EST: evading scientific text

Engineering students in Thailand are charged with the duty of facilitating technology transfer from the west. But they seem to have great difficulty i n performing one of the central tasks in that duty, that of reading textboo ks written in English. This study examines some chemical engineering studen ts' attitudes to text and other parts of English language textbooks. A ques tionnaire was administered to a group of undergraduates, the results of whi ch seem to reveal one way in which students get around the problem of textb ook reading. (C) 2001 The American University. Published by Elsevier Scienc e Ltd. All rights reserved.