1 Introduction

The strategic importance of foreign language education in the national "Four New" construction in the 21st century was discussed, emphasizing that university foreign language education should be aligned with engineering education certification standards under the background of new engineering disciplines. The "Guidelines for College English Teaching" propose the integration of academic English and vocational English content into general English courses, which is of great significance for promoting the comprehensive development of college students. In applied universities, engineering education plays an important role, so exploring how general English courses can serve the goals of undergraduate engineering vocational education has become a key and necessary task.

CBI and the concept of "integration of general and specialized education"

Introduced the Content Based Instruction (CBI) model, emphasizing the promotion of language acquisition through language activities related to subject content. The four elements proposed by Nation have enlightening implications for CBI teaching, focusing on the development of meaning input, output, and fluency, as well as the challenges of language learning itself. The integration of general English and specialized English refers to the combination of General English (EGP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP), aimed at integrating professional knowledge into the teaching of General English in applied universities, with General English as the main language and English for Specific Purposes as a supplement. EGP teaches common sense or basic cultural and literary content, while ESP teaches content related to specific majors or professions, both centered on language teaching and with the prerequisite for integration. In the context of applied universities, using content driven teaching mainly based on ESP is difficult to improve learners' weak language proficiency. The integration of general and specialized education draws on the concept of CBI, relies on meaningful content for language teaching, improves language proficiency and enhances language usage awareness, enhances subject knowledge and learning confidence. The General English course imparts extensive knowledge in humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, while gradually incorporating introductory professional knowledge in a step-by-step and phased manner to enrich the course content and enhance learners' interest and motivation in language learning. By organically integrating content and language in multiple dimensions and directions, we aim to enhance and evaluate learners' knowledge, abilities, and literacy. The exploration and research based on the concept of integrated teaching in China are mainly distributed in the reform of foreign language teaching, such as the professional development of integrated teaching teachers, the evaluation and assessment of integrated teaching effectiveness. Xu Jinfen pointed out that the concept of content language integration teaching should be extended to the reform of college English teaching, cultivating composite talents with "+foreign language" skills. However, currently only a few scholars in the literature focus on the teaching beliefs of university English teachers regarding the integration of content and language, without exploring the integration path of language skills and specialized English teaching in the context of university general English from a practical perspective. This study attempts to explore how to organically and effectively integrate general English skills with engineering English under the guidance of CBI and the concept of "integration of general and specialized education", using the action research paradigm, in order to improve the comprehensive English application ability of college students.

3 Research Problems and Plans

Introduced the application of action research method in the integration of general English and engineering English in the context of new engineering disciplines. The study adopts a cyclic model of planning, action, observation, and reflection, aiming to explore the integration method of general English skills and engineering English. The research question focuses on how to achieve the integration of the two in applied universities. The teaching team conducted three rounds of action research, targeting freshmen and sophomores majoring in engineering, with a total of six volunteers participating. The research period spans from 2021 to 2024, based on teaching units of 2-4 hours, collecting data such as teaching schedules, designs, teacher and student logs, interviews, classroom observations, and student assignments. Experimental colleges focus on cultivating applied talents with innovative thinking and professional ethics. The average English proficiency level of students is 3.5, which has the characteristic of weak English foundation but strong professional practical operation ability. The general English textbook is the "New Version of College English Comprehensive Course 4" (Second Edition), and the integrated content adopts the "Engineering English" series.

4. First round of action research

This article introduces the first round of action research conducted in March 2022 for second year students majoring in engineering, exploring the integration practice of general English skills and engineering English. The teaching design is based on Unit 2 Smart Cars of the "New Version of College English Comprehensive Course 4", which introduces professional content of GPS and radar technology to stimulate students' background knowledge and guide them to discuss the future of autonomous vehicles. In the integrated teaching section, students learned the English expression and working principle of radar technology. Teaching practitioners reflect that the teaching content is shallow and lacks depth, there are no post class learning tasks assigned, classroom time allocation is unreasonable, students use a single sentence structure to express functions and working principles in English, and Chinese is used more frequently.

5. Second round of action research

The second round of action research will be conducted from March to May 2023, targeting students majoring in mechanical engineering, and will focus on the "integration of general and specialized education" teaching practice of Unit 2 Smart Cars in the "New Version of College English Comprehensive Course 4". The teaching design relies on the CBI teaching model, promotes writing through multimodal teaching resources, and stimulates students' interest and confidence. The discourse analysis focuses on the core question of "Why are smart cars smart?", summarizes the functions and advantages of intelligent vehicles, and integrates the language expression of GPS in engineering English textbooks to practice its functions and applications. Design rewriting steps in teaching, guide students to pay attention to the use of "be used for/to", "enable", "allow", and "can help", and reflect the teaching intention of functional expression in the small specific context of engineering English subject content. Considering students' English foundation, playing audio while presenting the original dialogue text can reduce listening anxiety and guide attention to teaching priorities. Students are required to complete the task of imitating the daily use of drones outside of class, with evaluation dimensions including content, expression, and coherence. Compared with the first round, the second round has clearer teaching objectives, extended integrated teaching to self-directed learning after class, improved teaching effectiveness, and more natural textbook connection. Student logs reflect a focus on the basic, expanded, and innovative applications of GPS technology, as well as a positive attitude towards writing based on given content imitation. Researchers need to consider how to enhance the long-term integration of general English curriculum teaching and engineering English content, and combine process assessment and summative assessment to understand the effectiveness of learners' integrated learning, encouraging learners to actively participate in the design and feedback of "integrated general and specialized" teaching.

6. Third round of action research

The third round of action research focuses on the evaluation and assessment of teaching outcomes and sustainability issues in the integration of general and specialized education, adopting project-based teaching mode reform (PBL) and engineering education output oriented concepts. The integration of general English and engineering English skills learning and the docking of engineering professional learning projects achieve the "integration of general and specialized". General English courses provide basic skills and knowledge, such as listening comprehension, oral expression, cultural understanding, etc. Genre learning is also part of the course content. Cai Jigang emphasized the need to familiarize students with the language expressions of various genres in the subject, and enhance learners' genre awareness and ability in different industry contexts. Through communication and exchange with student representatives, class committee members, engineering mechanics teachers, and enterprise mentors, the project theme content is determined: roller coaster wheel design considerations. The project will be concluded through group presentations, with a research period of one semester.

7 Discussion and Inspiration

This chapter explores teaching strategies for the integration of General English and Engineering English based on the CBI concept. Research has found that integrated teaching should go beyond unit themes and focus on cultivating genre learning, discourse structure awareness, language feature awareness, and socio-cultural awareness. Integrated teaching, through project-based language teaching, relies on the basic concepts and expression methods of general English curriculum genres to cultivate professional English discourse awareness and enhance learners' understanding of genre structure and language expression characteristics. In addition, integrated teaching can enhance learners' interest and participation, with learners at the center and providing various intermediaries and supports, such as peer support and teacher guidance. Suggestions include: communicating with teachers of professional courses and integrating relevant professional content; Pay attention to learners' emotional experiences; Carry out diversified blended learning mode; Breaking the limitations of content relevance and forming a teaching model with school-based characteristics; Enhance teachers' subject literacy and digital literacy, and establish the concept of continuous improvement. The integration of general and specialized education is a continuous improvement process that requires regular review, reflection, and adjustment of teaching plans, and the establishment of a new ecosystem of university English courses with general English as the main language and specialized English as a supplement.