This research focuses on analyzing characteristics and needs of engineering students in an EFL context, which is designed as a preliminary study of content-based language instruction to develop NURI English model. For the purpose of this study, I conduct surveys and interviews on 147 engineering students to find out students’ needs and interests as well as 9 professors to recognize their notions of what language skills would benefit engineering students. The results of surveys and interviews strongly suggest the need to adopt a learner-centered level approach with which NURI English can incorporate communicative English for general and specific purposes in the field of engineering as well as TOEIC instruction. The results of this study also lead to an instructional parameter for NURI English program that requires for taking into account an instruction model of the integration of language and content for engineering students. The present study offers a few pedagogical implications for language educators who want to design a content-based language instruction model for engineering students in EFL contexts.