EXPLORING COURSE DESIGN FOR A UNIVERSITY-LEVEL ESP- BASED COLLEGE ENGLISH PROGRAM AT UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMICS IN CHINA

Abstract

By undertaking needs analysis of the learners, teachers and prospective job positions regarding the language skills and language contents, this study identified the students' needs in terms of language skills and preferred contents, and then combined EFL teachers' academic expertise with the needs of other immediate stakeholders before devising an updated College English Program featured by ESP-based courses for finance and economic purposes available to students. Empirical studies on the effectiveness of the newly designed College English Program showed that the satisfaction is higher than that for EGP-based courses, and students' learning motivation and classroom engagement were boosted in ESP-based courses for finance and economic purposes.