A Study of Graduates’ Encountering Situations when Working in a Career Position and Chinese Language Skills of Chinese-related Professionals

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to 1) investigate the target situations of Chinese language use among the professions related to the Chinese language, 2) to investigate those target situations in relation to job positions, types of language use, situations, and skills, and 3) to propose the guidelines for the improvement of the curriculum, as well as the design and improvement of business Chinese course contents. The target population were those who have graduated from the Business Chinese program, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Dhurakij Pundit University. They were the graduates working in business or other fields between 2007-2017, and were those who were required to use Chinese in their jobs. There were 102 of them in total.

 The instruments used in the research were questionnaires and interviews. The data were analyzed using percentage and mean statistics. The results showed that: 1) the 4 macro-skills (reading, listening, writing, and listening) were used in different target situations and the frequency of use varied depending on their occupations and work characteristics, 2) in situations where the Chinese language was frequently or highly frequently used,  there were both the same number of skills and different skills for each profession, and 3) the results of the analysis can be applied as guidelines for the improvement of the curriculum, including the management of courses within the business Chinese program. This could be done through the provision of the contents of the occupations based on this survey, incorporated into the Business Chinese program, which would be a good way to prepare useful language skills for learners.