An Investigation On The Professional Quality Of Business English Teachers

With China's entry into the World Trade Organization and the further development of China's educational reform, the importance of Business English has become one of the focuses of the public. The professional quality of Business English teachers consequently turns out to be the key and should not be neglected for the success of Business English teaching. What the current situation of professional quality of Business English teachers is and how to improve their professional quality have become the focuses of the study.The present study addresses the following three questions:1. What professional quality do BE teachers hold in terms of English language competence, proficiency in business theories, working experiences in business affairs, and Business English teaching practices?2. Are there differences in the professional quality between BE teachers with business background and those without business background according to their academic qualification in specific study fields?3. What is the BE teachers'expectation in their professional development?In order to answer the three questions, an investigation through questionnaires was conducted among 37 Business English teachers from Business English departments or Business English Teaching and Research sections under the English department, and 228 Business English juniors from 9 colleges and universities in Hubei province. The questionnaires were designed in two dimensions: Business English teachers and Business English majors. The teacher questionnaire was designed from five aspects: English language competence, proficiency in business theories, working experiences in business affairs, BE teaching practices, and professional development probing into their self-evaluation and expectation. The student questionnaire was designed correspondingly to investigate their BE teachers'English language competence, proficiency in business theories, working experiences in business affairs, and BE teaching practices.The results of this research are as follows:Firstly, BE teachers'English language competence generally meets the needs of English class teaching. Most BE teachers are satisfied with their proficiency in business theories. They recognize that their proficiency in business theories can fulfill the requirements from various BE classes. Most of BE teachers have rich experiences in business affairs. However, the students'evaluation on PQBET is lower than the BE teacher's self-evaluation on PQBET.Secondly, by comparing the professional quality of BE teachers with business background and those without business background, there are some differences existing according to their academic qualification in specific study fields, but not of significance.Thirdly, most BE teachers were anxious to get chances for further study to enrich their knowledge, such as, the professional knowledge on business and financing, BE teaching methods, and BE syllabus designing et al.This research is expected to be helpful in identifying the current state of Business English teachers'professional development and beneficial for the Business English education reform in China's universities.