This paper aims to investigate the current situation and countermeasures of English teaching in higher vocational colleges in China, taking two colleges in Shanghai as examples. The paper adopts the perspective of culturalism, which emphasizes the importance of cultural differences in interpreting global education policies and advocates local adaptation of various models from global education flows. The paper focuses on three aspects of English teaching in higher vocational colleges: teaching methods, students’ interest, and the relevance and localization of teaching materials. The paper uses a mixed-methods approach, including questionnaire surveys, interviews, classroom observations, and teaching experiments. The paper draws on the content-based instruction (CBI) model and the 6T teaching method (themes, text, topics, threads, tasks, and transitions) to design and implement a teaching strategy that aims to improve students’ vocational English skills and prepare them for the domestic and global job market. The paper also introduces a new vocational English textbook that integrates foreign-related tasks and local cultural elements. The paper evaluates the effectiveness of the teaching strategy and the textbook by comparing the experimental and control groups of students and teachers in terms of their English proficiency, attitudes, and feedback. The paper hopes to contribute to the promotion of the SDG goals 4.3, 4.4, and 8 by enhancing the quality and relevance of vocational English education in China.

Authors:
Jiaxin Shen, The University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Jiaxin Shen is a University Postgraduate Student at The University of Massachusetts Amherst in United States

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