Research On Cross-cultural Training Curriculum Design For The Chinese Expatriates In The Civil Engineering And Construction Field From The Perspective Of Needs Analysis

Since the implementation of the reform and opening up policy,especially after the accession to the WTO, the number of the companiesin China who would like to get a share in the international market isincreasing sharply. It is undoubtedly that the number of the expatriatesworking for multinational corporations being dispatched abroad will belarger and larger. As a result, how to help the expatriates adapting toforeign environment is becoming a hot topic. So cross cultural trainingprogram is favored by more and more people. Actually, researches oncross-cultural training abroad could be dated back to1960s. After morethan50years’ exploration and study, the theory of cross-cultural traininghas been a complete system. However, the study in China started late andthe study is very scarce. With the strengthening communication ofmultinational corporations, more attention has been paid to cross-culturaltraining program. A great number of companies have cross culturaltraining programs for their employees with the purpose to help theemployees to adapt to the foreign countries. However, there is a programin the field about how to make a proper and effective curriculum for theexpatriates. So far, there have been little related studies in this filed.Based on the needs analysis of Dudley-Evans&St John, the authordesigns a theoretical framework to analyze the present situations ofcross-cultural training programs. Through investigating150expatiates coming from Chinese civil engineering and construction field, the thesisintends to answer the questions like what are the target needs and learningneeds of the expatiates coming from Chinese civil engineering andconstruction field, to what degree the existing curriculum design of crosscultural training programs meet the needs of these expatiates. At the sametime, this thesis aims to investigate the Chinese civil engineering andconstruction expatiates’ opinions and evaluations on the course systemand teaching process in curriculum design of cross-cultural trainingprogram. At the end of this thesis, the author would put forward somesuggestions for improvement and perfection of the curriculum ofcross-cultural training program courses, expecting that this researchwould be helpful in the development of cross cultural program.