Research On Course Design For English Majors In Universities Of Science And Technology Based On Needs Analysis

With globalization, English major (EM) becomes very popular in many universities, which means there are more English graduates, but their employment situation is not that optimistic. Therefore, it is necessary to know about the social demands on EMs and the learning needs of EMs. The investigation of the above needs will provide some guidance and suggestions for future course design and also to improve the teaching efficiency.This study adopts questionnaire and interview, i.e. qualitative and quantitative analyses combined to conduct the research. The theoretical guidance involved are needs analysis, curriculum design and the relationship between needs analysis and curriculum design, with the model of needs analysis proposed by Munby and Hutchinson&Waters The purpose is to make a tentative research in the following aspects:EMs’learning needs, teachers’degree of satisfaction with the curriculum and how much they know about students’needs and the social requirements of English majors. Three groups of subjects are included. They are sophomores and juniors in key universities—Dalian University of Technology (DUT), Dalian Maritime University (DMU) and Northeastern University (NEU), teachers who teach those students and EM graduates who use English in their daily work. The questionnaire design is based on the model and framework of Hutchinson&Waters’needs analysis and its role in curriculum development. The final data will be typed into computer to be processed by SPSS software. Then conclusions and implications will be drawn.It is hard to integrate the needs of society, students’learning and course design. However, undoubtedly, it is necessary to know the social and students’needs for curriculum design in-between. For curriculum design of EM in universities of science and technology, English course should integrate basic skills into content-focused courses to improve students’ language skills and professional knowledge. At the same time, teaching methods should be diversified and more opportunities should be provided for students to put what they have learned into practice.