TITLE:
A Pilot Study: English Language Needs of the International Trade Salesmen
AUTHORS:
Wenhui Pan, Noor Mala Ibrahim
KEYWORDS:
International Trade Salesmen, Needs Analysis, ESP, English Language Needs, Syllabus Design
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.6,
June
28,
2024
ABSTRACT: Under the background of globalization, international trade is taking an important part in the development of the world economy. English communication ability has become as crucial as major related qualities for international business salesmen whose native language is not English. International salesman should have the ability of English communicating skills. Business English is a sub-branch of ESP which has been widely studied. While, as far as the researcher knows, the sub-branch of business English, international trade English is seldom studied. International trade English is a micro part of business English, which should be studied specifically. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the English language needs of international trade salesman in mainland China. Needs analysis through survey questionnaire was done to the international salesman in China. There were totally 114 international trade salesmen participated in the survey. This research investigated English language needs of the international trade salesmen from two aspects, the present language ability of the international trade salesman and the language difficulties they encountered in their daily work. Quantitative data were analyzed using percentage. It was found that the English language proficiency of the international trade salesmen is not enough to do their work well. This paper provides real-time language needs of the international trade salesman, which could offer authentic material to the syllabus design.