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@article{190264,
        author = {Dr. Niranjan Chenagoni},
        title = {The Employability Paradox: Assessing the Disconnect Between Technical Proficiency and Communication Skills in Engineering Graduates},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {8},
        pages = {3680-3683},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=190264},
        abstract = {In the contemporary landscape of Indian technical education, a troubling dichotomy has emerged: the "Employability Paradox." This phenomenon describes a generation of engineering graduates who possess high-level technical competencies—capable of complex coding or mechanical design—yet lack the fundamental communicative frameworks to articulate their expertise to prospective employers. This paper investigates this widening chasm between hard technical skills and soft communication skills, with a specific focus on the socio-linguistic context of Government Polytechnics in Telangana. Drawing on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with final-year diploma students and industry recruiters, the study argues that the root cause is not merely a deficit in vocabulary or "Mother Tongue Influence" (MTI). Instead, it appears to be a structural and pedagogical failure in which English is taught as an isolated academic subject rather than as a vocational tool. The findings suggest that for students in vernacular-medium programs, the cognitive load of translating technical thought into a foreign language creates a "silence of incompetence," which is often misread by recruiters as a lack of technical knowledge. This paper concludes by proposing an integrated pedagogical model—moving towards English for Specific Purposes (ESP)—to bridge this gap, ensuring that language becomes the vehicle for technical delivery rather than a barrier to entry.},
        keywords = {Engineering Education, Employability Skills, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Vernacular Medium Learners, Technical Communication, Pedagogy.},
        month = {January},
        }