Research On The Feasibility Of Applying ESP To English Teaching In HVTE

Higher vocational & technical education (hereafter abbreviated as HVTE) developed and thrived in 1980s as an educational structure type in China's higher education system. It was included formally in national education system when the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Reforming the Education System was decreed in 1985. Both theoretical research on and educational practice in HVTE have been developed very quickly. However either the research or practice is hard to break away from the influence of the academic higher education model. HVTE in China hasn't really established its own characteristics, which is especially true in its English teaching area. Since the appearance of HVTE, its English teaching has been by and large following the practice of academic higher education. Whether the selection of teaching material or teachers or instruction approaches is not made according to the actual situations in HVTE colleges but by lowering the difficulty of teaching material and the standard of choosing teachers in relation to academic universities. HVTE English teaching taking the practice in academic higher education as a model is hard to reflect the teaching characteristics of its own on the one hand and on the other hand this kind of teaching tends to the vicious cycle of teacher feeling tired, students suffering a lot and low teaching efficiency. To be sure, where there are problems, there must be researchers. A lot of researchers and practioners have pondered and studied the problems in HVTE English teaching and actually there have been attempts and explorations to reform. There is no doubt that these explorations and attempts have been pushing the HVTE English teaching career forward. The thesis is also based on the objective to carry out some exploration on HVTE English teaching with seeking a more effective teaching approach to improve HVTE English teaching as the starting point. This thesis starts from the survey on the current situation of HVTE teaching in our country, then demonstrates the feasibility of applying English for specific purpose (hereafter abbreviated as ESP) to HVTE English teaching after an analysis on the reasonable situation of HVTE English teaching based on the current problems found in the above mentioned survey so as to discuss how to construct an English teaching system carrying the characteristics of HVTE under the guidance of ESP.This thesis is composed of three chapters covering the following details.Chapter I is a general introduction which is to clarify my research background and significance and to relate some important concepts as well as the current situation of related researches mentioned in my thesis. Chapter I is served as a basis for my future argument in the main body.Chapter II is one of the major parts, which is to talk about survey on the current situation of HVTE English teaching and to explore the major problems existing in HVTE English teaching from survey carried out in HVTE colleges and workplaces. On the one hand, it is to sort out these problems, while on the other hand it is to discover reasonable English teaching objectives, teaching material and suitable teachers in HVTE from the perspectives of different sides such as the head of English teaching department, ordinary teachers and students in HVTE colleges and employees in target positions. In the following chapter, demonstration will be carried out on the feasibility of applying ESP to HVTE English teaching in correspondence to these problems and the reasonable teaching system explored in this chapter.Chapter III is another major part in my thesis. In this chapter, I will make a detail analysis on the core parts of ESP including ESP need analysis, material selection and ESP teachers' roles so as to form a correspondence to chapter II and lay down the basis for final conclusion.Chapter IV is the highlight of my thesis. Concrete analysis on the feasibility will be made in this part by matching ESP to HVTE English teaching in China in the aspects of the teaching target, objectives, materi...