January 2011 Volume 7 Issue 1
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Title
ESBP Course Design for Chinese International Business Personnel

Author
Shaohua Jiang
Concord College, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou,
China

Biodata
Jiang Shaohua is an English Lecturer in the Concord College, Fujian Normal University, China. He has taught and published in TESOL and English for Specific Purpose (ESP). His main research areas cover Applied Linguistic and ELT in Chinese Context.  shaohua-jiang@126.com

Abstract
English, as one of the major languages in the world, plays an irreplaceable role in international business. According to the statistics, over 80% international corporations use English as their working language (Zhang H.L, 2007). It is now widely recognized that “…English has become the primary language for doing international business” (Estaban & Pérez Cañado, 2004, p.137). Since China entered World Trade Organization (WTO), it has merged into the stream of global economic integration. There is a great demand for the Chinese international business personnel to improve their English language proficiency. Although there are quite a few in-service business English training courses throughout China, the current in-company English training courses often copy from the general business English teaching syllabus in colleges. As the learning characteristics and learning needs of target learners are neglected, most of these training courses are inefficient (Zhang J.J, 2007). This paper, based on English for Specific Purpose (ESP) theories, offers a tailored business English training course for Chinese international business personnel.

Key Words: English for Specific Purpose (ESP); English for Specific Purpose (ESBP); international business personnel; course design