An investigation on English for specific purposes curriculum status and influencing factors related to students’ learning gains

Objective To investigate the current English for specific purposes(ESP) curriculum status of a higher medical university and analyze the factors which influence ESP students’ learning gains. Methods Questionnaire survey was conducted for 248 ESP students. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS 16.0 statistical software. Frequency, single factor ANOVA and multivariate linear Regression were used sequentially in view of the three research questions in order to find out the relationships between various influencing factors. Results ESP students of medical and its related majors accounted for 73.8%, non-medical students accounted for 26.2%; students whose CET4 achievement is above 550 tend to have a strong learning motivation and greater learning gains; two variables (learning motivation and ESP teachers’ medical professional level) have good effect to predict ESP learning gains. Conclusions Focus on ESP development of the non-major disciplines. Besides, enhance the students’ learning motivation and attach great importance to ESP teachers’ professional development to promote students’ learning gains. Key words: Medical university; English for specific purposes; Status survey; Learning gains; Influencing factors