ชุติมา ตั้งหิรัญวัฒน์. The Reading difficulties faced by Thai engineers in telecommunication industry in reading English technical textbooks and manuals. Master's Degree(English for Business and Technology). University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. : University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, 2003.
The Reading difficulties faced by Thai engineers in telecommunication industry in reading English technical textbooks and manuals
Abstract:
This study was designed to identify the reading difficulties. Thai engineers working in telecommunication industry faced in reading manuals and technical textbooks and to assess the level of difficulty the engineers had with these problems. The subjects of this study were 50 Thai engineers drawn from companies in telecommunication industry. A questionnaire was used to collect the data by interviewing the engineers about the difficulties they had in reading a manual and a part of a textbook chapter they were requested to read prior to the interview. Means were computed and Chi-squares were used to analyze the data, resulting in the following findings.1. In reading the manual, the engineers had difficulties with vocabulary, grammar and content. The types of vocabularies they had problems with in order of levels of difficulty were vocabularies of other technical fields, new vocabulary stemming from new technology, and technical vocabulary in telecommunication field. The grammatical constructions the engineers found problematic in order of seriousness were compound sentences, complex sentences, complex noun phrases, and passive voice. In term of the content, both knowledge of other technical fields and knowledge of new technology were considerably serious problems for the subjects. 2. In reading the textbook, the subjects were also faced with difficulty, in order of magnitude, with vocabularies of other fields, new vocabulary stemming from new technology, and technical vocabulary in telecommunication field. For grammatical constructions, they found complex sentences the most problematic followed by compound sentences, complex noun phrases, passive voice, and verb phrases. These subjects also had difficulties comprehending both knowledge of other technical fields and knowledge of new technology. 3. The subjects educational backgrounds were found to relate significantly with their reading difficulties at the .05 level. The subjects holding a bachelor's degree had more difficulty with vocabularies of other technical fields, and comprehending knowledge of new technology in reading the manual than those holding a master's degree. In reading the textbook, the subjects holding a bachelor's degree also had more difficulty with vocabularies of other technical fields, and comprehending compound sentences, and complex noun phrases than those holding a master's degree. 4. The subjects' working experiences were also found to relate significantly at the .05 level with the difficulties they had in reading the manual and the textbook. The subjects working for 1-5 years had more difficulty than those with more than 5 years of working experience with technical vocabulary in telecommunication field, new vocabulary stemming from new technology, vocabularies of other technical fields, as well as words with several meanings. They also had more difficulty understanding compound sentences, and both knowledge of other technical fields, and knowledge of new technology in reading the manual. Moreover, the subjects working for 1-5 years had more difficulty than those working for more than 5 years with new vocabulary stemming from new technology, as well words with several meanings, and understanding passive voice, knowledge of other technical fields, and knowledge of new technology in reading the textbook.