Reform and Innovation of ESP Teaching Mode for New Engineering under the Opportunity of New Infrastructure Construction

School of Foreign Languages,Shenyang University,Shenyang,China Email:Smiler840409@126.com

[Abstract]Higher requirements are put forward for the foreign language ability of new engineering talents in the new infrastructure era.The English for specific purposes(ESP)teaching mode for new engineering majors in applicationoriented universities is constructed based on the needs of the times and the needs of industries and students.The focus of ESP teaching has shifted from“l(fā)anguage”learning to serving“demand”and“purpose”.This paper puts forward the construction of ESP system and the innovative countermeasures for cultivating new engineering interdisciplinary English talents with international competitiveness.

[Keywords]new infrastructure;new engineering;application-oriented universities;ESP teaching mode;innovation

Introduction

In 2020,the term“new infrastructure”is frequently used.Under the new infrastructure strategy,the transformation speed of the national economic capacity structure has been improved,and various new professional and technological development have emerged in an endless stream which will increasingly demand the application-oriented skilled talents who can adapt to the industrial development and master the cutting-edge technology of science and technology.New engineering talents are favored by new infrastructure enterprises and become hot targets.In order to build a solid talent foundation for the development of new infrastructure,great efforts should be made to cultivate compound new engineering professionals with national feelings,international vision,innovation spirit and practical ability.(Xia&Wang,2018,pp.9-12)The era of“new infrastructure”also puts forward higher requirements for foreign language ability of new engineering talents.New engineering technical talents should possess a variety of basic foreign language professional abilities.College English which is an important basic compulsory foreign language course in college is of great significance to the cultivation of new engineering technology application talents.The original training mode of General English can no longer meet the requirements of education in the new infrastructure era.College English teaching should be updated with the times,industries and students’needs.ESP is defined as English for specific purposes.The focus of ESP teaching has shifted from“l(fā)anguage”learning to serving“needs”and“purposes”.It should serve the school running goals,the needs of talents training in colleges and departments,and the needs of students’personality development.Therefore,it is imperative for application-oriented universities to promote the construction of ESP system for new engineering majors.

Current Situation of Foreign Language Ability Training for New Engineering Talents

“New engineering”includes not only some upgraded traditional engineering majors,but also emerging industries such as artificial intelligence,big data management and application and cloud computing.With the implementation of the new infrastructure strategy and the advancement of the new engineering construction process,these new characteristic specialties will be built and cultivated.(Zhou & Zhu,2020,pp.71-73)As a basic skill,foreign language ability plays an important role in mastering and applying professional knowledge and skills in the field of international new economy and new engineering.However,current College English teaching in application-oriented universities is still dominated by General English which can not teach students in accordance with their aptitude and needs,and can not meet the requirements of the new engineering talent training plan.It is found that there are mainly the following problems in the cultivation of foreign language ability of new engineering talents in application-oriented universities through some questionnaire surveys and interviews.

More Attention Is Paid to Professional Courses than Foreign Language

In recent years,the application-oriented colleges and universities generally focus on the study of professional knowledge and skills training.Due to the importance of vocational courses,new engineering students generally attach importance to major learning and neglect foreign language.With the gradual reduction of College English lessons,students will receive less English training in class.The credit of the first class is reduced,but the second classroom English learning and extracurricular autonomous learning are not strengthened.For example,English corner,English speech contest and other English activities are not actively carried out.There are not many online learning resources such as excellent courses,micro courses and Moocs to improve the foreign language ability of new engineering talents.All these factors will directly lead to the lack of motivation of English learning after class.The connection between English and diploma,postgraduate entrance examination and high salary jobs are not seen by many new engineering students.For them the only learning objective is to pass the final examination and pass CET-4 and CET-6,they do not put forward higher requirements for the improvement of their comprehensive English application ability.

English Learning and Application Are Separated

The new engineering English teaching course in application-oriented colleges and universities is still based on General English.The actual employment demand of new engineering students are not considered during the practice of teaching.The current college learning cannot meet the needs of students in professional study,international exchange,further study,employment and so on.“Integration of learning and application”advocates that all teaching activities should be closely linked with application,that is,learning while using,learning and using are integrated,and input learning and productive application are closely combined.(Wen,2015,pp.547-558)For the new engineering students,“l(fā)earning”refers to the input learning of listening,speaking,reading and writing;“application”refers to the output tasks in which they can use English to engage in work and carry out professional academic exchanges,be able to understand lectures,take notes,write abstracts,ask questions and answers,discuss and debate,be able to understand technical terms of new engineering accurately and read newspapers and professional articles related to new engineering.Students should not simply accept inert knowledge passively,but should learn to use English to solve practical problems and transform inert knowledge into productive ability.(Zhang & Xu,2020,pp.171-175)New engineering English teaching must integrate learning with application and improve the professional and academic quality of new engineering students effectively.

English Textbooks Cannot Keep Pace with the Times

It is very important to choose a good textbook for English teaching of new engineering.However,at present,many application-oriented colleges and universities ignore the professional needs of new engineering major learners.The selected textbooks can not be targeted at some specific new engineering majors,and can not take into account both English language points and professional core knowledge.In addition,due to the periodicity of textbook publishing,the content of the textbook has not kept pace with the times,which is relatively old,unable to track the industry and industry hot spots and lacks the international cutting-edge related content in this field.Such teaching materials can not expand the global vision of new engineering students and can not improve their professional and academic quality.

English Teachers and Professional Teachers Are Not Well-integrated

The teachers of new engineering talents training mainly include college English teachers and professional teachers of new engineering.However,these two types of teachers have their own knowledge weaknesses:the English level of College English teachers is high but they can't master the new engineering professional knowledge and further explain the new engineering curriculum content.Due to the lack of language teaching experience,the new engineering teachers often pay more attention to professional knowledge and can not focus on the improvement of the foreign language ability of new engineering students.Therefore,the cultivation of new engineering talents with English as the carrier needs to break the limitations of the traditional teaching mode and promote the teaching cooperation between College English teachers and professional teachers.

Construction and Innovation of ESP Curriculum System for New Engineering

ESP(English for specific purposes)refers to the professional English learning that non English majors in colleges and universities accept after completing the basic English learning.The essence of ESP teaching mode is to analyze and meet the different needs of different majors and learners.It aims at enhancing students’ability to engage in professional and academic communication.The reform and innovation of ESP teaching mode will improve students’English application ability and realize the transformation and development of college English teaching.The final teaching goal of ESP teaching mode coincides with the training goal of new engineering talents in application-oriented universities.In order to promote the application-oriented development of College English curriculum and improve the professional and academic quality of new engineering students effectively,the reform and innovation of ESP teaching mode for new engineering majors should be as follows:

The Establishment of New Engineering ESP Courses According to Students’Aptitude and Needs

General English teaching has been unable to meet the needs of new engineering interdisciplinary English talents in the new infrastructure era.It is necessary to carry out the reform and innovation of ESP teaching mode for new engineering courses.The philosophy of people-oriented teaching should be adopted.Students of new engineering majors can be arranged in a unified way and ESP teaching can be carried out in classes according to their specialties.At the same time,new engineering ESP elective courses can be offered for all grades of new engineering majors who have spare time to learn.Students take the principle of voluntary participation in learning.ESP teachers should encourage the students to read more professional literature,expand their knowledge and express professional content.In order to change the bad habit of reading only short articles and unwilling to gnaw literature,students must learn to improve the academic English writing skills.The main characteristics of ESP teaching for new engineering courses are to meet the specific needs of learners.Establish ESP courses according to students’aptitude and needs will improve students’enthusiasm for learning English which is conducive to the development of new engineering students in their professional field.(Li,2019,pp.261-263)

Clarification of the Teaching Objectives of New Engineering ESP Courses and Construction of the School-based ESP Curriculum System

The ultimate goal of ESP teaching of new engineering is to cultivate the students’professional quality and academic quality.In the new infrastructure era,new engineering talents are required to have excellent foreign language ability.New engineering talents need to master a certain amount of new engineering terms,be able to read and understand new engineering professional books and understand international academic conferences.The school-based ESP curriculum system for new engineering major is constructed based on the above teaching objectives.In view of the level of students in application-oriented universities,the construction of diversified curriculum system of ESP Specialty English for new engineering majors includes introduction to college English courses in the guidance stage,General English courses and cross-cultural courses in the basic stage.Among them,academic English and professional English are the most important which will be opened in the third and fourth semester respectively.Based on the needs of the times,industries and students,the teaching objectives of new engineering ESP course are more clear,the curriculum is more reasonable,it is more conducive to cultivate the core strength of new engineering talents.It is the best way to cultivate the new engineering interdisciplinary English talents with international competitiveness urgently needed by our country.

Compiling ESP Textbooks for New Engineering Courses and Building a High-quality ESP Teaching Team

at present,most of the College English textbooks used are not compiled and changed completely according to the students’employment situation and industry standards.The teachers of new engineering ESP teaching team should collect materials updated with the times in accordance with the needs of the new infrastructure era and talents in the new engineering industry and draw lessons from the series of ESP textbooks published by the authoritative publishing houses.The teaching material should mainly include language focus,research task,critical thinking,academic skill and other key modules.It should be practical and sufficient.Meanwhile it is necessary to build a high-quality ESP team according to the characteristics of the curriculum and teachers’expertise.All the members in the teaching team should work out the professional development plan and expand the professional knowledge through further selfstudy.In addition,a team of assistant teachers of new engineering majors in each college is set up to provide consultation of professional knowledge to English teachers so as to make up for the lack of professional knowledge.Only in this way can the good integration of professional teachers and English teachers be achieved.

Highly Integrating the Construction of New Engineering ESP System with Industry and Enterprises

Under the background of the new infrastructure era,the economic development is in urgent need of high-quality talents from colleges and universities.The development of colleges and universities is also inseparable from the support of local government and enterprises.Only when colleges and universities are integrated with industries and enterprises closely can we promote the rapid development of local economy vigorously.The enterprises provide a higher quality education platform for the integration of“practice,training and entrepreneurship”.The construction of ESP curriculum system for new engineering courses in application-oriented colleges and universities should be highly integrated with industrial enterprises and take“practical+sufficient”as the standard.This standard is in line with the objective and practical ability of the new engineering students and the future employment needs.The new engineering students will use what they have learned and grow faster if enterprises and application-oriented universities combined theory and practice closely with new engineering curriculum system,class hours,teaching sites and other details,and eventually form a“win-win”situation among schools,students,enterprises and regions.

Implementation of New Engineering ESP Online and Offline Mixed Teaching

Under the opportunity of new infrastructure construction,there will be a large number of high-quality education resources for new engineering ESP which will help to build a professional,standardized and characteristic online course platform.Constructing a new autonomous learning mode such as flipped classroom,micro class and MOOC will extend the classroom effectively with high-quality foreign language resources and promote the in-depth learning of new engineering students.Offline teaching should explore actively the effective application of cooperative teaching,inquiry teaching,task-based teaching and project-based teaching so that the students’learning motivation will be stimulated.Any teaching must serve professional practice.ESP offline teaching of new engineering should design real new engineering academic activities according to students’major.Students are encouraged to read documents closely related to their major and future development and design corresponding academic writing exercises.No matter online or offline teaching,ESP teachers of new engineering should track and manage every link of students’knowledge preview before class,knowledge internalization in class and knowledge sublimation after class.(Lin & Li,2020,pp.45-47)

Conclusion

The essence of ESP teaching mode is to analyze and meet the different needs of different majors and learners.The construction of new engineering ESP system aims to realize the“application-oriented”transformation and development of College English,and cultivate the new engineering interdisciplinary English talents urgently needed by the country under the opportunity of new infrastructure construction,to improve the professional and academic ability of new engineering students.Although the prospect of ESP teaching for new engineering courses is bright,the road is still tortuous.How to construct ESP system for new engineering successfully is a topic that every language learner and researcher should pay close attention to.

Acknowledgements

This paper is supported by the following fund projects:foreign language teaching and research project of foreign teachers’Association in China and education and teaching reform research project of Shenyang University.