引言
在经济全球化浪潮风起云涌、特别是中国加入wTo的形势下，我国堕需培养既通外语又懂国际商务的复合型人才。随着经济的发展，对商务英语人才的培养已从过去的“单一型”外贸人才转向国际商务狗“复合型”人才。从培养目标上看，商务英语专业的教学目标不仅仅是了解外贸函电写作和一些专业知识，更重要的是能够灵活运用英语进行有效的商务沟通，处理国际商务中的实际问题。这种变化和概念的更新给商英语专业在课程设置上提出了更高的要求。但是，从目前各高校开设的商务英语专业来看，教学计划相差甚大，课程设置不尽相同，所用教材各自为政，所开课程极不统一，而且也没有统一的教学大纲。因此这一领域很值得认真研究和探讨。
一、高职商务英语教育的现状及存在的问题
高职教育是为生产、建设、管理、服务第一线培养高级技术应用型人才的专门教育，所以高职教育应突出服务经济、讲究教学法的技术和实践性、科技成果的应用性等一系列与生产有关的教育特色。就高职商务英语专业而言，在培养目标的定位上应强调一个“需”字，适应和足用人单位对高职人才培养的要求;其次突出一个“高”字，即保证学生具有大专层次的文化理论水平;第三是!强化一个“职”字，按照用人单位对岗位技能的要求进行针对性专业技能训练。然而目前的高职教育并没有完全突出其特色，也缺乏适合专科层次教育的专门教材，在课程设置方面严重滞后于时代的发展，学生的实习基地也无法得到保障;专业教师不懂商务专业知识，英语教师不懂用英语有效地提高学生的业务能力。其结果是学生无法将英语学习与商务专业知识有机地结合起来，更无法体会到英语和商务专业知识的良性互动关系。
二、商务英语教学与需求分析
商务英语是属于专门特殊用途英语(ESP)的一种。从整体上看，商务英语的知识包括英语语音、语法、词汇、语篇和跨文化知识以及与商务有关的国际贸易、服务贸易、技术贸易、国际合作和以Internet为支持的网络通讯和多媒体技术手段。商务英语的技能包括听、说、读、写、译等语言交际技能，对于中国学生来说还应包括英、汉互译等技能。Munby (1978)曾把特殊用途英语分为两类，即以学术为目的的英语(English for academic purpose )和以职业培训为目的的英语(English for occupational purpose )。高职商务英语专业的培养目标应属于后者。商务英语教学思想要转变教育观念，打碎以教师为中心，以语法讲授为纲要，以解释语言知识为目的的教学模式，将交际法应用于听、说、读、写、译等各个教学环节。
在ESP教学领域，研究者们比较一致的看法是，需求分析是确保ESP教学效果的先决条件。专门用途英语是以调查学习者具体的学习目标和目标工作场景对于语言技能的实际需求为前提的，而这些调查结果又成为课程设置和编写教材的基础。由于在商务英语领域所需要的语言技能比其他ESP分支_所需要的语言技能更难以预测，因此需求分析对于商务英语课程的设置显得尤为重要。在商务英语教学过程中，需求分析是评估研究范畴中为实施和改进下一步教学计划而开展的一种诊断过程。它涉及到为了解决问题而先了解具体问题的一个过程以及需求的涵义。需求分析属于实证一凋查与研究，最终目的是为了形成决定、改进教学。
鉴于商务英语专业的教学目标具有多样性和复杂性的特点，我们在设置课程和选定教材之前，就更有必要进行一次深入全面的需求分析，能否做好深入细致的需求分析，对于设置课程大纲，选用合适的教材，起着至关重要的作用。需求分析对于教师改进教学方法，提高教学效果具有重要意义。外语课堂上有不少问题来源于教师对学生的兴趣和需求关注不够，他们没有意识到学习者应是他们收集信息的重要来源。需求分析可以使教师对于课程最终所要实现的目标有一清晰的印象，而对于教学目标的清晰把握可以使教师消除教学中的盲目性，提高教学效率。总之，需求分析有助于教师认识到学习者的需求及未来的工作情景对学习者语言技能的要求，并有效地实现教学目标。(Munby,1978 )
三、研究的设计与实施
(一)、研究设计
本研究提出三个问题，1、高职院校商务英语学生对学习有什么样的偏好和期待?2、商务英语教师应具有什么样的素质要求?3、用人单位重视毕业生的哪些技能和素质?
研究对象为南通商贸高等职业学校03, 04级商务英语专业在校生76人，来自不同高职院校的商务英语教师1 人，南通商贸高等职业学校商务英语专业02级预就业实习生68人，南通、大连两市的涉外企业10家。
本研究针对上述四种研究对象设计了四份调查问卷，每份问卷的内容各有不同。对在校生的问卷中(问卷一)，设计了10个问题，涉及学习者的语言学习情况、学习者的需求和对课程的期望;对商务英语教师的问卷(问卷二)包括涉及专业、对教材的看法等10个问题;对预就业实习生的问卷也包含7个问题(问卷三)，涉及职业情况、英语语言学习情况和对课程的期望;还有10个问题是针对涉外用人单位的(问卷四)，主要是查用人单位对涉外人才规格的需求情况。
问卷一在详细介绍了做答说明后由学生现场完成，问卷二是来自于南通商贸高等职业学校
二、商务英语教学与需求分析........... 8-9
三、研究的设计与实施.........................9-13
LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES............ 13-14
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ..................14-17
1.1 Background of the Study ................14-15
1.1.1 Shortage of Qualified Business English Teachers ........14-15
1.1.2 Urgent Needs of Business English Students............ 15
1.2. Significance of the Study.......... 15
1.3 Outline of the Thesis.................. 15-17
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW.................... 17-30
2.1 Business English ..............17-22
2.1.1 Definition.............. 18-19
2.1.2 Characteristics............... 19-20
2.1.3 Teaching of Business English...... 20-22
2.2 Course Design .............22-29
2.2.1 Curriculum Design .............24
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3.CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL BASES
3.1. Theories of Needs Analysis
The research work that concentrates on ESP is generally believed to apply its theoretical analysis to Business English in terms of its language both in spoken utterance and written texts. Needsnalysis is generally regarded as the first step in program or course design. Initially, needs analysis is used in the teaching, of ESP to help people decide what to teach and how to teach. An effective ESP course develops from a needs analysis that "aim to specify as closely as possible what exactly it is that students have to do through the medium of English"(Robinson,l991,p.3). Later, along withdevelopment of a learner-centered approach, it was introduced in the teaching of General English to learn about students' requirements and identify problems in language teaching.
3.1.1. Definition
ESP researchers have explored the different connotations of needs, either product-oriented or process-oriented. Widdowson (1981) thinks that needs refer to learners' present study or future job requirements, in other words, what they have to be able to do at the end of their language course. (p.2) Likely, Mountford (1981) holds that needs mean "what the user-institution or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a program of language instruction" (p.27). These two definitions are both product-oriented. In contrast, researchers with the process-oriented approach focus more on learners. Richterich (1983) expressed that the identification of language needs "consists primarily in compiling information both on the inpiduals or groups of inpiduals who are to learn a language and on the use which they are expected to make of it when they have learnt it"(p.55). Brindley (1989) thinks needs may equal to learners' "wants" or "desires" which refers to what the students themselves would like to learn in addition to their program requirements. Berwick (1989) defines "needs" as "the gap between a current state of affairs and a desired future state" (p.52).
Similarly, Kemp (1998) defines "needs" as "a gap between what is expected and the existing conditions" (p.21).
With regard to the classification of needs, linguists hold different views as well. Berwick (1989) distinguishes prescribed needs from felt needs. He defines the prescribed needs as objectives set according to others’learning experiences, and the felt needs as the learner's own needs. Similarly, both Brindley (1989) and Robinson (1991) offer the concepts of objective needs and subjective needs.Objective needs caai be diagnosed by teachers on the basis of the analysis of personal data aboutblearners along with information about their language proficiency and patterns of language, whereas
subjective needs including the wants, desires, expectations, or other psychological manifestations of a learner cannot be diagnosed easily, or in many cases, even stated by learners themselves. Besides, Nunan (1999) prefers to draw a distinction between "content needs" and "process needs". Content needs include the selection and sequencing of such things as topics, grammar, function, notions, and vocabulary, while rocess needs refer to the selection and sequencing of learning tasks and
experiences.
3.1.2. Applied Framework of Needs Analysis
According to Dudley Evans and St John (1998), a framework is to be established for Business
3.2 Related Studies: Findings and Existing Problems... 32-34
3.2.1 Social needs Analysis.............. 32-33
3.2.2 Learners' Needs Analysis......................... 33-34
3.3. Summary .......................34-35
CHAPTER FOUR INVESTIGATIONS OF BUSINESS ENGLISH TEACHING ............35-38
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4.4. Procedures.......... 37
4.5. Summary ....................37-38
CHAPTER FIVE RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ...............38-48
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CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION ...............48-53
6.1 Major findings ...............48-50
6.2. Pedagogical Implications.................... 50-52
6.2.1. For Business English Teaching ................50-52
6.2.2. For Course Design
Now more ane. more universities and colleges have opened or are prepared to open Business English Courses for students. The college should allow the students to select their specialized knowledge courses and orientation courses more freely. Many foreign language experts have reached a consensus that nec;ds analysis, rather than a once-for-all activi仪is a continuing process, in which the conclusions drawn previously are constantly checked and re-assessed. As suggested, more needs analyses have to be carried out by Business English courses designers and teachers.
According to the analysis of study and the suggestions given by the learners, when designing the courses for Business English, we should pay attention to the training of both language knowledge and practical ability at the same time.
6.3 Limitations of the Study and Su}}estions for Future Research
Despite its findings, the study suffers from the following constraints. First, the sample is not large enough. Second, the response to the questionnaire items might not be always reliable due to the following two reasons: the first was the participants' different interpretations of the questionnaire items; the second was that there might be discrepancies between what the participants thought they had done and what they had actually done. Due to the limitations mentioned above, the eventual findings obtained fro m the survey study have to be interpreted cautiously.
We tend to deal with the problem of Business English teaching for pre-experience learners in Chinese vocational institutes solely from the perspective of a linguistic field. There is always a lack of pedagogical analysis一the educational aspects are somewhat neglected. It is true English teaching research involves educational, psychological, and sociological perspectives of research. If we can conduct an overall educational investigation in foreign language teaching and learning in a Chinesecollege, the results might be more convincing.