Chinese scholars abroad: Changes in perceived academic needs

Since 1978, increasing numbers of scholars from the People's Republic of China have been going abroad for advanced training and research. To prepare them to function in English-medium universities, institutes offering various forms of cultural orientation and language training have been set up in many locations throughout China. The training programs at some of these institutes are based on needs assessments which include the scholars' own perceptions of what they will need in order to succeed in an English-speaking environment. In this paper, we report on an investigation of perceived academic needs of two groups of scholars: students entering the Graduate School English Language Center in Beijing, and visiting scholars who have been in American universities for at least six months. The latter, initiated group attached different of imporatance to certain academic activities or skills than the former, uninitiated group. The findings have implications for curriculum planners, particularly those involved with language training in China, but also for those undertaking ESP projects elsewhere.