Needs Analysis Of English For Academic Purposes For Non-English Major Postgraduates

With the increasingly deepening of the internationalization of higher education,English plays a more and more important role in the international communication.Under the background of higher education internationalization,the major academic works,journal articles,research results are published in English.Therefore,English is more internationally used in the academic domain,which attaches importance to the English Course for Academic Purposes(ECAP)to be offered to non-English major postgraduates.Besides,whether a course should be offered in the school curriculum depends not only on the needs of society but also on the needs of students.Therefore,the author of this paper will use needs analysis to work out students' needs for ECAP.The author expects that the result of this research can provide suggestions for the building of non-English major postgraduate curriculum.This paper,based on the Hutchinson and Water's needs analysis theory,by using the questionnaire method and interview method,aims to investigate non-English major postgraduates' needs for ECAP.The author intends to explore the following three questions: Firstly,what is the present situation of the English courses for non-English major postgraduates and how satisfied are the students with the English courses offered in the present curriculum? Secondly,what are the students' needs for the English Courses for Academic Purposes? Thirdly,are there differences in the non-English major postgraduates' needs for ECAP in such individual factors as school and major?Through the analysis of the data of the survey,the author draws the following conclusions: Firstly,the current English curriculum cannot completely meet the students' needs for ECAP;Secondly,non-English major postgraduates' needs forECAP are target needs and learning needs;Thirdly,there are differences in the students' needs for ECAP in such individual factors as school and major.As for the conclusion,the author attempts to put forward the following suggestions: Firstly,the curriculum building should be based on the specific needs of non-English major postgraduates.Secondly,ECAP is supposed to be offered from the first year in the curriculum.And class activities are supposed to be based on the authentic teaching materials,the authentic academic language,and the small-sized class.Special attention should be paid to the integration of ECAP and EGP(English for General Purposes),so to establish better academic English course system.Thirdly,the ECAP curriculum should take into account the individual differences of students.To sum up,the author hopes that this paper can put forward some suggestions for Chinese non-English major graduate students' academic English curriculum,in order to contribute to the development of higher education and the cultivation of qualified English talents.