Making a case for English for specific purposes in China: listening to stakeholders’ voices

Internationalization in language education has inspired a new look at English for specific purposes (ESP) needs for English as a foreign language (EFL) learning in China. Undergraduate Chinese student-athletes (SAs) currently need to study college English and pass the CET 4 in order to graduate. ESP is postulated as a necessary but hardly exploited approach in China for SAs’ EFL learning. The study is guided by two main research concerns: (1) the SAs’ attitudes towards the current college English course and the inclusion of ESP into the curriculum and (2) stakeholders’ voices on SAs’ immediate needs, future needs, and wants of learning English. Eighteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with different groups of stakeholders: students, Sports Science graduates, teachers, and university administrators. They agreed that SAs should not be taught only college English but also Sports English to reach a higher level of English language proficiency to fulfil the students’ wants, necessities, and lacks. The authors argue for the inclusion of ESP elements into the current college English curriculum. This will enable SAs to undergo a more meaningful English language experience to meet their current and future EFL expectations. Specifically, the study contributes to a specific dimension of ESP needs for Sports English, which has been left unattended thus far for SAs in the learning of English at the tertiary level.