Research On Current Situation Of EAP Writing Competence Of Non-English Major Postgraduates

With the acceleration of globalization and education internationalization.EAP(English for Academic Purposes),as the medium for international academic research and communication,has become an indispensable part for international talent cultivation and general education.It plays an important role in the process of internationalization of higher education.The cultivation of EAP competence for postgraduates,the new force in academic circle,will contribute a lot to improving the quality of graduates' education,promoting the discipline construction and research proficiency,as all as facilitating the development for innovative international talents.Accordingly,EAP has become the research focus of scholars at home and abroad.This research,taking EAP writing competence of non-English postgraduates as the object of study,aims to explore the current situation,main problems and major influential factors of EAP writing competence of non-English postgraduates.This study adopts qualitative and quantitative methods,with 292 non-English major postgraduates and 50 teachers involved in the questionnaires and interviews for descriptive analysis,correlation analysis and factor analysis by software SPSS 21.0.Meanwhile,60 graduates' writing data have been collected for textual analysis and assessment so as to make further investigation of EAP writing competence of non-English major graduates.Results of this research show that:(1)Generally speaking,the current situation of EAP writing of non-English major graduates is far from satisfaction.Though majority of the graduates think that EAP writing competence is essential,they have insufficient knowledge of EAP writing.(2)The main problems of postgraduates' EAP writing include: inadequate knowledge of EAP genre,inexplicit structure of EAP writing,low EAP language proficiency and incapable critical thinking ability.(3)The major influential factors of EAP writing competence involves: postgraduates' attitude toward EAP writing,EAP wiring motivations,knowledge of EAP writing,EAP teaching and learning environment.Based on these research findings,some feasible suggestions are provided for graduates,teachers and universities to improve EAP writing competence of postgraduates.