Astudy On English Learning Difficulties Of Vocational College Students And Pedagogical Countermeasures

It is clearly stated in The Vocational Education Law of People's Republic of China that vocational education is an important component of higher education in China aiming at cultivating interdisciplinary talents. Although much attention has been paid to vocational education in China, higher vocational education is still a weak area in Chinese education from an overall perspective. According to The Basic Requirements of Vocational College English Teaching(2009) issued by Ministry of Education, English course is a compulsory course for higher vocational college students. The teaching objectives of this course are to cultivate students' practical English language ability in the workplace, to enhance their overall cultural literacy, to uplift vocational college students' competitiveness for employment and to lay solid foundation for sustainable development. Only when English teaching quality of vocational colleges get improved further, can vocational college students learn English well and meet the basic requirements.However, as we all know, it is a fact that the comprehensive quality of higher vocational college students are uneven and various problems and difficulties exist in their English learning processes, which has brought great difficulties and challenges to higher vocational colleges' English learning and teaching. Hence conducting a research on English learning difficulties of vocational college students is in urgent need. The present study is intended to investigate the difficulties that vocational college students are faced with in their English learning process, the causes that lead to these difficulties and their individual needs for English learning and providing pedagogical countermeasures for vocational college English teachers in order to improve English teaching quality of vocational colleges and students' English proficiency.On the basis of related studies at home and abroad and with the guidance of attribution theory and need analysis theory, the author conducted a questionnaire investigation concerning the current situation of English learning among 326 studentsof grade 2013 and grade 2014 from Jinan Vocational College. Besides, two English teachers from Jinan Vocational College were interviewed for detailed information.Results of the research show that English learning difficulties of vocational college students primarily exist in three aspects, namely, knowledge and skills,process and methods, and affective attitude and values. The author discussed the causes of English learning difficulties of vocational college students: the personality factors leading to English learning difficulties include the lack of appropriate and positive attribution, the lack of interest and motivation in learning English, and the lack of good learning habits and effective learning methods; school environment factors mainly include the lack of English learning environment and activities, the lack of communication between students and teachers, and the lack of appropriate teaching approach. Vocational college students' individual needs for English learning were analyzed from four aspects, namely, the current learning situation, the learning demands, the learning process needs and the learning environment needs.In the end, in terms of the discussion about research results, pedagogical countermeasures were put forward for vocational college English teachers, for instance, instructing vocational college students to shape positive attribution style,building close and harmonious relationship with students and changing traditional role and outdated notions. In addition, limitations of the study and suggestions for future studies were also proposed.