A Needs Analysis Approach To EFL Curriculum Development In Tertiary Education In China:a Case Study In CUPL

English, viewed as language of international communication, is considered a “linguafranca” since it is widely used as means of interaction between people, especially whosenative languages are different. Rapid technological and economic developmentworldwide and people’s necessity to interact and communicate globally contribute theincreasing use of English, especially among non-native speakers, which has imposedsubstantial challenges on the current EFL at tertiary level education in Mainland China.With the deepening of globalization, EFL at tertiary level has undergone rounds ofreforms in Mainland China since1999. This thesis focuses on the current EFLdevelopment of Mainland China tertiary education and is set out to examine the learningneeds of Chinese undergraduate students. A triangulation method was adopted in thestudy with data collected by using two different measures-that is questionnaires andinterviews. A case study of EAP in China University of Political Science and Law wasused for the study. The respondents were non-English major undergraduate studentswho were first receivers of CUPL Academic English Reform in2012. It is suggestedthat needs approach to EFL curriculum and content will yield improved outcomes. Fromthe results derived from the case study, the non-English major respondents could adaptthemselves to the reformed EFL courses, EAP courses. This study has pedagogicalimplications for the EAP teaching innovations for non-native students and contributes tothe widening of current research on the genre approach of English teaching.