Research On Postgraduate English Curriculum Design Based On Needs Analysis

Under the guidance of the Belt and Road,China’s economic cooperation with foreign countries has been increased,the internationalization of higher education has become an inevitable trend,and postgraduates’ English proficiency has been receiving more attention.As an ingredient in postgraduate curriculum system,postgraduate English curriculum has an important impact on improving the overall quality of postgraduates,especially foreign language ability.Needs analysis is the first step in curriculum design and provides the guidance for curriculum development.Through random interviews and literature review,it is found that there is a certain gap between the current curriculum and actual needs,and the amount of relevant studies is insufficient.Therefore,this paper proposes suggestions on postgraduate English curriculum based on needs analysis,so as to optimize the curriculum design.This paper takes Dalian University of Technology as an example,combines Brown’s curriculum design model and Shu Dingfang’s needs analysis theory and conducts needs surveys from learners’ and social perspectives.Questionnaire is the data collection tool and SPSS.25.0 is the data analysis tool.The results show the current postgraduate English curriculum does not meet learners’ and social needs very well.The needs of postgraduates and employers on English have commonalities and characteristics.At the macro level,both of them emphasize the practical use of English.Postgraduates stress the application of English in professional studies,while employers emphasize language activities related to occupation.As for English skills,postgraduates have a strong need of improving speaking ability,while employers emphasize both reading and speaking abilities.Therefore,the common needs should be especially emphasized and the characteristics should be balanced.According to the survey results,some suggestions are made: underscoring operability and practicality,consolidating reading ability and cultivating speaking ability;arranging authentic and diverse content and integrating operable practice in materials;diversifying classroom activities,implementing task-based activities in target situations;adopting formative and summative assessment and emphasizing evaluation on the application ability;opening academic English and professional English selective courses;building a self-learning platform and developing professional corpora.