The 21st Century Skills of English for International Communication Graduates Desired by Employers

Abstract

The purposes of the research were to 1) study the 21st century skills of English for International Communication graduates desired by employers and 2) compare the employers’ requirements to skills of English for International Communication graduates categorized by the individual factors. The sample were 55 employers participating in the cooperative education project in the academic year 2017. The research tools were questionnaires and interviews. The statistical data analysis was performed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and F distribution and the interview data analysis was performed by frequency and content analysis. It was found that the overall requirement of the employers for the 21st century skills of the graduates was at the high level ( 4.43, S.D = .35). As for each attribute, the highest level was enthusiasm ( = 4.63, S.D = .45), followed by collaboration ( = 4.58, S.D = .46) and thinking skills (  = 4.54, S.D = .47) respectively. The lowest level was the inquiry skills ( = 4.07, S.D = .59). The result of the research hypothesis revealed that there is no significant difference between the employers with different employment sectors and working status and the requirement of the graduates’ attributes.