A Study On English Curriculum Design Based On Needs Analysis In Vocational Colleges

As an important part of our country's higher education, higher vocational education has its own characteristics which are different from the regular higher education, its educational content should also highlight utility and practicability, English education is also no exception. Along with the further development of reform and opening up, and the dramatic change of economic situation, employing units have put forward more stringent requirements for the higher vocational graduates' English proficiency. But at present, a lot of problems exist in English education in higher vocational colleges, such as the students' learning initiative is low, the textbook knowledge is out of line with the actual needs. What's more, for a long time, our country's higher vocational English education just followed the English teaching mode of ordinary colleges, and has not formed the distinctive English curriculum system. The current vocational English curriculum also ignores the differences between professional positions, as a result, the graduates' overall language ability cannot meet the needs of different employment units.What has caused such an embarrassing situation of English curriculum design in vocational colleges? As an English part-time teacher in vocational colleges, the author conducted a investigation of the present situation and existing problems of vocational English curriculum design, in order to find out the students' actual needs for English learning and the social needs for vocational graduates' English proficiency.Based on Shu Dingfang's(2004) needs analysis theory of “society needs” and “learner's needs”, the author conducted investigations of English curriculum design in three higher vocational college-- Shandong Labor Vocational and Technical College, Qilu Normal College,Yingcai College. Through the questionnaire investigation of students, the author analyzed the students' opinions on current English curriculum design, understood their needs and suggestions for English curriculum design; combining students' questionnaires' results with the semi-structured interviews of teachers, the author aimed to explore the current situation and existing problems of present vocational English curriculum design, and the investigated aspects include class hour arrangement, teaching materials and content, teaching methods, teaching facilities, evaluation mechanism and the English teachers; at the same time, the author alsocollected advertisements of different enterprises from the recruitment websites, which is also the innovation of the thesis. Through the analysis of enterprises' recruitment requirements and needs, the author aimed to ascertain employment units' needs for English talents. The purpose of the survey is to explore the current situation and find out existing problems of vocational English curriculum design, try to analyze the causes of existing problems from the aspects of society's needs analysis and learners' needs analysis, then put forward reasonable suggestions for future improvement of vocational English curriculum design.Through investigation and analysis, this survey found out the following existing problems of vocational English curriculum design: 1) class hours are insufficient; 2) teaching materials lacks practicality and the arrangement of teaching content are not favorable to students' learning;3) teachers are still inclined to adopt grammar translation method and ignore the cultivation of students' overall language ability. The teaching method is unitary and makes English learning lack interest; 4) the configuration of multimedia facilities is insufficient, and teachers still tend to adopt traditional teaching facilities; 5) evaluation mechanism pays more attention to students grades and ignores the cultivation of English ability; 6) the teachers' work load are too heavy,they do not have spare time to carry out the study of English curriculum design; the teachers' teaching concepts are relatively lagging; the teachers lack necessary professional knowledge related to students' professional majors.The author thought that the root causes of the above problems lie in the lack of necessary knowledge of social needs and learners' needs, and the needs conflict between learners and society. Based on the investigation and analysis, the author put forward corresponding suggestions, such as carrying out comprehensive needs analysis, combining EGP( English for General Purposes) with ESP( English for Special Purposes), choosing suitable English teaching materials, adopting appropriate teaching methods, using modern teaching facilities, adjusting evaluation mechanism and cultivating professional teachers.As for the value and significance of this thesis, the author hoped that, through this research,we could explore the current situation of English Curriculum design in higher vocational colleges, solve the problems, and reform the English Curriculum design in higher vocational colleges. Then using the theory of needs analysis to understand the society's actual needs for vocational graduates' English ability and make English teaching more practicality. Last but notleast, because the research of vocational English curriculum design is rare, the author hoped more people pay attention to this area.