Assessing Proficiency in Engineering English
http://www.ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/47/21277/00988361.pdf
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  peer-reviewed

Orr, Thomas
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
2002

Abstract:

Though engineers around the world conduct their work in nearly every language on the planet, there are very few who never use English for some aspect of their job. The largest professional engineering organizations use English as their primary language; most of the world’s engineering publications are written in English; and nearly all cooperative ventures with multinational participation choose English for their common language of communication. Unfortunately, most of the world’s engineers are not native speakers of English and thus are considerably disadvantaged in professional terms.