A Survey Of The Competency Of Business English Graduates In Guangzhou

The goal of Business English teaching is to cultivate compound talents who satisfy the requirement of the market economy.Since the establishment of Business English major,it has been developing rapidly.Whether Business English graduates satisfy the requirements of the market is yet to be studied.Although the importance of analyzing market and social demand has always been laid stress on,the research mostly focuses on the needs analysis of learners from the perspective of English for Specific Purposes and neglects the market needs.Competency is a concept that identifies differences between job requirements and practitioners' competences.Graduates' competency reflects not only the level of abilities achieved at graduation but also the degree of job requirements.This thesis is an empirical study on the competency of graduates of Business English.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate competency level of Business English graduates upon graduation,the importance of the competency at work as well as the differences fall between.Based on the document analysis,this study draws on the classification of competency proposed in the Tuning Educational Structures in Europe,the generic competences listed in the China-EU Tuning Joint Study Project and the interpretation of subject specific competency of Business English students in the National Criterion of BA Program in Business English of China.The questionnaire of competency of Business English graduates is designed.Aspects investigated cover generic competency,subject-specific knowledge and subject-specific abilities.To gather empirical data,the survey is conducted among Business English graduates from 2014 to 2016 in 18 universities in Guangzhou.The author uses SPSS 23.0 to analyze the raw data through paired sample T-test.Interviews are carried out on competency dimensions with large gap.The findings exemplify that,in general,Business English graduates are qualified in subject-specific knowledge while fall short of generic competences and subject-specific abilities as significant difference lies in these two dimensions.16 of 50 competences are without significant difference while the pattern is opposite regarding another 34 competences.Specifically,graduates are overqualified in appreciation and understanding of cultural diversity,foreign literature,business culture,English language use ability,intercultural communication ability and ability to conduct international trade business,while the achievement level of the remaining 28 items is far below the importance level at work.The study enriches and develops the study of competency and provides practical insights for Business English graduates in how much the difference is between the achievement level and importance level of each competence.Meanwhile,the study may also carry implications for Business English graduates to better brace for future career.