| With the introduction of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” in 2013,Chinese enterprises have entered a new stage to go global.As the Belt and Road Initiative construction is continuing to go further,the enterprises’ needs for relevant foreign languages and language talents will surely continue to rise.However,the existing research in China lacks the analysis of foreign language needs of enterprises,especially the research on the needs of technical communication talents in the key domains under the background of the Belt and Road Initiative.Taking one of the key fields of key domains of the Belt and Road Initiative,i.e.,technical communication,as an example,this study attempted to figure out the current needs and specific skills requirements for foreign language talents who are expected to work as technical communicators for enterprises involved in the Belt and Road construction.Thus,it was hoped that this study could provide some meaningful and reliable data reference for foreign language teaching at universities and colleges.In this study,10 technical communication staffs,10 English major graduate students and senior students,as well as 9 university teachers of English department participated in the interviews which were designed to investigate the corporate foreign language needs and requirements for English talents in the field of technical communication and to collect and analyze teachers’ suggestions and students’ expectations in terms of technical communication education.Results were mainly obtained as follows:First,the demand for foreign language talents in the construction and development of the Belt and Road Initiative has been constantly increasing.In the field of technical communication in key domains,foreign language talents are not only required to master language skills,they also need to master the comprehensive skills related to workplace communication in their specific professions and develop strong logical thinking ability,according to the enterprise interviewees in the present study.These comprehensive skills include expressing typical technical communication thoughts in a logical way,solid basic language skills,qualified visual aesthetic and design ability,globalized vision,ability to use related tools and learn new technology like software development and testing,information architecture,user interface(UI)prototypes,HTML 5,etc.Second,at present,there is a large gap between the needs of technical communicators who can use English or a local language effectively at work and foreign language education’s emphasis on English solely,and a gap between uneven standards in the industry and China’s lagging far behind the developed countries so far as technical communication is concerned.Cultivating language talents for better technical communication with the Belt and Road Initiative relevant countries is in great need according to the interviewees who have worked in the field of technical communication and those who are working at universities.Thirdly,the present cultivating mode of foreign language talents at universities and colleges in China is not consistent with the pace of the times.Specifically speaking,cultivating technical communication practitioners as a new target of cultivating foreign language talents has not been fully recognized by foreign language educators.As a result,English major graduates and senior students in our study reported that they still found themselves narrowly employed and unable to meet the huge workplace needs.This study argued that Chinese colleges and universities need to fully understand the enterprises’ needs for technical communication experts along with the country’s development targets.It was hoped that this study may be able to provide some reference for the development and reform of foreign language education in China under the background of the Belt and Road Initiative.It was also hoped that this study may be beneficial in that it calls for the rapid development of technical communication in China. |
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