Research On Content-based Instruction For ESP At Higher Vocational Colleges

With the integration of China into the world economy in the context of globalization, English for General Purpose (EGP) can not meet the needs of rapid developing society. English for Special Purpose (ESP), as a branch of English Language Teaching (ELT), is based on the needs analysis of learners and can help learners acquire the specific language abilities. ESP is in accordance with the training target of Higher Vocational and Technical Colleges (HVTC). How to achieve the noticeable effect of ESP course teaching presents a new challenge to ESP teachers in HVTC.Content-based Instruction (CBI) is an approach to integrate language teaching and content instruction, which emphasizes on learning about content rather than language itself. In the CBI approach, the focus of learning is to obtain information through the second language learning in the process of language skills development. CBI is regarded as an effective approach to improve the learning of both language and content knowledge. The researcher tries to explore the application of CBI to ESP teaching by conducting an experiment of Marine Electrical English teaching, with an attempt to find out the feasibility of CBI and potential problems. The research questions are (1) Is it feasible to adopt CBI approach in Marine Electrical English teaching?(2) How effective is it when CBI is used to Marine Electrical Majors?Based on the theory and models of CBI approach, the researcher conducted a half-year experiment on two classes majoring in Marine Electrical Engineering at Zhejiang International Maritime College, trying to find out whether CBI can motivate students’interests and what should be paid attention to during implementing CBI. The researcher employs the means of questionnaires and interviews and the result shows that CBI is effective in enhancing students’interests, developing communicative ability, increasing their confidence and increasing content knowledge.The major findings give some implications for ESP teaching. First, the cooperation of ESP teachers is necessary and feasible in vocational and technical colleges. Second, the cooperation of students is particularly advocated. Third, ESP teachers should pay more attention to the balance of content and language. The last but not the least is the content-based assessment.