Needs Analysis For An EFL Course At A Vocational College Of Sports: A Case Study

With the coming of the era of globalization and the development of China’s reform and opening up, college students who have mastered both English and specialist knowledge are becoming increasingly popular. Therefore, there has been a burgeoning development in English teaching in universities, colleges and vocational colleges and training centers, which focuses on English in the specific fields, such as business, laws and sports, etc. That is what we call ESP---English for Specific Purposes.Sports English is a branch of ESP, and it has attracted attention from academic and educational circles since Beijing’s successful bid to host the Olympic Games in 2001. Composite talents who have a good command of both sports and English skills are very popular nowadays.Zhejiang Vocational College of Sports (ZVCS) is a young vocational college under the administration of Sports Bureau of Zhejiang Province with the aim of cultivating comprehensive sports talents for Zhejiang Province. Sports English started from 2010 in ZVCS after one year’s preparation. In order to reveal the real needs of learners and society as well as the existing situation of Sports English Teaching, a case study was conducted in ZVCS. Under the guidance of needs analysis (NA) theory, the author designed a questionnaire and distributed them to 200 students of sports major, and interviewed a few ESP teachers, trainee students and employers.Through analyzing the data gathered, learners’target needs and learning needs are confirmed, which have deviated from what the course designer perceived. The motivation of students’SE (Sports English) learning can be concluded in two main aspects:for future work and for further study, which result in students’different learning needs. Oral communication skills are regarded as the most important language skills by all the students. Besides, the students who want to do further study have higher requirements for language learning. The feedback from the workplace indicates that the employees with a good command of autonomous learning ability and communication skills are more welcome at sports-related workplaces. Meanwhile, some problems existing in Sports English Teaching are also exposed through this study, mainly in three aspects:students, teaching materials and teaching methodology. Accordingly, some pedagogic implications on teaching objectives, teaching materials and teaching methodology are offered. Moreover, the limitations of this study and areas for further research are presented as well.So far the exploration and efforts made in sports English teaching is limited in domestic vocational colleges. This case study enriches the research in this field and is believed to benefit vocational college ESP teaching in China.