A Study Of Modularized BE Course Design Based On Needs Analysis

A tentative construction of a set of modularized Business English courses is conducted on the basis of results and feedbacks of needs analysis of BE undergraduates. By taking this as a standards, descriptions and evaluations on current BE course design in universities in Hunan Province are carried out in this thesis. There are all together three research questions:1. What are the practical needs of BE learners?2. Is it possible to make a tentative construction of a set of modularized BE courses based on BE learners'needs analysis? If yes, what could it be?3. Evaluated from the perspective of BE learners'needs analysis, what is the status quo of the modular design of BE courses in universities in Hunan Province? What are the possible reasons for the problems in the existing BE course design?Dudley-Evans and St John's needs analysis framework is used to design interviews for BE employers and questionnaires for BE students and BE teachers. The contents cover: professional information about the learners; personal information about the learners; the learners'lacks; language learning information and what is wanted from the course. Based on the results of needs analysis, Robert Stone's methodology of modular design is applied in this thesis to create a modularized course design for business English professional courses. The BE courses are divided into five modules in this thesis: English knowledge & skills, Business English skills, Business knowledge, Communication strategies and Humanities & cultures. Then, a survey concerning about the status quo of BE course design in universities in Hunan Province is carried on. Compared with the newly-developed modularized BE course design, the findings are as follows:(1) BE courses are generally designed in modules in the surveyed universities.(2) Some modules and sub-modules are not covered in the BE course design. And the courses in each module are not complete. For example: Communication Strategies module and Business English Speaking and Listening sub-module are severely overlooked by some universities, and the courses in Business Knowledge module are not complete in all of the seven universities.(3) The total teaching hours of BE courses in four of the surveyed universities are not sufficient. On the other hand, the proportion of Language Competence in all the seven universities far exceeds 60%, while the proportion of Business knowledge, Communication Strategies, Humanities & Culture is far less than the requirements.Finally, the possible reasons for the problems in the existing BE course design are proposed. Far from being perfect, this thesis is still believed to be of significance to make guidance in cultivating the interdisciplinary Business English talents in Hunan Province and in mainland China.