College English Learning Needs Analysis Of Non-English Major Freshmen

The approach of needs analysis has been applied to the foreign language teaching for twenty years abroad. The research in China related to needs analysis lags behind. Although in the late20th century, some scholars started to discuss the issue of students’needs in the college English teaching, the systematic research on the English learning needs of college freshmen still remains rare. As a good command of English has become one of the essential qualities for the21st century qualified personnel, an increasing importance is being attached to the college English teaching and learning, especially for the college freshmen. The first college year tends to be the phase for transiting and adapting as well as serves as a stage of laying the foundation for the further learning of English and the college English teaching and learning of freshmen are innated with unique characteristics. Therefore, it is quite important to conduct the research on the English learning needs of college freshmen.This study explores English learning needs of the freshmen at Central South University from the following four dimensions: current learning abilities; learning requests; learning process needs; learning environment needs. Questionnaires and interviews have been employed to address the study research questions. 200non-English major freshmen from eight different schools at Central South University participated in this questionnaire. Ten of the students accepted the interview survey. After analyzing the data with SPSS14.0and summarizing the interview content, we get the final results which show that the freshmen have a relatively high demand of improving their oral and listening skills in which they are poor; they still need teachers’study guidance though they already utilize some English learning strategy; besides, teachers’personal characteristics, teaching methods and English learning materials all exert a great influence on their English learning. The respondents have also affirmed the positive role of modern multimedia network aided instruction and multimedia learning resources in English learning. In addition, the study proves that there are significantly differences between male and female students in the learning requests, learning process and learning environmental needs of study. Thus, this dissertation will provide some targeted information and advice for the effective English teaching and learning for college freshmen from such perspectives as teachers’personality, teaching methods and materials, etc.