The Role of ESP in Chinese Higher Education

【Abstract】This paper will explore the potential value and challenges of integrating ESP into the university classroom in China and suggest how the approach of integrating ESP into mainstream English teaching in higher education can inform the development of ESP in China.

【Key words】English for Specific Purpose； English For Academic Purpose； Curriculum； China

【作者簡介】杜青（1983-），女，漢族，成都人，上海工程技術大學，博士在讀，研究方向：英語語言學。

1. INTRODUCTION

From the early 1980s， ESP （English for Specific Purposes） has grown to become one of the most prominent areas in China. In the last five years， there is a growing voice that ESP should replace EGP and become the mainstream of English teaching in higher education in China （Cai， 2012）. Scholars in favor of the change based their advocacy on two reasons. One is that National English Curriculum Standards for Common Senior High School in China enacted in 2012 overlaps to a great extent with The Requirement in the College English Curriculum Requirement issued by the China Ministry of Education in 2007. Besides， according to The Requirement， the purpose of college English education is to allow students to communicate effectively in their future work environments. However， the current EGP in higher education does not do its job. A survey conducted at 21 universities in 10 provinces in China showed that 31.5% of the students surveyed think that their college English coursework is not useful （Cai， 2010）. The overlap， together with the recognition of the inefficiency of the current state of College English Education， provoked heated discussion in favor of ESP in Chinese higher education during the coming decades.

2. THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM OF ESP PRACTICE IN CHINA

The Requirement mandates that universities in China should offer ESP courses in the third or fourth academic year. However， a closer look at the ESP courses opened in universities reveal that most of these courses are EOP courses such as business English， tourism English， and legal English. Liang （2006）， after surveying the current practice of ESP program in China， described the practice of ESP China is “in chaos”. The most important cause behind the problems is the unclear position of ESP in higher education. Being on the fringe of English teaching in higher education， ESP does not receive due attention from either the ESP teachers or the authority. Hence， no overarching teaching management like curriculum planning， teacher training， evaluation， which are normally indispensable for designing language teaching program， have been extended to ESP program in China. Just as Qin （2003） also pointed out that the most important problem facing ESP practice in China is how to clearly position ESP in the framework of English teaching in higher education.

3. The position of ESP in language teaching in China

To tackle the problems that currently arise in teaching English for Specific Purpose in higher education in China， we have to rely on the authority of the institution to make clear standard of the teaching of ESP in higher education， to conduct needs analysis first in order to know what is students’ goal， and to consider the time and also the amount of workload of the students. However， all these are not possible unless we reposition ESP at the center of traditionally English program. Just like Wang （2008） suggested that to realize the goal of ESP teaching， ESP should be planned as carefully as College English education. By repositioning ESP into mainstream college English education， government can plan large-scale teacher training on the ESP theory. Besides， positioning ESP the center of College English education makes large-scale needs analysis possible. Nowadays， few ESP courses in China have been designed based on scientific needs analysis. With centralized ESP program， universities can capitalize on the full resources of a department and its staff to make the ongoing analysis of the “needs” based on theoretical studies and “wants” perceived by the students and society. Moreover， a large-scale ESP program can ensure a systematic development of students’ academic skills. Currently， ESP often consists of discursive courses， which is independent of each other in terms of the teaching content and objective. However， only a systematically planned ESP curriculum with a clear goal and specified steps planned towards it can ensure the systematic development of students’ language skills.

4. CONCLUSION

This paper analyzed the problems facing ESP practice in China and contend that the root of all the problems is the unclear and fringed position of ESP in the framework of English teaching in higher education. By drawing on the current ESP research， we argued that the centralized position of ESP will benefit Chinese College English Teaching in the long run.

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