Relevance of soft vs hard skills in ESP teachers: perceptions of technical and creative studies students
ENHard skills and soft skills are the two main skill sets that determine how effective a university instructor is. The specific knowledge and skills needed for duties like teaching, evaluation, and classroom management are referred to as hard skills. Soft skills are more adaptable and necessary for successfully utilizing technical expertise and have a big influence on teachers' capacity to interact with students and enhance performance. The purpose of this study was to determine whether students in technical and creative fields placed greater value on the hard or soft skills of ESP teachers. The quantitative findings demonstrated that the most important soft skill that lecturers in all programs developed was communication. Students prefer inclusive and interesting education, and they respect teachers who create interactive learning environments and employ a variety of teaching techniques. The study positioned educators as mentors for both professional and personal development by highlighting the importance of qualities like emotional intelligence, empathy, and mentoring. Teachers are also seen as role models who should combine professionalism with a compassionate, student-centered approach that promotes collaboration and understanding.Both groups concur that soft skills are essential to an efficient teaching process, even though students in creative study programs appear more willing to recognize the value of hard skills. Although students in creative programs place more emphasis on it, communication is identified as the most pertinent soft skill for both categories of respondents. However, compared to creative students, technical students place more value on emotional intelligence. Interestingly, students from both disciplines agree that a range of teaching methods are essential in the classroom and value engaging activities in the teaching process. All things considered, the findings demonstrate the importance of soft skills in the learning process and in equipping students to overcome future challenges. Keywords: soft skills; hard skills; creativity studies; technical studies; communication; ESP; university teachers.
