1. DEFINING THE COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF COMPUTER ENGINEERS: AN EXAMINATION OF COMMUNICATION- RELATED REQUIREMENTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES Brandon Lambert M.A. TESOL Candidate Middlebury Institute Studies of International Studies at Monterey May 23, 2015

2. LANGUAGE, POWER AND THE GLOBAL LABOR MARKET  Critical Approach  Power (Tan and Rubdy, 2008)  Market Conditions (Mesthrie and Deurmert, 2009)  Job Search Process (Tan and Rubdy, 2008)

3. ONLINE JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS  Authentic  Source for “authentic as possible tasks” (Belcher, 2009)  Timely  Relationship to meaningful experiences  Relevant  Shifting Employer Behavior  High Volume of Data GENRE

4. WHY? CON’TD  There has been a strong shift away from newspaper job advertisements since 2006 (Borrell Associates 2009) and in 2011 least 70 percent of all openings were posted online according to research from Alstadt (2011).  Online tools such as job boards and employer websites are now primary modes of job announcement and job search (Jansen, Jansen, and Spink 2005)

5. QUESTIONS AND PURPOSES  What is the range of language used in job announcements posted online to describe communication-related qualifications and responsibilities of computer engineers?  To better understand the diverse expectations of technical employers  How can instructors design meaningful tasks that make use of the authentic language used in online announcements?  To provide meaningful guidance to language learners pursuing jobs with these employers.

6. METHODS  Fifteen job announcements from Monster.com  61 instances reviewed and coded:  General communication  Presentation  Writing  Collaboration and relationships  Customer service  Leadership.

7. Job Title: Sr. Software Engineer – Computer Vision Key Duties, Tasks and Responsibilities:  Develop highly scalable and accurate computer vision systems for classification and related tasks.  Design and evaluate novel approaches for analyzing high volumes of video, audio and text data.  Ability to develop novel solutions using a combination of technologies based on engineering requirements.  Collaborate with team members to develop systems from prototyping to production level. [I-CODE: Collaboration and Relationships; S-CODE: Team]  Write provisional patents [I-CODE: Writing]  Collaborate with other teams to solve computer vision related problems. [I-CODE: Collaboration and Relationships; S-CODE: Team] Fig. 1 Excerpt from Job Posting with Initial Coding and Secondary Coding

8. DATA TABLE I Code Frequencies Skill Codes # of job announcements where mentioned Total # of mentions Presentation Ex. “Create technical demos” 23 Writing Ex. “Strong writing skills and organizational skills” 88 General Communication Ex. “Ability to understand and diagnose problems communicated via both oral and written problem reports and effectively communicate solutions” 1223 Collaboration and Relationships Ex. “Ability to work with others as part of a service organization” 920 Customer Service Ex. “Strong customer service orientation” 33 Leadership Ex. “Mentor, coach and contribute to the development of peers and other team members as appropriate” 34

9. TASKS  Applications of the research  General Workplace Communication  Communication and Collaboration  Communication and Management Storytelling  Applications Interviews Cover Letters Reflection  Job Announcements = Multi-Purpose Materials Noticing/ Awareness Raising 

10. RATIONALE  Dialogic  Contextualized/Situated  Transformational An approach to the use of authentic materials in the classroom. An ecological approach to SLA (van Lier 2004).

11. THANK YOU! References Alstadt, David. 2011. “Aligning community colleges to their local labor markets: The emerging role of online job ads for providing real-time intelligence about occupations and skills in demand.” Report of the Jobs for the Future Foundation. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535788.pdf Belcher, Diane. 2009. “What ESP Can and Should Be: An Introduction.” In English for Specific Purposes in Theory and Practice, edited by Diane Belcher, 1-20. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Borrell Associates. Recruitment advertising outlook 2010: A jobless recovery. Williamsburg, VA: Author, 2009. Jansen, Bernard J., Karen J. Jansen, and Amanda Spink. 2005. “Using the Web to Look for Work: Implications for Online Job Seeking and Recruiting.” Internet Research 15: 49-66. Leo van Lier. 2004. “The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective.” Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Mesthrie, Rajend, and Ana Deurmert. 2009. “Critical Sociolinguistics: Approaches to Language and Power.” In Introducing Sociolinguistics, edited by Rajend Mesthrie, Joan Swann, Ana Deumert and William L. Leap, 309-343. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Monster Worldwide. 2014. “About Us: By the Numbers.” http://www.monster.com/about Tan, Peter K. W., and Rani Rubdy. 2008. “Introduction.” In Language as commodity: Global structures, local marketplaces, edited by Peter K. W. Tan and Rani Rubdy, 1-30. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group.