAL.pdf (ieagreements.org)

EUR-ACE? Framework EAFSG-Doc-Full-status-8-Sept-15-on-web-fm.pdf (enaee.eu)

Engineering Council’s the Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes AHEP-4 ahep-fourth-edition.pdf (engc.org.uk)

CDIO 12 standards Microsoft Word - CDIO STANDARDS 3.docx

CDIO 4 optional standards Microsoft Word - CDIO OPTIONAL STANDARDS 3_20220712.docx

CDIO Syllabus Microsoft Word - CDIO2022_Malmqvist et al Syllabus 3_post_review_v6.docx

News article UK students are abandoning language learning,?so we’re looking for a more creative approach (theconversation.com)

British Council article Is the UK in a language crisis? | British Council

British Council article Which foreign languages will be most important for the UK post-Brexit? | British Council

Jaguar Land Rover’s global reach https://media.jaguarlandrover.com/node/15812

Bak et al. 2014 Does bilingualism influence cognitive aging? (wiley.com)