国家外语能力需求下的大学外语定位

The Orientation of College English Education in Light of National Requirement for Foreign Language Capacity

我国历史上曾经就大学英语教学定位爆发了四次较大的争论,争论的核心是定位在打语言基础的通用英语上还是在为专业学习的专门用途英语上。大学英语教学定位关系到满足个人外语能力需求还是国家外语能力需求。如是后者,大学外语教育就应该培养大学生能够用英语直接从事自己的专业学习和研究,以便在自己的学科领域内具有较强的国际交流能力和竞争力。但多年来,大学英语教育在不同程度上忽视了国家外语能力的要求,既没有提出学习英语的使用目标,也未提出培养学生这种用英语学习专业的语言要求。为了提高大学英语教学效率,满足国家外语能力的需要,大学英语应该有新的教学定位和语言要求。

National foreign language capacity differs from personal foreign language capacity in that it requires college students to have the necessary English language skills to enable them to succeed in their academic studies and future careers,so that they will communicate effectively and competitively in international academic discourses.College English education,however,fails to take such requirement into consideration.In its syllabus,there is neither a target for the present use of English nor the requirement for adequate language skills needed in academic studies.To improve foreign language efficiency and satisfy the requirements for foreign language capacity,college English education should have new orientation and requirements.