Table 2 The summary of three case studies on disciplinary English at universities in China.
practice | |||
|---|---|---|---|
aspect | educational reform of Maritime English | English education reform of cultivating top-notch talents | interdisciplinary reform within English major |
educational philosophy | curriculum system construction is driven by knowledge system construction | need analysis theory and language acquisition management theory | English major is inter-disciplinary in nature |
interdisciplinarity | English + maritime affairs | English + other disciplines (such as accounting, education, law, etc.) | vertical exploration of interdisciplinarity within English major |
indigenous factors | courses related to Chinese culture; cooperation with local enterprises | courses related to Chinese philosophy, East-Asian international relations, etc. | courses related to Chinese philosophy; cooperation with local and national enterprises |
challenges | further cooperation with other schools, other universities and enterprises; the transformation from national standard to professional standard | insufficient diversity of talent selection mechanism; curriculum integration insufficiency; insufficient implementation of tutor system | demand of redesigning postgraduate curricula; inquiry of solving coherence among the courses; lack of instructing the students’ reading processes, etc. |
researchers’ identities | teachers at School of Foreign Languages, Dalian Maritime University | postgraduate at Institute of Linguistics, Shanghai International Studies University | teacher at School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
students’ perspective | Some students were greatly motivated to study maritime English. | Students were satisfied at curriculum and transferring in and out, but not at tutor system and current selection mechanism. | More students became interested in English major at the university during the enrollment process; more students preferred to switch to English major. |
broad implication | insight for English educational reform at other maritime universities | insight for the cultivation mode of top-notch foreign language talents at other universities | insight for the interdisciplinary practices within English major |
