A Study On The Descriptive Framework Of Listening And Spoken Interaction Competences For Second/Third Officers

With the development of globalization, the status and the role of shipping industry become extremely prominent. Maritime transportation accounts for more than90%of the international trade transportation in China. However, there are only a small number of Chinese seafarers working in the labor market of international seafarers. Expanding our seaman exportation is still an arduous task. It is important to improve the seafarers’ international competitiveness, especially their listening and spoken interaction competences.The present study is carried out on the basis of the theories about needs analysis proposed by researchers, such as Hutchinson and Waters, and the levels and descriptions of language competences in Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR).213Second/Third Officers who work on the ships of non-restricted waters are selected as the participants of the study. Questionnaires and interviews are used as the instruments to investigate the necessary listening and spoken interaction competences to accomplish the communicative tasks in the actual work, which are to be aligned the CEFR language levels. A descriptive framework of listening and spoken interaction competences is to be established.The study shows that the necessary listening and spoken interaction competences in the actual work of Second/Third Officers are mainly aligned the level B2to C2of CEFR, with different levels of language proficiency needed in various situations. However, the current relevant competences of the participants are lower than the needed levels, which cannot fulfill the requirements of the actual work. This study establishes a descriptive framework of listening and spoken interaction competences for Second/Third Officers based on the results of the needs analysis and the descriptions of language proficiency in CEFR to provide references for nautical English teaching and the perfection of the syllabus for Certificates of Competence English examination.In the last section, pedagogical implications and limitations of this study are illustrated. Suggestions for researches in the future are proposed as well.