Cross-Cultural Digital Communication Competence Among Engine Major Cadets in International Crewing Contexts: A Competency Indicator Study

Abstract

Marine engineering cadets serving in international crewing contexts communicate daily through digital channels — WhatsApp group messages for operational coordination, email exchanges with shore-based superintendents, digital platform reports for maintenance records, and emergency alert communications through vessel management systems — across language and cultural boundaries that their professional formation has not explicitly prepared them to navigate. Maritime English and cross-cultural communication research has extensively documented communicative challenges in deck officer contexts, leaving the Engine major cadet population substantially underrepresented in the empirical literature. This study examines cross-cultural digital communication competence among 10 Marine Engineering cadets at Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Pelayaran (STIP) Jakarta through a qualitative focus group discussion design supplemented by a competency indicator framework derived from FGD analysis and ENG curriculum document review. Four competency dimensions were identified and assessed: Digital Tool Proficiency in ENG Contexts (moderate competency, emerging through informal self-learning), English-Technical Writing for Digital Channels (low, representing the most critical curriculum gap), Cross-Cultural Digital Communication Norms (very low, absent from formal instruction), and Emergency Communication through Digital Maritime Systems (low, insufficiently developed for professional deployment). Document analysis of 10 ENG core syllabi confirms that cross-cultural digital communication is entirely absent as a learning objective, while English technical writing is addressed only incidentally in two syllabi. The study contributes the first empirically grounded digital communication competency assessment for ENG maritime cadets in Indonesia and provides specific curriculum integration priorities for STIP Jakarta's Marine Engineering program.