The crisis of a big cut in the enrollment for the English major is increasingly serious. Faced with the crisis brought by the major’ single orientation such as linguistics and literature, the foreign language circles propose an approach to the development of interdisciplinary talents (students with both foreign language proficiency and knowledge of a particular discipline). The proposal, however, could not be effectively accepted as it encounters many problems. The present study proposes that under the background of “Four New” (New Engineering, New Medical, New Agricultural, and New Liberal Arts) construction, ESP (English for Specific Purposes) might be a new direction under the English major, as it applies functional linguistics to the study of how knowledge of other disciplines is constructed and disseminated. Compared with the interdisciplinary approach, it could be effectively implemented without the restriction of language teacher’ knowledge about the target disciplines. The new direction of ESP under the English major could not only resolve its crisis, but also effectively contribute to language services and the reform of College English teaching.