The Purpose of Learning English

Nowadays, everyone is studying English, especially students. But what is the purpose of learning English? A survey conducted by a teacher at a university may give us some hints.

The results of the survey suggest that students need English for different purposes. Most students learn English because they want to read English textbooks or journals or attend English lectures, while only a few students need it to talk to English-speaking visitors, attend seminars, and write letters, etc. There are also some differences between economics majors and engineering majors. Compared with the latter, more economics majors need to read English business textbooks and write reports in English.

From the results of the survey, we can see that the purposes of students’ English learning vary with the major students choose. Whatever the purposes are, one thing is certain: English teaching should be strengthened at universities, for students need good English skills.