高職院校ESP英語教學現狀及需求分析

【摘要】專門用途英語 （ESP，English for Specific Purposes） 是建立在對學生需求分析基礎之上的區別與一般英語教學（EGP）的一種英語教學方法。為了提高公共英語的效能，十分有必要將專門用途英語教學模式引入到公共英語的教學中去。本文從需求分析的考慮因素著手，到專門用途英語課堂內外的課程實施結束，討論了當前專門用途英語教師面臨的課程設計中的決策問題。通過本文的討論，旨在引起對專門用途英語教學跨學科研究的更多關注和重視，促進國內高職院校 ESP 課程健康、有序地發展和建設。

【關鍵詞】專門用途英語；需求分析；跨學科

【Abstract】ESP （English for specific purposes） is an approach to language teaching and learning based on the analysis of students needs which is different from EGP （English for general purposes）. In order to raise the efficiency of the general English teaching， it is necessary to introduce ESP teaching mode into the general English teaching. This paper outlines the curriculum decisions now facing the ESP teachers， starting with the consideration of needs analysis and ending with the implementation inside and outside ESP classroom. The aim of this pater is， through the discussion of this paper， to arouse more attention to and interest in ESP interdisciplinary research from the higher education administration and academia， and to promote a healthy， orderly development of ESP teaching.

【Key words】ESP； needs analysis； interdisciplinary

【作者簡介】陳攀（1984- ），女，漢族，甘肅蘭州人，蘭州資源環境職業技術學院基礎部，講師，研究方向：英語語言教學。

【基金項目】2017年院級科研項目《信息化視角下的高職院校英語教師信息素養與技能研究》，項目編號：R2017-04。

I. Definition of ESP

ESP （English for specific purposes） is an approach to language teaching and learning based on the analysis of students needs which is different from EGP （English for general purposes）. In Chinas higher education， ESP includes ESP for English majors and that for non-English majors. According to the National Syllabus for English Majors of Higher Education， 2000， the ESP for the English majors refers to the inter-disciplinary courses with English as the language in classroom in some other specialtys background1 such as Business English reading； while according to the National Syllabus for College English， 1999， the latter is also known as the subject based English （SBE） which is a follow-up to basic English teaching.

According to Strevens2 （1988）， the definition of ESP distinguishes four absolute characteristics from two variable characteristics. Dudley-Evans and St John （1998） also use absolute characteristic and varied characteristics to define ESP. And their absolute characteristics followed：From these definitions， we can sure that with development of ESP， the ESP world has a more and more clear idea about what ESP is. ESP services as an approach of English teaching to meet specific needs of the learners.

II. Classification of ESP

Dudley-Evans and St John3 （1998） held that ESP has been divided into two parts traditionally：English for Academic Purposes （EAP） and English for Occupational Purposes （EOP）.

These divisions are very important because it will influence the specific degree of this course. One pre-experienced course may not take the things that related with career or subject into consideration， because there is no demand for students to familiar with the content of subject. However， the course that takes place simultaneous with or after the job will offer opportunities for specific or comprehensive job. From the two methods of division， we can see that in the 1980s， ESP are more or less discussed within different disciplines， while a decade later more emphasis is put on learners ultimate goals of language use and the setting of language. But EAP and EOP are still the two major branches.

III. Needs Analysis

It is common knowledge that Occupational English is categorized under the umbrella title of ESP. The research on Occupational English should follow the general framework of ESP. First of all， we need to know what needs analysis is. Because it is important to analyze the learners needs before designing the course.

1. Definition of Needs Analysis

Needs refer to students learning or working demands， which are what the students could do after learning the course. This is goal-oriented needs Widdowson4 （1979：326） proposed. In this sense， needs may use purposes that can illustrate more questions. Secondly， needs are the purposes that employers expected students reached through language training program （Mountford， 1981：27）. Thirdly， we can consider what students need to do after master language. This is process-oriented needs （Widdowson， 1979：326）. Fourthly， students want to master something from language course. This kind of needs refers to students personal aim beyond studying or working （Berwick， 1989：55）. Lastly， we can explain needs as lacking. That is to say， knowledge and skills of English language students could not be acquired.

In brief， objective and perceptive needs are conducted by sidelines from the known facts and the verifiable information. While subjective and sensorial needs， proposed by the insiders， are in line with cognitive and emotional factors. Therefore， similar product-oriented needs are conducted from target situations， and process-oriented needs are conducted from learning situations.

2. Model of Needs Analysis

The most intensive and famous elaboration of needs analysis is John Munby. Munbys works has been considered to be the most thorough framework of needs analysis， making much contribution to ESP and linguistic study. In his works， Munby calls that set of procedures the Communication Needs Processor5 （CNP）. The CNP is composed of a series of questions about key communication variables such as topics， participants， medium， etc. They can be used to identify the target situation needs of the learners （participants）. Information about identity and language of the learners， including his age， sex， nationality， mother tongue and so on， is fed into the CNP. Then eight categories of the CNP are work through， and a profile of needs is generated. The profile of needs is subsequently interpreted in terms of details about language skills. The eight categories of the CNP are concerned with the “end product” idea of learning， the subject or work of learners6.

The analysis is very complex process， because needs not only contain the knowledge the learners must acquire in the target situation. Maybe it is the most important to consider the needs of target situation and the needs of learning situation. The analysis of target situation only involves in the language usage， and the usage is only a part. We also must know how to acquire the language. In fact， only know how to acquire could not achieve the final goal.

IV. Conclusion

The paper deals with the importance of context of ESP and needs analysis in ESP. English language can be described from the aspects of structures， notion/function， discourse， genre， target situation， study skills， that is， from the aspects of language performance and language competence. And with the help of needs analysis， the models of course design formulate. The author hopes that ESP practitioners in China are competent for the course design， and that something is to be done to train the ESP course designers and teachers.

References：

[1]John Munby，Communicative Syllabus Design[M].Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，1978.

[2]Strevens，P.New Orientations in the Teaching of English.Oxford University P，1977.

[3]Dudley-Evans and St.John.Developments in ESP：A Multiple-disciplinary Approach.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，1998.

[4]Widdowson，H.G.Aspects of Language Teaching.Oxford：Oxford University Press 1990.

[5]Jordon，R.R.English for Academic Purposes：a guide and resource book for teachers.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，1997.

[6]James D.Brown，The Elements of Language Curriculum：A Systematic Approach to Program Development[M].Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.1989.