The acquisition of soft skills, such as interpersonal relationships and collaborative communication in a foreign language, are key aspects which should be taken into consideration in any career guidance project. English for Specific Purposes within the Life Sciences (in this case, English for Agricultural Engineers, English for Horticultural Engineers, English for Biotechnology / Genetic Engineering and English for Food Engineering) requires consistent interdisciplinary partnership seeking knowledge transfer and the creation of professional networks across various socio-humanistic disciplines. Therefore, our transdisciplinary cooperation ranges on an institutional level within the ULS “King Mihai I” from Timisoara, including the contribution of members from the languages and teacher training/counselling department for the purpose of enhancing higher quality educational practices and learning attitudes. The major aim of our on-going interdisciplinary project promotes opportunities for students in natural science engineering and related areas, where communication remains an important issue. For this purpose, the specific aims which are targeted in the educational and English courses consist in the design of a set of didactic strategies informed by shared practices and the development of communicational learning materials. The course English for Life Sciences employs content-based resources from specialty disciplines, providing accessibility to recent research in English. Insights on teaching strategies and textbook development have been shared by colleagues from the teacher training department within our university. We also wish to bring a contribution to the mission put forth by our university, i.e. investing in human capital at all levels, enabling students to achieve applied entrepreneurial training for all areas of life and natural sciences (agriculture and farm management, horticulture, silviculture, genetic engineering, biology, food science, etc.), which would be conducive to a greater relevance of our educational programs for the community at large. Finally, from a joint perspective, the English courses, along with the pedagogical module provided for our undergraduates, highlight the quality of training students how to think and learn on a lifelong basis.

communication, foreign languages, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), communication, interdisciplinary, collaborative learning

agronomy

Presentation: poster