Creative Education
Vol.06 No.11(2015), Article ID:57546,3 pages
10.4236/ce.2015.611120

Research on the Entrepreneurial-Oriented English Teaching Reform in Vocational Colleges*

Yunxia Yan1, Nan Zhao2

1Teaching and Research Office, Hebei Foreign Studies University, Shijiazhuang, China

2Department of Foreign Languages, Baoding University, Shijiazhuang, China

Email: carrine@163.com

Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Received 8 June 2015; accepted 27 June 2015; published 30 June 2015

ABSTRACT

How to establish and perfect the personnel training mode based on the entrepreneurial-oriented English teaching according to professional features and center on the principles of “setting up the majors in industry, learning foreign languages in profession” to make students become “professionals with rich expertise, fine career skills, and rich Chinese heritage”, and also deepen the education and teaching is the focus of the current professional business English teaching reform in vocational colleges. It is an effective way to explore “order-oriented” talent training based on the employment-orientation. In this paper, it explores the professional training and education process, aiming to provide reference for the innovation and reform of personnel training model for business English major in vocational colleges.

Keywords:

Personnel Training Mode, Entrepreneurial-Oriented, Innovation and Reform, Business English

1. Introduction

The major-setting principle of “profession + foreign languages” plays an important role in the English teaching reform of business English, and how to establish and improve the personnel training mode of entrepreneurial- oriented English teaching and deepen the teaching reform is a principal problem existing in the vocational business English teaching. At present, there are still some problems in personnel training mode in business English, especially there is still no formation-system guidance in education and teaching modes, which is now restricting the development of professional. This thesis combined with the process of talent-cultivation and education implementation, aiming at providing the theory and practical mode for higher vocational talents.

2. The Present Situation Analysis on the Business English Order-Form Talent Training

In the recent years, with the impetus of the reform, most higher colleges especially vocational colleges actively practice and explore the order-form talent training talent training mode and have achieved some effects. At present, most vocational colleges actively innovate majors in the aspects of university-enterprise cooperation in cultivating talents, and they visit the companies, and hold the graduates’ reverse-fostering to the college and complete the teaching program through the university and enterprises, and together explore the evaluation mode and have achieved preliminary theoretical discussion and practice foundation. Under such kind of “profession+ foreign languages” entrepreneurial-orientation English teaching, how to cultivate all-around talents, and how to implement education, including personnel training mode, curriculum module design, evaluation mode, faculty training, and also the graduates’ career guidance, it hasn’t formed systems of scientific research for these problems and also systematic theoretical support, the practice basis is relatively weak (Jin, 2004).

In the traditional subjects setting, the theory teaching and the practice training are implemented in different stages, the students practice after the mastery of basic theory knowledge, and the teaching effect is not obvious, the only way to solve it is to set the teaching procedure of “learning through practice, teaching through practice” ( Zhang, 2011 ).

On the basis of the teaching reform and innovation, our business English department conducts a series of bold exploration and reform and obtains a great achievement. They have founded “profession+ foreign languages” entrepreneurial-orientation entity schema, and they have started “5551” project, and required each major should develop more than three “production-study-research” cooperation units, and cooperate with the enterprises thoroughly to cultivate the talents with the enterprises. And we implement “order-cultivation” with these units; students will do the internship and training to these units.

There are three kinds of forms in cooperation between schools and enterprises:

1) Field work form: build the teaching practice base. At present, the school has signed an agreement with Oriental Star International Co. Ltd., Xuri Group International Co. Ltd., Shijiazhuang century hotel, Eastern aviation branch in Hebei, etc., students implement their internship in the company according to their majors in the fifth or seventh term. By combining the theoretical knowledge and production practice, the student’s actual operation skill was improved and it provided them for the mental preparation for the future after graduation, and laid them solid foundation. Meanwhile, students can also receive a certain remuneration, in that case, the school can save a lot of training fund, enterprises can also solve the problem of short-term employment difficulties, eventually achieve the good effect of mutual beneficial of schools, students and enterprises and also realize the complementary advantages of school and enterprises.

2) Order-training form: We have founded a mechanism of talent orientation training between the departments and enterprises, University and enterprises together formulates teaching program course installation and practical training; Students’ basic theoretical courses and professional theories lessons are accomplished by universities, students’ internships are completed in enterprises; at present, our college has signed the treaty with many companies in Anping chamber of commerce, for example, Anping County Hengyuan Hardware Network Production Company, Ltd., Anping Dafeng Hardware Silk Screen Company, Ltd.

3) The “industry-university-research” form : Except for above contents, the most important are construct the faculty, develop the teaching materials and scientific research projects, etc., at present, we have signed the “industry-university-research” agreement with China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, etc. ( Yang, 2012: p. 4 ).

3. The Talent Training mode Contents and Objectives under the Entrepreneurial-Oriented Teaching

Our university is funded to set up an entity for some related majors practice, students will work in this entity and then the students can learn the business process by themselves, and we can develop some students who can do pioneering work. Now the school has nineteen entities provided for students’ internship and they achieve the dream of accomplishing the school with salary. “Professional service outsourcing” not only makes students’ professional skill mature, but also cultivates some business elites, which has laid the foundations for training prepared professionals.

The major of Business English combines the characteristics of specialty with the market demand, adopts the industry-university research cooperation form to cultivate the talents together, and relies on industry companies and enterprises. The teacher should innovate the mode of class teaching, change the teaching content, make the advanced knowledge and skills into class and mobilize the interest of students’ learning. Improve the students’ ability to use knowledge to solve practical problems, make the advanced knowledge into classroom, fully motivate students’ interest of learning, and achieve the new teaching mode of “teaching through practice, and learning through practice”. The talents’ training mode of “profession + foreign languages” is an active exploration of Business English teaching practice in vocational colleges. It is a bold practice of Business English with personnel training mode innovation ( Liu, 2012: p. 12 ).

To establish the deep cooperation between colleges and enterprise. Push forward the development of industry, academic and research.

Enterprises together with the school should found the talent training and construction committee, to make enterprise participate in the school teaching.

Enterprises and universities develop talents cultivation quality standards, including the professional knowledge, professional skills, and leadership, communication, social, and writing, management ability, the comprehensive qualities.

Enterprises and universities should formulate the teaching plan, teaching syllabus and publish the teaching materials together.

Adhere to the mode of “go outside the school and invite the elite into the school”, ( Liu, 2012: p. 10 ) and laid the emphasis on the teachers’ training and construction, and make the university and enterprises cooperate closely. Let the teachers get a temporary job on the company to practice their practical ability. Send the teacher to go aboard for further training and broaden their horizon.

To run the specialty as the real company, establish the entity, and establish the perfect company rules, salary distribution system or regulations, the teacher served as the manager of the company, the students were ordinary staff, this entity can undertake social projects, the students are common staff. Let the students participate in the task under the guidance of the teacher.

Establish a fictitious and emulational practice base in the school, and combine the theoretical teaching and practical teaching closely. At this time, teachers can be filed as customers to put the need. Students can be used as a company to undertake this project.

4. The Effects of the Entrepreneurial-Oriented English Teaching Reform in Vocational Colleges

Through the analysis of the “Analysis of the Text Paper” of the two classes, an obvious result is that the practice proficiency of the treatment class is higher than that of the control class, while the difference of mastery in the basic knowledge is not very clear. For example, the mean score of the treatment class in subject “Business Negotiation” is 2.05 higher than that of the control class who has the traditional way in English teaching.

From the data of questionnaires in the other colleges and interviews with students, we can conclude that Entrepreneurial-oriented English Teaching Reform in Vocational Colleges is effective and popular, and the students’ employment rate has greatly risen in recent years since the implementation of the reform.

Some other professionals also like this. It will be applied in the teaching pattern of task driving, protect oriented during the actual operation process. At this moment, the class is workshop, the teacher is master and the student is disciple. Such as the student majoring in Computer Network, the teacher can simulate the wiring project and construction of the local area network in a unit. In the teaching of Software Technique, the teacher is the project manager and the student is the programmer. After the programmer receives the demand of the project manager, which can involve part of the project work directly, the students should complete their work by self-study and project manager’s directions.

References

  1. Jin, C. H. (2004). Guided by Employment, Promoting the Unite of the Order and Subjects Personnel Training Mode in Vocational Colleges. Education and Profession, 31.
  2. Liu , C. L. (2012). An Approach on “2+1” Joint Operation of Business English Talent Training. Journal of Panyu Polytechnic.
  3. Liu, C. L. (2012). The Innovation of the Vocational Business English Personnel Training Mode. China Adult Education.
  4. Yang, Y. J. (2012). Combination of Working and Studying in Major of Software Technology Based on CDIO. IT Education.
  5. Zhang, J. (2011). The Exploration of the Implementation of the Teaching Mode of “Learning through Practice, Teaching though Practice”.

NOTES

*This paper is the achievement of the concluding project of Hebei Education Department’s the first English teaching reform in higher colleges, and the project No. 2014YYJG124.