Why do contemporary college students learn English? Objectively speaking, the importance and necessity of contemporary college students learning English stems from their own and realistic needs. Therefore, I think we can take "need" as the starting point to guide our thinking on this issue.
First of all, contemporary college students learn English to meet their personal needs.
Regarding "meeting personal needs", we can look at it from two aspects: "meeting personal external needs" and "meeting personal internal needs". The "personal external demand" here means that English learning is driven by external forces and dominated and restricted by external environment; "Personal internal needs", that is, English learning comes from subjective requirements and is influenced by internal factors. It should be pointed out that "personal external needs" and "personal internal needs" are often considered together.
1) Meet individual external needs.
The need of examination
For English majors, they must pass CET-4 before they can get their diplomas and degree certificates. Of course, it is generally required to specialize in eight now. For non-English majors, with the reform of CET-4 and CET-6, although CET-4 and CET-6 are no longer issued, it is up to the university to decide whether CET-4 and CET-6 are linked to the degree, but they still have to take the exam. After implementing the 7 10 grading system, the test scores will be more quantitative, so students are still studying for CET-4 and CET-6. For those college students who want to get a master's degree, English is a compulsory subject, and its importance cannot be underestimated. In recent years, no matter English majors or non-English majors, the number of people taking GRE, ITELP (IELTS), TOEFL (TOEFL), BEC (Business English), PETS (National English Test) and National Foreign Language Translation Certificate Test is increasing year by year. Some are for the convenience of going abroad, and some want to obtain certificates of various grades.
The need to go abroad
Some college students plan to go abroad for further study in the future, or have the opportunity to be visiting scholars in foreign universities or travel abroad. At this time, English can play a great role.
The need to find a job
Nowadays, employers often pay great attention to the English level of candidates, especially foreign-funded enterprises. Good English will undoubtedly add some chips for us to win in the highly competitive workplace.
The need of work
This should be analyzed in detail. The key is to look at the types of jobs that college students engage in after graduation and the requirements for work skills. Some types of jobs don't need frequent contact with English, while others need frequent contact with English, such as English teachers, tour guides, diplomats and employees of foreign companies. For college students who want to engage in scientific research in the future, whether they are engaged in natural science research or humanities and social science research, mastering English well means adding a way to acquire knowledge, which is helpful to improve work efficiency and ensure the smooth development of scientific research and the timely completion of scientific research tasks. Because many modern scientific and technological research achievements are written in English, although there are English translations, there are many mistakes in them, which will be more convenient and faster if you can understand them yourself. Moreover, when writing international scientific research papers, I am required to write in English, which also puts forward higher requirements for my English ability.
The needs of life
The importance of English in our life is self-evident. It is much more convenient for people who know English to make foreign friends, surf the Internet, download, listen to and watch English news programs, read English newspapers, magazines and books, and appreciate the unique charm of Hollywood original blockbusters.
2) Meet the internal needs of individuals.
Personal preference
Many college students regard learning English as their hobby and pursuit. As the saying goes, interest is the best teacher. For these college students, learning English is interesting, an excellent opportunity to feel the charm of English language and experience the world of English language culture, and a process of enjoyment.
Get a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction
English learning is also a platform to show our ability and style. A solid basic English skill, fluent and authentic oral English, and excellent writing and translation skills can often be affirmed by teachers and envied by classmates. At this time, we can gain a sense of self-confidence, accomplishment and satisfaction, thus gaining lasting enthusiasm and internal motivation for learning English.
Improve one's thinking ability
As we know, Chinese and English are different language systems, and there are obvious differences between them. However, it is not contradictory to pay equal attention to both Chinese and English. On the contrary, because languages are interlinked, they can promote and improve each other. Because Chinese is more poetic and less logical, while English has changes in tense and word form, which can give people a new way of thinking, so learning English is also of great benefit to improving thinking ability.
Second, contemporary college students learn English to meet the needs of the times.
1) From the perspective of English language itself,
Hundreds of millions of people speak English as their mother tongue, and more than one billion people use English as an official language or a second language. 70% of the mail in the world is written or sent in English, 85% of international scientific and technological materials, 80% of web pages, 60% of radio programs, and more than 50% of newspapers and magazines use English. In addition, English is one of the official working languages of the United Nations and the first common language of international conferences. All these are enough to illustrate the important position of English. Some people may ask why we need to learn English instead of Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese or other languages. This is because it is an objective fact that English-speaking countries are leading the world economy at this stage of historical development. Therefore, we need to respect the reality and conform to the trend of the times.
2) From the perspective of the world
On the one hand, with the rapid development of science and technology, transportation and communication tools in the world, our world is getting smaller and smaller, becoming a "global village". It is inconvenient for people living in the countryside to speak a language. On the other hand, under the background of economic globalization, the communication between different nationalities in the world is becoming more and more frequent, and the blending between different cultures is deepening. Therefore, as a symbol of a certain culture, language is particularly important. Only by knowing the language of a country can we understand the culture of a country and provide a platform for dialogue between them.
3) From the perspective of China.
Understand the world and let the world know about China.
With China's accession to the WTO and Beijing's successful bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games, China has become the fourth largest commodity exporter in the world ... Open China is gradually going to the world and integrating into the international family. We belong not only to China, but also to the world. Facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges, contemporary college students' learning English means mastering one more language and giving themselves a pair of eyes that can understand the world at the first time. This means another opportunity to communicate with the outside world. At the same time, we can also introduce the splendid history and culture of China to the world in English, so that the world can better understand China and enhance the friendship between China and other countries.
Learn from foreign advanced science and technology to promote the country's faster development.
Admittedly, there are still many gaps between China and western developed countries. Learning English helps us to study better, introduce foreign advanced science and technology, digest, absorb and innovate these advanced technologies, and form our own advantages, thus promoting China's faster development.
Language is the most direct tool for human beings to express their thoughts and spread knowledge, and it is also a necessary means for human beings to communicate with each other, especially English. It has become the first passport to the 2 1 century, and its important value and function have been paid more and more attention. Whoever has mastered English will have extra opportunities to communicate with the world culture. Who holds the initiative in life? Chen Zhili, former Minister of Education, pointed out: "In the era of globalization and informationization of the world economy, English learning has become more important." Professor Sun Shaozhen from the College of Literature of Fujian Normal University also said: "The English level of contemporary college students is not too high, but too low." At the same time, he told us humorously: "Learning English is like falling in love". Of course, different people will give different answers to the question "Why do contemporary college students learn English". Because of their different ideals, pursuits and goals in life, their motivations for learning English are different. However, whether to meet personal needs or to meet the needs of the development of the times, contemporary college students need to learn English, and they must learn English well.