A Task-Based Needs Analysis Of Business English Ability For Foreign Trade Salesmen In Cross-Border E-Commerce Industry

With the surge of cross-border e-commerce,the training of qualified cross-border ecommerce personnel is one of the cultivation goals of Business English(BE)major.Needs analysis(NA)is the first stage of curriculum design for BE courses,which ensures the cultivation of pre-service learners is in line with social needs.A task-based NA,identifying target needs in terms of task,has advantages of showcasing what learners need to do in a particular target domain and inspiring the design of pedagogic tasks approximating to real experience.However,few research of NA to date has taken the task-based approach to identifying learners’ specialized needs.This study aims to fill the gap by conducting a task-based NA of BE course offered for foreign trade salesmen.Based on the aims,the study answers two research questions:(1)What are the tasks that foreign trade salesmen in cross-border e-commerce industry need to carry out in English?(2)What needs are perceived by foreign trade salesmen in the performance of target tasks in English?In order to address the above research questions,multiple sources involving in-service experts,job advertisements and the Occupational Information Network(O*NET)are employed through the methods of semi-structured interview,literature review,and questionnaire.Domain experts are surveyed through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires,and the information gathered from domain insiders is triangulated by the published literature on job descriptions to identify the target tasks for which foreign trade salesmen must use English in the cross-border e-commerce setting.Further data about their lacks and wants for English skills,and their perceptions of use of English are also probed by semi-structured interview and questionnaire as supplementary information for NA.The use of multiple sources and methods allows for triangulation of data and thus emphasizes methodological rigor of the study.The study identifies 55 target tasks for foreign trade salesmen.These tasks are further classified into 10 target task types: developing working relationship with customers,operating sales platform,conducting market research,conducting marketing,providing sales service,following up production,following up shipment,providing after-sales services,attending training,participating in exhibition.The analysis of the participants’ perceptions towards these task types shows the differences among task types in frequency,criticality and difficulty at work.In addition,the results reveal that the inservice workers have problems in communicating with customers in oral and written English precisely and fluently and express their wants for improvements in listening,speaking and writing skills.Despite English language competence,other wants for business knowledge are also discussed.The study provides a new research angle to NA of BE courses.Methodologically,it fills up the gap of employing the task-based NA to investigate the needs of cross-border ecommerce learners,verifying the applicability of a task-based NA to BE courses.Practically,it lays a foundation for pedagogic tasks and task syllabus design that can be possibly used by instructors and students in the BE courses.