從職場需求檢驗台灣大學商用英語課程

Abstract

本研究旨在檢驗台灣大學商用英文課程是否能培養我國大學生具備進出口業、製造業及金融業所需的職場英語能力。本研究依據Hutchinson和Waters兩位學者于1987年提出的語言需求三分法，分析其職場英語需求，並以此分析大學商用英文教師所規劃培養的英語能力。本研究亦依Bachman和Palmer兩位學者在2010年定義的語言溝通功能，將職場上常執行的英語任務的語言功能分類。本研究的參與者包含170位業界人士(27位接受深度訪談，另外143位填寫職場英語需求分析問卷)，以及10位接受深度訪談的大學商用英文授課教師。 結果顯示在這三個產業中，英語讀寫能力比聽講能力更常用到。根據Bachman和Palmer 2010年定義的語言溝通功能，職場上最常用來完成英語任務的語言功能是操控成事、表情達意及學習解惑，尤以操控成事為最大宗。研究參與者表示英語聽講能力是他們較缺乏的能力，尤其是與國外客戶社交與閒聊的英語口語能力。雖然英語聽講任務較不常被執行，研究參與者表示最想增進英語口語溝通能力、跨文化溝通技巧，以及溝通語用技巧。此外，ANOVA統計進一步分析公司型態、公司所在位置、三大產業，以及參與者的工作年資是否在職場英語需求上有差異。結果顯示公司型態與公司所在位置在職場英語需求上並沒有差異;有顯著差異的是三大產業的職場英語需求，以及參與者的工作年資對於所感到困難的英語任務亦有顯著差異。10位受訪的大學商英教師則表示他們主要將重點擺在英語簡報技巧、小組討論技巧的訓練上，輔以閱讀商業英文新聞、商業英文報告，加強商用英文單字。受訪教師表示他們著眼於這些能力是職場所必需，且是學生所缺乏的能力，因此選擇這些為課程內容。經比較以上受訪業界人士的職場英文需求，以及受訪大學商英教師的授課內容，兩者明顯存在差距。 針對大學商用英文教師及課程規劃，本研究建議有三：一、教師在設計商英課程時，應以培養學生執行未來在職場上常做的英語任務為主;然而如果學生是在職生，課程設計就應以他們在職場上所缺乏或想要增強的能力為主。二、大學商英課程應增加英文寫作能力的訓練，及可訓練溝通互動的課堂任務。三、世界英語的觀念應該融入在商用英文課裡。希望以上研究發現能幫助我國大學規劃課程，培養學生國際職場英語力。The purpose of this study is to examine if the tertiary EBP curricula in Taiwan meets the English language needs of the fields in international trade, manufacturing, and finance. Twenty-seven business professionals and 10 tertiary EBP instructors were interviewed, and 143 additional business professionals were invited to complete needs-analysis questionnaires. Hutchinson and Waters’ (1987) tripartite categorization of needs served as a major framework to analyze the English needs in the workplace and the English skills taught in the tertiary EBP courses, while Bachman and Palmer’s (2010) categories of language functions were used to ascertain the communicative functions of English tasks commonly performed in the business workplace. The results showed that the content of the EBP curricula did not match the English needs of business professionals, as it was found that English reading and writing tasks were performed much more frequently than listening and speaking tasks in the business workplace in Taiwan. The communicative functions of the common English tasks are manipulative, ideational, and heuristic (Bachman and Palmer, 2010). The participants lacked the ability to socialize and maintain small talk in English with international business partners, and thus desired to learn English oral communication skills, cross-cultural communicative skills, and pragmatic skills for interaction. The ANOVA tests revealed that company type and company location had no effect on English needs; nevertheless, the English needs among the three professional fields and the perceived difficulty of English tasks among the respondents with different work experiences were found to have statistically significant differences. Based on the above findings, three suggestions were made to EBP instructors and curriculum designers: First, needs analysis should be conducted before EBP instructors design their syllabi as students without work experience require a necessity-based syllabus to prepare them for future required tasks in the workplace, while working students require a syllabus based on language skills that they are lacking. Second, instructors need to place more attention on English writing training and design more interactive tasks, and finally, the concept of “world Englishes” should be introduced. It is hoped that the findings of this study can help university plan curriculum that better prepare students for the internationally-oriented workplace.