Development of Soft Skills with the Purpose of Enhancing Employability of Engineering Students

The engineering students’ readiness for professional activity is not limited by their academic qualifications, technical skills and further use of theoretical knowledge in practice but it's equally important for students to be able to defend opinions, substantiate their position and have career adaptability and employability resources in the course of their career. This mixed-method study utilizes the social cognitive theory and a metacognitive approach to enhance employability. The employability of students relies on various internal determinants within individuals. The paper describes the personal, and social skills of the students, their needs in English, and provides suggestions on simultaneous scaling up employability and English proficiency within English classes. The study methodology includes the English for specific purposes course instructional design (ESP) and measurement methods evaluating its effectiveness. Sample means, standard deviations, medians, first and third quartiles were calculated for the studied variables. The Mann–Whitney Z-test and the Wilcoxon Z-criterion for correlated samples were administered to a sample of 200 second-year engineering students learning ESP. The findings of the research indicated that engineering students enrolled in the optional ESP course succeeded in enhancing their soft skills along with the progress in English, compared to the students who had only traditional lessons.