A Study On ESP Curriculum Design Based On Needs Analysis In Agricultural And Forestry Colleges

ESP refers to English for Specific Purposes, which is an inter-discipline that combines professional knowledge with English. Nowadays, with the development of world economy, there has been an increasing need for multiple-disciplinary talents who have a good command of both professional skills and English. The College English Curriculum Requirements (Department of Higher Education of Chinese Ministry of Education,2007) states that "When have finished learning English in the fundamental stage, college students should get into advanced stage to learn ESP and advanced English". In order to meet the Requirements, many domestic colleges have conducted ESP programs. Nowadays China has embarked on the initial study on ESP curriculum design in higher vocational colleges, with the research emphasizing the relatively developed field, such as business English and medical English, leaving the ESP curriculum design in agricultural and forestry colleges (A&F colleges) almost completely intact. As a large agricultural country, China has gained more opportunities for academic exchange and business trade since its entry into WTO, along with its scientific and technological development. Trade of agricultural and forestry byproduct has also increased greatly. Thus, it is necessary to introduce advanced foreign agricultural and forestry technologies. So the demand for ESP of agricultural-and-forestry-related majors has been increasing. Hence, it is pretty significant to survey the present situation and learners’needs in target situation of ESP curriculum design in domestic A&F colleges.Therefore, taking students and teachers in12A&F colleges and academies of different levels around the country as research subjects, the author investigated the present situation of ESP curriculum design and students’needs about it. Questionnaires and interviews are the research instruments, which are designed on the basis of Hutchinson and Waters’(2002) theory of needs analysis and curriculum design. Based on this survey, this study aims to explore the following questions:(l)What is the present situation of ESP curriculum design in domestic A&F colleges?(2)What are learners’ needs in target situation of ESP curriculum design in domestic A&F colleges?(3)What’s the gap between the present situation and learners’ needs of ESP curriculum design in domestic A&F colleges?In total,612students and77teachers from these colleges have involved in this research. The quantitative data was analyzed by SPSS17.0and interviews were recorded by Tencent QQ2012. Results are summarized as follows:the current universality and class hours of ESP courses cannot meet learners’needs; both learners and teachers want to set appropriate teaching objectives focusing on both language input and output; lack of qualified teachers is the biggest problem in current ESP teaching; ESP textbooks are the main desired teaching materials with English literatures as complement; there’s a gap between existing ESP course types and learners’actual needs; current teaching methodology is more focused on content-based approach than situational approach, which learners need most; ESP curriculum evaluation need to be more diversified; learners seldom put ESP into academic exchange, etc.This study investigated the present situation and learners’needs of ESP curriculum design in domestic A&F colleges from the aspect of needs analysis, which is treated as the most important foundation of ESP study. According to the results, the author offers some implications and suggestions for the future ESP curriculum improvement:Lay more emphasis on ESP courses in A&F colleges; Improve quality of teacher resources and building team teaching mechanism; Adopt various teaching methods to enhance students’motivation; Reform evaluation of ESP courses. At last, the author offered some proposals and suggestions for further study.