Analysis Of Postgraduate English Target Needs And Learning Needs

Postgraduate English,as one compulsory course in one's postgraduate study,differs from college English in the aspects of teaching subject,teaching content and teaching objective and so on;hence it is quite inappropriate to simply take it as the repetition or extension of college English.To make postgraduate English teaching more targeted,it is necessary and meaningful to investigate non-English major postgraduates' English needs.Needs analysis plays a key role in foreign language teaching,which has provided powerful evidence for the implementation of foreign language teaching policies,the formation of teaching objective and the development of course design.Social constructivism draws on the essence of humanism,respecting learners' personal emotion and needs,and pays attention to the whole person education.At this point,social constructivism has much resonance with needs analysis.Needs analysis has been widely applied in college English teaching,yet few researches have been conducted among postgraduates,let alone systematic investigation of their English needs.Therefore,the author carries out the current research to investigate non-English major postgraduates' English target needs and learning needs,to explore the differences between postgraduates of science and postgraduates of arts in their English needs,on the basis of which some pedagogical implications are made.Current research is designed to answer the following questions.First,what is the general situation of non-English major postgraduates' English target needs?Second,what is the general situation of non-English major postgraduates' English learning needs?Third,is there a statistical difference between postgraduates of arts and postgraduates of science with regard to their English needs?Current research is conducted among non-English major postgraduates in Wuhan University by means of questionnaire and interview.Based on Hutchinson&Waters'needs analysis model,the author makes some adjustments to the original questionnaire.And then a pilot research is carried out among 30 non-English major postgraduates,which shows high reliability(Cronbach Alpha=.809>0.6)of the questionnaire.Later,the questionnaire is distributed to the participants,and finally 232 pieces of valid answer sheets are collected.After that,10 non-English major postgraduates are invited to take part in the interview with their informed permission in order to provide more profound insights.Results show that on one hand postgraduates have strong needs to learn English.Among all the items,postgraduates' expectation toward the course instructors,classroom teaching and course design are among the top three.On the other hand,significant difference has been found both in their English target needs and learning needs.For postgraduates' target needs,significant differences appear in postgraduates'academic writing ability both for their necessities and wants,and in postgraduates'learning comprehension ability and translating ability for their lacks.As for postgraduates' learning needs,significant difference occurs in postgraduates' learning motivation and the course design.Based on major findings of current research,some pedagogical implications are provided,including selecting updated and practical teaching materials,offering level-based courses,ESP courses and electives and helping learners establish stable English learning motivation.