Needs Analysis of Chinese Chemical Engineering and Technology Undergraduate Students in Yangtze University in English for Specific Purposes

Yougen Lou,Jianrong Wu

doi:10.4236/ce.2018.915195

Abstract

English for Specific Purposes (or ESP) is as a part of college English. This paper aims to investigate Chinese chemical engineering and technology undergraduate students’ needs in English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Eighty first-year chemical engineering and technology undergraduate students from Yangtze university as volunteer participates were in this study to answer the questionnaires about their needs in ESP and 60 volunteer participants were interviewed to provide their responses on ESP. 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 chemical engineering and technology undergraduate students’ level of proficiency in the language skills was medium; 2) The students ranked the language skills (listening and speaking) as the most important language skills; 3) Understanding instructions, following question/answer sessions, answering the questions, reading field-related textbooks, instructions for assignments, taking notes in lectures were more emphasized by the students in ESP classes; 4) The students had positive responses on the needs in ESP. Forty eight (80%) students thought that ESP would be better for their English learning and major study and thirty two (53.3%) students thought reading as the most important language skill ESP. Findings in the present study could be provided as implications for course designers and recommendations for future studies.

Highlights

College English is required for college students in colleges and universities in mainland China
The results showed that: 1) The chemical engineering and technology undergraduate students’ level of proficiency in the language skills was medium; 2) The students ranked the language skills as the most important language skills; 3) Understanding instructions, following question/answer sessions, answering the questions, reading field-related textbooks, instructions for assignments, taking notes in lectures were more emphasized by the students in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classes; 4) The students had positive responses on the needs in ESP
In order to gain more information of chemical engineering and technology undergraduate students’ needs in ESP, interviews were used in this study after questionnaires answered by the students. 60 volunteer students were invited to attend the interviews about their language skills’ needs in ESP to answer the following two questions: 1) Do you think that which one (General English and English for Specific Purposes) will be better for you to improve your English learning and major study? Why? 2) Do you think that which language skills’ needs in ESP is the most important for your English learning and major study? Why?

Summary

Introduction

College English is required for college students in colleges and universities in mainland China. College English in mainland China can be divided into three parts: General English (GE), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and cross-culture communication. In 2013, many English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses were taught in many key universities (such as Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University) in Shanghai China. ESP courses (including EAP and English for Occupational Purposes or EOP) were taught in other universities in mainland China. ESP is focused on English learning and teaching situation, in which teaching methods and learning environment are different from General English (Rahman, 2015). EAP courses are accepted by more undergraduate students in key universities in Shanghai, China, but are ESP courses needed by first-year non-English-majored undergraduate students in local colleges or universities? EAP courses are accepted by more undergraduate students in key universities in Shanghai, China, but are ESP courses needed by first-year non-English-majored undergraduate students in local colleges or universities? We want to look for the answer in this study to the question

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