Design and Application of Students Learning Mode in Science and Engineering Universities under ESP Environment

Transcription

1 Advanced Materials Research Vols (2013) pp Online available since 2013/Aug/30 at (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland doi: / Design and Application of Students Learning Mode in Science and Engineering Universities under ESP Environment Ke Chen 1, a, FangLei Li 2,b 1 College of Foreign Languages, Xi'an Shiyou University, Xi'an, , China a kechen @163.com, b @qq.com Key words: Design, Application, Students Learning Mode, ESP Environment Abstract: With the development of world economy and trade,as well as the reform of college English teaching and learning in China, the teaching and study of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has also been developing rapidly. However, according to the functional theory of Halliday and the meaningful learning theory of Ausubel, ESP education and teaching in universities at different levels should suit students various professional needs and bear their own traits, therefore ESP teaching and learning mode should be designed with the intent to bring the improvement to students competitive ability. This paper attempts to discuss the design and application ESP teaching and learning mode in science and engineering universities so as to provide some reference to the reform of Xi 'an education and teaching. Introduction ESP (English for Specific Purpose), a new discipline with the development of close interaction between countries after the second world war, is relative to EGP (English for General Purpose) [1]. The course is associated with a particular career or discipline, aiming at meeting the learner's particular purpose and specific needs. Research at home and abroad Nowadays many domestic colleges have opened ESP courses, but the teaching quality is usually less than satisfactory. (Luoyi, Gongying Li, 2008) [2]. To solve this problem, the key is to follow ESP teaching specific requirements, and take the empirical research concerning the practical situation of regional economic development, educational condition, teachers level, students' English basis as the foundation, then to explore syllabus design, textbook compilation, teachers training, teaching evaluation. Only in this way, can we meet the social requirements, change our teaching method, improve students professional competence, and shorten students adaption from campus to work place. Take Xi an city as an example, according to 2008 Xi an Industrial Development White Paper: The advantage of Xi an basic resource is obvious, but it is hard to convert it into industrial competitive advantage, and it is showed that we have abundant human resources, and the number of students in colleges and universities are still on top, but GDP, per capita GDP and industrial added value ranker lower. [3] It suggests that with the continuous adjustment and optimization of industrial structure, talent development will surely demand more advanced logistical support. ESP teaching aims at improving the students quality roundly and cultivating the compound talents within innovative consciousness and high practical ability. All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP, (ID: , Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA-26/02/15,19:35:50)

2 3170 Materials Processing and Manufacturing III Questionnaire survey on ESP teaching model in University of Science and Engineering In order to confirm the necessity and effect of ESP courses in University of Science and Engineering of Xi an city, we designed a experiment which is based on the questionnaire, observation and investigation personnel; it can overcome the shortcomings by intuition and experience in the past, contributing the approach on ESP teaching from empirical research to high level of scientific theory, and it will be an effective way to know its influence on students professional ability. Research methods: This study selected 360 different majors and 16 ESP teachers from universities of science and engineering of Xi an city as a sample population. Research object: The object of this research is 360 different majors and 16 ESP teachers. Research tools: The tool of this research is questionnaire, namely "ESP teaching quality requirements and learning mode questionnaire". Here introduces the intention of content and the design of questionnaire. Data collection and analysis: The questionnaire is sent and reclaimed in the form of . The questionnaire data are analyzed through SPSS software. After semantic experimental analysis on a number of respondents and data processing, we can draw a conclusion as Figure 1 shows. Figure 1 Experiment process 1) Engineering majors ESP curriculum requirements Through investigation on engineering majors in Xi an city, we can find out their English basis and ESP learning objection and motivation, then determine the gap between student's current state and expectation state, which affect the breadth and depth of the ESP teaching; we can also understand students attitude toward the ESP teaching and their actual participation, which will set stage for their employment in the different situations. 2) ESP teaching effect on the professional course learning Make a comparison between four experimental classes and comparing class. On the experimental class using blending learning methods (ESP and EGP) in teaching English in control with no difference in EGP classes are grouped model comparative experiment. The result from the experiment showed listening ability and writing ability were significant higher in experiment class than those of in control class. Especially, ESP teaching has great impact on students professional knowledge learning and it will be the platform for engineering majors to combine language learning and professional course learning.

3 Advanced Materials Research Vols ) ESP value in the social need and profession Through the investigation on engineering graduate and related organization, we know their need on language teaching, then try to modify the current teaching mode and improve students' career competitive ability. And the result can be the background of the relevant provisions for the new revision of ESP teaching to enhance its authenticity and effectiveness. Learning Mode Design of ESP students in University of Science and Engineering 1) to strengthen the association between ESP teaching and specific professional needs ESP courses characteristics decided that ESP teaching not only meets the specific needs of learners, but also associates with their specific profession and career [4]. But now too much emphasis on commonness and ignoring individuality is so popular in ESP teaching. As we know, different major has different requirement on its subsequent professional development, so we must give precise location to our teaching object and embodies their professional career direction. 2) to enhance maintainability and operation of ESP teaching Colleges and universities should open ESP courses which are based on its orientation and curriculum. But the current language teaching methodology in University of Science and Engineering emphasizes theory, instruction and outer shape but underestimates practice, introspection and inner experience, which deviates from the social development and the actual needs of college students' English applicable skills. So in practical teaching, we should emphasize more on ESP situational training, concerning job simulation, special case solving, typical case analysis. Only in this way, can it reflect the authenticity and validity of the ESP course and enhance its maintainability and operation, subsequently students profession competitive power can be improved. As shown in Figure 2, the students Profession development should be decided by various factors. If a learner (ESP student) involuntarily enters into a specific learning situation, which can provide the learner with two different learning factors concerning dynamic factors and situational factors. Through the two forms, the learning mode is continuously stimulated by the information surrounding the learner (1). Students learning need and professional need decide the teaching mode. And the learning motivations and objectives is the basis to know the difference between current status and expecting status (2). After our research on learning basis, teachers' training, textbook construction, it comes into cognition passage (3). "Result" is the controlled by Empirical research (10), which makes ESP teaching and learning work effectively. Under the control of the central executive(11), dynamic factors, such as curriculum plan, curriculum setting, professional nature is copied to cognitive passage (4) or returns to be stored(5). Job simulation, special case solving, typical case analysis is a reflection of ESP situational training, and together make up of the ESP situational training unit. Through the central executive s processing, ESP situational training retrieved from long-term training in the cognition passage generate ESP acquisition (6), which is output as a candidate idea (7). The candidate idea is further output to capacity explicit (8). Through the central executive s operation(12), the candidate idea is output to the external environment in the forms of quality, skill, knowledge, etc (9). In terms of evaluation and judgment criteria(13), the learners decide whether to adopt the teaching mode or not, if it was not adopted, then the learner will start again on the basis of previous efforts (1).

4 3172 Materials Processing and Manufacturing III Figure 2 ESP teaching and learning mode design Conclusion Through our empirical research, we attempt to evaluate the issue of ESP teaching and learning and propose the perfection of the course designs from students professional development. Under the comparative study of two semesters teaching and learning assessments, the improvement of teaching and learning mode can be achieved. Thus the needs of learners and the society can be satisfied, and a favorable inspiration is offered for the further research of ESP teaching. Acknowledgements This work was financially supported by the Xi an Social Science Foundation 2013 annual subject, An Empirical Research on Xi 'an Education and Teaching--Take ESP Teaching in Science and Engineering Universities for Example(13Y184). References [1] Hutchinson, T A. English for Specific Purposes. Waters, (M).Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (1987) [2] Luoyi, Gongying Li. An analysis on the connection between college English teaching and professional English teaching[j], Foreign Language World,(2008) [3] Xi an Industrial Development White Paper[C], (2009) [4] Dudley-Evans, T & St John, M. J. Developments in English for Specific Purpose[M]. Cambridge: CUP, (2008)

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