Exploring the Perception and Attitude of Engineering Students towards Communication Skills Course

Abstract

This study explores the perception and attitude of engineering students in Accra Technical University towards Communication Skills as a  course. Attitude towards Communication Skills is an important concept because it plays a key role in language learning, as well as career  performance. However, with the ever-growing age of globalisation, international and cross-cultural communication, the need for  communication skills has increased, especially among engineers who feed on ideas from local and international collaborations. It has  become imperative for engineering graduates to acquire a range of skills to maintain relevance with the global setting of the new era.  Communication skills is one of the vital skills recognised by academia and industry alike. This quantitative study examines students’  perception and attitude towards communication skills as a course, and bring to bear some reasons for the perceived poor performance  in the course. The research instruments used to collect data were questionnaires and observation. The study observed that most of the students in the first year of their study had negative perception and attitude towards communication skills, contrary to students in the  final year who had positive responses towards the course.