Study of the Highly-skilled Talent Training Mode for Business English Major Rural Students：A Case Study of Higher Vocational Colleges in Anhui Province

Min ZHOU

Department of International Business，Anhui Vocational College of City Management，Hefei230011，China

1 Problems

With China’s accession to the WTO，especially since the promulgation and implementation of New Foreign Trade Law on July 1，2004，China’s foreign trade has experienced rapid development，and the demand for international business major talents has also rapidly increased.However，from the employment situation of Business English talents in recent years，the situation is not very good and the reasons are as follows.

1.1 The contradiction between inadequate enterprises' recruitment and inadequate colleges' cooperation with enterprisesThe publicity and dissemination of enterprises’recruitment information is not enough in China，and a lot of Business English talents can not timely and accurately obtain the related recruitment information，making some students miss opportunities and leading to brain drain.Meanwhile，some enterprises only use the single form of＂interview＂in recruitment so that the Business English talents’employment is limited by region.Although there is a huge demand for Business English talents in whole society，each enterprise needs few Business English talents in fact and it offers a small number of positions，so the overall jobs are scattered，which is not conducive to the colleges’uniform operation and management.At present，most of higher vocational colleges in Anhui Province lack adequate cooperation with the enterprises.Due to time and economic factors，there are few enterprises in cooperation with various majors in the colleges，and students can seldom choose employment opportunities in the colleges.The company’s own development makes the demand for talent regulated by the operation of the market economy，but it often conflicts with the schedule of college’s conventional teaching programs，which also leads to the loss of employment opportunities.

1.2 The contradiction between the social demand for increasing talent quality and weak foundation of vocational studentsInA Number of Opinions on Promoting the Reform andInnovation of Higher Vocational Education and Leading Scientific Development of Vocational Educationissued by the Ministry of Education，it points out that the higher vocational education must accurately grasp the direction of development，consciously assume the responsibility of serving the transformation of economic development mode and modern industrial system building，actively adapt to regional economic and social development needs，and develop sufficient highly-skilled professionals.This indicates that the goal of training vocational talent has been adjusted from high-quality skilled talent to highly-skilled professionals.Enterprises place increasing demands on the knowledge and ability of Business English major talents.At present，the Business English major talents are required to have ability to accurately use English for social exchanges，use modern means of office for communication，well know the operation model of market economy and dynamic changes，master the relevant social etiquette，and get familiar with various kinds of foreign reception and negotiating business.However，with the popularization of China’s higher education，the number of rural students in colleges has been on the rise.From the current situation of students in Anhui’s higher vocational colleges，rural students have occupied a large proportion.Although many rural students study hard and have solid English grammar and reading skills，they will be unable to do as much as they would like to and find it difficult to meet the needs of employers when the original learning environment is met with strict social needs in the future，leading to the actual talent shortage amid apparent talent surplus.

In summary，although the Business English major increasingly attracts attention，the current employment situation of this major is not good，so the percent of students choosing this major decreases year by year，and the Business English major of many higher vocational colleges also lacks confidence in the recruitment and employment prospects.Business English major is facing a precarious situation.Therefore，driven by the social environment，how to effectively reform the Business English major and foster truly highly-skilled talents in accordance with the status quo of source of students，is a topic worth exploring.

2 Situation analysis

2.1 Training goal of Business English major talentsThe training goal of Business English major is to cultivate highly skilled Business English major talents who can speak English，understand the business and have great adaptability.These talents should achieve moral，intellectual and physical development and have good English communication capacity；know well the basic foreign trade business processes and master skills in international trade；proficiently use modern office equipment，independently complete the correspondence exchanges in daily business activities and make import and export documents；get familiar with various kinds of foreign reception and negotiation；have good overall quality and ability，and capacity for sustainable development，innovation and professional migration to meet the needs of more employment channels.Only by doing this can we create qualified Business English major talents to meet the economic development needs of he Pan-Yangtze River Delta economic zone including Anhui Province.

2.2 Analysis of reasons for employment difficulties for Business English major rural students

2.2.1 English learning environment in rural areas is not conducive to the learning of professional knowledge associated with employment.First，the basic teaching conditions and facilities are not complete in the majority of rural middle schools，let alone modern teaching methods.The students get less verbal information，and there are imbalances in the comprehensive development of reading，writing，listening and speaking skills.Second，some English teachers in rural areas have never received formal learning and training of English major，and the English teaching is not standardized，so that the students have stronger grammar and vocabulary ability，but their speech is not smooth and the ability to understand meaning is poor.Third，most of the families have poor economic conditions，and the personal English learning materials and equipments are not complete.In addition to the impact of dialect，the pronunciation is not standard，and the students are more reluctant to speak English，resulting in poor oral communication ability of rural students，unable to meet the future needs of employers.

2.2.2 The rural living environment is not conducive to the adaptation to the employment environment.Different urban-rural living environment has led to differences in the knowledge and experience of urban-rural students.Many students in rural areas are not familiar with or even unable to adapt to the urban employment environment.They are not familiar with modern office conditions，and do not understand the foreign reception，social etiquette and interpersonal strategies needed by the employment environment.They are not accustomed to modern information communication means，and are not good at computer operation.Alotofmal adaptation will further lead to psychological confusion about employment，so that they can not successfully and timely go to their post.

2.2.3 The constraints of family conditions are not conducive to obtaining employment opportunities.The urban students have connections and many schooling and employment opportunities，while the rural students are difficult to rely on connections but themselves to be picked by employers.This difference between urban and rural students has made many rural students lose more employment opportunities，thereby inevitably increase the difficulty in rural students’employment in city.

2.2.4 The mistake in employment ideas is not conducive to seizing the employment opportunities.Many rural families have ingrained traditional idea that all other callings now rank first，the study of books is first and best，and it is believed that only by going to college can their children find a good job as white-collar workers or civil servants in the city，so as to change the fate of the entire family；returning hometown，engaging in the service work，or starting one’s own businesses is not accepted bymost families.This mistake in employment ideas is also a factor leading to the low rate of employment of rural students.

3 Ideas for solving problems

3.1 Strategies for the talent training mode reform of Business English major rural students

3.1.1 Building the scientific curriculum system.The curriculum system should follow the characteristics of students’abilities，employer needs and employment environment situation，to design scientific curriculum system with different teaching focuses step by step according to the school year.In the first year，the focus is on the basic professional skills，and it is necessary to help students to mater the basic skills in English and achieve the comprehensive development of reading and writing skills.Meanwhile，there is a need to strengthen the teaching of modern office equipment operation，computer operation and other basic skills for rural students，and enhance students’modern interpersonal skills.In the second year，the focus is on the teaching link of professional knowledge.After one year of teaching，the teachers have had a full understanding of students，can conduct specialized professional knowledge training for qualified students，and even adopt the school-enterprise cooperation order training to pave the way for future employment.In the third year，the focus is on the expansion of teaching.There is a need to carry out pre-employment psychological training，vocational migration ability training，and independent entrepreneurship capacity training to help students，especially rural students to correct attitude towards employment，enhance employment resilience，enhance employability and adaptability，and widen employment channels.

3.1.2 Improving the practice teaching system.The foreign trade enterprises need the employees who can play a role in the actual work as soon as they go to their post，so＂short work adjustment cycle，high working efficiency＂has become the essential capability for Business English major talents.To meet this demand，the student must be familiar with the basic process of foreign trade business，and various related operation skills.Therefore，we must strengthen the cultivation of business practice capacity，take advantage of high technology and network resources to establish business simulation training room，to help students，especially rural students who are not familiar with the employment environment to know well the work flow，division of labor and responsibilities as soon as possible.

3.1.3 Deepening the school-enterprise cooperation.Schools should increase the depth and breadth of cooperation with enterprises.First of all，in the study period，it is necessary to organize students to make an on-the-spot investigation in the foreign trade enterprises，and have a full understanding of the actual work，so as to enhance the students’sensory awareness，and eliminate the unknown sense of loss and even fear.When the students have solid professional knowledge and basic skills，and approach graduation，it is necessary to arrange students to perform the post practice in the enterprises，in order to test students’theoretical knowledge and practical skills and lay the foundation for the future employment.Secondly，it is necessary to hire the enterprise’s＂craftsmen＂to get involved in teaching，teaching material compilation and assessment design based on the actual needs of enterprises，so that the school’s teaching truly meets the needs of the enterprise.Thirdly，there is a need to provide more opportunities for teachers to perform professional practice in the enterprises，thus creating a number of teachers who are good at teaching，understand business，and know employment.

3.1.4 Flexible and scientific teaching mechanism.The arrangement of major teaching plan in the school should be scientific，rational，and flexible.Many employers will choose to recruit a lot of staff in slow business season in order to have sufficient time to carry out pre-job training for new employees，but the time often conflicts with the school’s teaching and exam arrangement time.Usually the task of teaching the students has not yet been completed.Due to suddenly expanded business volume，some enterprises sometimes urgently need a large number of employees，taking the school by surprise，so that many students miss employment opportunities.Therefore，scientific，rational and flexible major teaching programs should be introduced urgently to make the school respond flexibly to various forms of corporate recruitment.

3.2 The state should improve employment policies，improve publicity and enhance corporate recruitment standardsFirst of all，the state should reform and improve the system of graduates’household registration，talent flow，records management and unemployment assistance，to create a fair and just competitive environment，and establish a sound social employment security system.Secondly，the state should increase publicity，change the employment concept of rural students and their families，guide rural students to establish a correct concept of employment，adjust employment expectations，and encourage and guide them to start their own businesses.Thirdly，the state should enhance the overall business recruitment standards.It is necessary to increase the recruitment information publicity，so that the Business English talents can timely obtain the recruitment information；enrich the recruitment methods and adopt written examination，network interviews，telephone interviews and other forms，breaking the geographical and time restrictions，to provide a broader platform for the Business English talents’employment.

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