The Role of Inventions in Studying Technical English
The Role of Inventions in Studying Technical English

Summary/Abstract: In the expanding domain of ESP the use of up-to-date teaching materials remains one of the greatest challenges to English teachers. Practical and experiential learning activities are of salutary use within the Technical English (TE) seminars when the chosen textbooks and formal syllabi lose their impact and attractiveness. Therefore, either obsolete or recent inventions are brought to life through short presentations in order to sustain the teaching endeavour to incorporate new specialised vocabulary. The role of these technological inventions brought forward by engineering students is both formative in facilitating language acquisition, and informative in exploring different designs from their field of study. Meant to present the best inventions from their field, from main components and functions to social influence and economic change, the students research beforehand the context of their selected inventions, finding as well technical reasons for their choice, while the audience calls into question the (dis)advantages of such an invention. Beyond this class-based teaching strategy and learning planning, the primary purpose of this paper is to investigate the predominance of certain inventions in the process of teaching EFL and TE respectively, and the cultural context that made possible a breakthrough in technology from the point of view of history of English.

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