大学英语转型专门用途英语的课程设计与实践研究——以上海财经大学《商务英语沟通》课程建设为例

Towards an ESP approach:Design research in English for Business Communication at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

本文基于专门用途英语课程设计理论和社会建构主义学习与评估理论,对上海财经大学中外合作二年级《商务英语沟通》课程进行探索。本研究设计并实施《商务英语沟通》教学,从实证的角度考察课程教学实际效果,并深层次挖掘影响学生商务英语沟通与高阶思维能力提升的各种情境因素,对ESP课程设计与教学有借鉴意义。

Premised on ESP theories and social constructivist learning and assessment models,this study set out to design,implement and evaluate a Business English Communication course for Chinese tertiary students in joint programmes at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics,aiming to promote business communication competencies and higher-order thinking skills.Participants were 361 sophomores from different disciplinary backgrounds and seven college English teachers with varying teaching experiences. The students experienced a designed ESP teaching and learning environment utilizing PBL instructional approach with contextualized writing tasks and multiple assessment strategies. Data collected include pre-and post-tests,selfreported questionnaires,course evaluation,in-depth interviews,and written learning reflections. Questionnaire survey and course evaluation results suggested positive design effect on both communication competencies and higher-order thinking.Qualitative analyses of the interviews and reflections unraveled the important contextual factors that contributed to the student positive changes. This study theorized effective ESP course design principles that will inform pedagogy and teaching practices of ESP and other languages.