On Academic English in College English Teaching

Zhang Zhao-yuan

【Abstract】Academic English is becoming more and more popular in college English teaching. The essay is intended to deal with the necessity of academic English in College English teaching.

【Key words】academic English； college English； professionals

Recently the term “academic English” is often talked about in China's college English teaching. However， how to correctly interpret the academic English is still a question for us to consider. English for academic purposes （EAP） entails training students， usually in a higher education setting， to use language appropriately for study. It is one of the most common forms of English for specific purposes （ESP）. What is its connotation？ If it refers to the English for Academic Purpose （EAP）， it should be called “English for Academic purposes”， its mission is to provide language courses for students to learn English so as to meet the needs of the society. The essay is intended to deal with EAP in college English teaching.

Unlike college English， the academic English （EAP） is more professional， which has the specified teaching direction and application direction. And its field involved is more concentrated. EAP consists of commonly used academic English and professional English. The former focuses on students' learning methods， listening， speaking， reading and writing ability and the ability to locate the resources needed . The latter is to strengthen the students' comprehensive learning in professional course. An EAP program focuses instruction on skills required to perform in an English-speaking academic context across core subject areas generally encountered in a university setting.Programs may also include a more narrow focus on the more specific linguistic demands of a particular area of study， for example business subjects.With the improving of the enterprise requirements， professionals need use academic English in many ways . However， the current analysis results show most of the students with bachelors degree in China fail to express themselves in English fluently， only a few people communicate well in English. What is worse， less than five percent is capable of writing the report using EAP. in their practical work， which indicates how necessary it is to have EAP courses in Chinese colleges. Take my university， CQUT for example， two years ago， EAP was opened for those NON-English major students， who passes CET4 in the third semester. It seems that students show great interest in learning academic English， yet the reault is undesirable. At present， China's English teaching method is too stuffy to make students communicate well in practical work. Aiming at this problem， more chances should be offered to the students to express their ideas in English classroom so as to enhance the comprehensive ability of practical application of academic English. In homework， the teacher should discard the previous copy paragraphs or the practice of writing papers. More assignments are given to the students so that they can use their knowledge of academic English to find the professional background or foreign professional technology， understand their own professional information and be able to practically use academic English. This teaching method is more reasonable than the previous exam-oriented education. In the test， it is not suitable to only check words or reading comprehension. Some multiple choices， for example， can make students better understand the grammar， and learn a variety of vocabulary to use them.

The need for comprehensive talents is growing， and academic English is also very important for professional personnel. Importance should be attached to academic English in our country， and colleges should have scientific and reasonable course arrangement in academic English. What is more， relevant academic English policy should be implemented in various colleges and universities， to produce more professional and technical personnel with good comprehensive ability. Only in this way， can college English （especially academic English become more and more useful to the society.

References：

[1]English for Academic Purposes.Retrieved 22 July 2013.

[2]Jump up to：a b c d e http：//eprints.hud.ac.uk/7662/8/Catterall_%26_Ireland_（2010）_PESTLHE_Article.pdf.

【基金项目】重庆理工大学高等教育教学改革研究项目（2014ZD09）的阶段性成果。