A Research On College English Learners’ Needs For ESP Program In Guangxi

Needs analysis of students is the cornerstone of curriculum design. Curriculum design, including the choice of teaching objectives, teaching methods, testing and evaluation, should be based on needs analysis, thus arousing and maintaining students’ learning interest. In recent decades, English curriculum design in terms of needs analysis has been studied intensively, such as the studies on higher vocational college students, English majors and English postgraduates. However, not much attention has been paid to non-English majors. In the thesis, therefore, non-English majors, coming from Guangxi Normal University and Guilin University of Technology and their needs for expected ESP courses were investigated and analyzed through the questionnaire so as to open appropriate ESP courses and put forward some scientific suggestions for relevant researches on the basis of students’learning needs.A question survey has been conducted and 208 non-English majors, who are freshmen and sophomores from Guangxi Normal University and Guilin University of Technology and their learning needs for expected ESP courses are investigated. As for the questionnaire, it is made based on Hutchinson and Waters’s need analysis model and other scholars’relevant researches, which includes nine dimensions, students’needs for expected ESP learning objectives, ESP learning motivation and attitude, expected ESP learning content, expected ESP learning methods, expected ESP teaching materials, expected requirements for ESP teachers, expected ESP teaching approaches, expected ESP course arrangement, and expected ESP course assessment. Two main questions are involved in the study:1. What is the overall situation of non-English major college students’learning needs for expected ESP courses in Guangxi.2. What are the differences between normal university non-English major students’and science non-English major university students’needs for expected ESP curriculum design in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region?The author has listed the major findings by the study:1. Non-English majors hold strong learning needs for expected ESP courses.2. There is no significant difference in the overall learning needs for ESP courses between normal non-English major university and science non-English major university students.3. The most eagerly expected ESP course are English for Tourism, English for Science and Technology, Foreign Trade English, and Marketing English respectively.According to the survey, the author comes up with several suggestions for ESP learners, ESP teachers and universities ready to open ESP courses respectively. To begin with, students should be self-realized and self-confident in ESP course learning. Additionally, ESP teachers should distinguish learners’ needs, arouse learners’ motivation, cooperate with professional teachers, and make efforts to be qualified English teachers, course designers, materials providers, partners of professional teachers, qualified teaching researchers and evaluators. Moreover, universities should open ESP courses based on students’ needs and there can be no division between normal and science universities’ ESP courses.