A Study on Needs Analysis of Chinese Vocational Non-English-Majored Undergraduates in English for Specific Purposes

Abstract

English for Specific Purposes (or ESP) is a part of college English. This paper aims to investigate Chinese vocational non-English-majored undergraduate students’ needs analysis in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). One hundred and ten first-year non-English-majored vocational undergraduate students majored horticulture, landscape, tea science and, agricultural economy and management from Yangtze university as volunteer participates were in this study to answer the questionnaires about their needs in ESP classes. All the data from questionnaires students answered and the interviews were collected. All the data were analyzed by SPSS 17. The results showed that 1) The language skills (writing and speaking) should be more emphasized; 2) The students ranked the language skills (reading and listening) as the first importance; 3) The language sub-skills (understanding power point presentations, giving oral presentations, reading handouts given by teachers, writing field- specific report) were emphasized by the students in ESP classes; 4) There were significant differences on the language skills (listening and speaking) and the activity (Understanding power point presentations and Participating in discussions) in ESP classes between male participants and female ones; 5) The 80 interviewees had positive responses on their needs in ESP classes. Sixty-four (80%) students thought that ESP would be better for their English learning and major knowledge learning; 54 (67.5%) students thought reading as the most important language skill in the ESP classes and 60 (75%) participants would learn major knowledge through ESP classes; functions of learning ESP were to help them learn major-related knowledge, prepare for writing academic papers and learn vocational knowledge. Findings in the present study could be provided as implications for course designers and recommendations for future studies.