Teaching German for Specific Purposes to Engineering Students at Federal University of Technology, Minna

This study examines the design and implementation of a German for Specific Purposes (GSP) programme for engineering students at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, North Central Nigeria. German for Specific Purposes instruction, which tailors language learning content and objectives to the linguistic demands of specific professional or disciplinary contexts, is well established internationally but remains in its infancy in Nigerian German language education. Engineering students at Minna have access to collaborative research agreements with German universities of applied sciences, and the ability to engage with German technical literature and communication is a recognised professional advantage. The study employs a participatory action research design, involving German language instructors, engineering faculty, and student representatives in the needs analysis, curriculum design, and iterative evaluation of a twelve-week GSP programme. Data are collected through needs analysis surveys, instructor reflection logs, course observation protocols, and pre- and post-course assessments of technical German reading and writing ability. Findings indicate that a highly contextualised GSP approach, integrating engineering case studies, technical vocabulary tasks, and German academic writing conventions, yields significantly greater learner engagement and proficiency gains than a generic German language programme. The study provides a replicable GSP development model for Nigerian technical universities. Keywords: German for Specific Purposes, engineering students, Federal University of Technology Minna, needs analysis, technical German.