A Study of Chinese College Athletes` English Learning

As a special English learning group, Chinese college student athletes only account for a tiny percentage of the total English learners in China, but their number is still quite large. Their English education has its unique characteristics, different from the ones of regular students. Firstly, the majority of their time is spent in sports training and attending various matches with little time left for English study. Secondly, their English knowledge basis is weak, and learning methods are outdated and inefficient. Finally, the most important thing for the sports college students is the fact that with the increase of international matches, their international communication skills have determined whether they are able to integrate smoothly into international arena and also greatly affected their career future. Therefore, a research to understand and analyze Chinese college student athletes` English learning and further to put forward a proper learning strategy for them have vital practical significance to their English study. This paper analyzes the problems Chinese college student athletes encounter in learning English and provides relevant approaches for improvement. Method: Literature review, interview, case-study Results: 1. Chinese college student athletes have two common paths of English learning . One is the routine English skills training in college English courses. And the other is through attending international matches and overseas life experience, which offer chances to improve their practical English proficiency. 2. The improvement of Chinese college student athletes` English level will greatly increase their interaction with overseas sports persons, agencies and spectators and promote related sports items` popularity. And the students will also be able to independently cope with everyday life and communications in and out of the sports arenas, adapting well to meet with the requirements of a more and globalized Chinese sports. Conclusions: 1. In terms of English learning modes, Chinese college student athletes should fully exploit the advantages of modern teaching resources by adopting online teaching tools such as learning on Weibo, Weixin and video teaching platforms like MOOC, along with other flexible approaches. 2. As for English study content, Chinese college student athletes should strengthen their sports spoken English and technical English expressions. Due to their widespread problem of an unsolid English language foundation, there are still unavoidable grammar mistakes. Therefore, a systematical English writing study should be suggested to prepare them for a better career prospect.