Needs Analysis Of Curriculum Design For Business English Teaching

In China,English for Special Purpose(ESP)education at colleges and universities is there to prepare the students to meet the needs of their particular discipline.However,the present situation of ESP teaching is not satisfying.The research of method is rather simple and the scope is narrow;basically restricted and confined to ESP ontology.Much analysis has aimed at the theoretical study of ESP,but little to the practical teaching process.And inadequate attention has been paid to learning needs.Given the seriousness of the situation,here,the author jumps out of trap of ESP ontology and conducts an interdisciplinary research by integrating ESP teaching,curriculum design and Needs Analysis(NA)to improve the teaching effect.This study analyzed the needs of students of Business English majors in the School of Foreign Languages,through document analysis,questionnaires and interviews.The selected subjects were 2nd and 3rd year students.The analysis of the questionnaires and interviews revealed that the students believed that the content of the Business English course needed to be aligned with the requirements for English use in their Business English course at each level,with some attention to preparing students for participation in professional conferences and seminars,and other external contexts.They also thought that the students needed both more English and diversified Business English instruction than was currently available.In other words,they would need English instruction that is based on the theories and practices of the branch of English for Specific Purposes(ESP)known as Business English.In addition,students recommended the development of extracurricular activities that offer opportunities for real world practice.The study concluded with a recommendation for a redesigned Business English curriculum for the students,using both communicative and constructivist approaches and drawing upon principles of situated learning,genre analysis or discourse analysis.