Questionnaire/ Interview

Name: Nawwaf
From: Saudi Arabia

Problems:
1. Do you tend to struggle more in reading or writing? He tends to struggle more in
writing because he feels as if reading does not follow a strict structure and is more
interactive. He can easily make mistakes in reading and not feel intimated or
scared to experience with it.

2. How do you voice your struggles when you are in need of assistance? He chooses
to go spend time in his professors office hours.

Priorities:
1. What subjects come easiest for you out of Math, Writing, Reading, and Science?
1. Science
2. Reading
3. Math
4.Writing

2. Where do you rank school along with work, friends, and free time?
Work: 3
Friends: 2
Free Time: 1

Abilities:
1. What subject have you seen the most progress in? He has seen the most
progress in Science, which is helpful because he is an economics major and
T.A.

2. Describe a picture or read something out loud. Along with this picture we
asked Nawwaf to tell us which resturantes were associated with the following
logos. He easily named all of them and laughed because he thought they were
so easy.
Attitudes:
1. What emotions do you have when you realize you have to go to school
Monday- Friday? The emotions that he gets about school are not too exciting.
He normal does not feel too happy about the idea of going to school.

2. How does a classroom with a main language of English make you feel? He
feel comfortable in English classrooms. He also enjoys the fact that
Americans here to learn, and that if he makes mistakes it is okay.
Solutions:
1. When do you go to get help with your homework? He explained to us that
when he starts to struggle with his homework he chooses to go attend his
professors office hours to clarify any questions that he has.

2. What do you do when you start to struggle in class? When struggling Nawwaf
choses to ask a classmate or his teacher. There is no preference of one over the
other, just who ever is available and gives a good explanation to his question.
 For Needs Analysis Part 2 we interviewed a college level student and

professor named Nawwaf who is from Saudi Arabia. Based off of Browns 5

categories we got to see the individual problems, priorities, abilities, attitudes, and

solutions. Nawwaf always seemed to prefer to read rather than write. He felt more

comfortable being able to read or speak rather than write. When he speaks he feels

that mistakes are made and fixed with easy corrections, where as the idea of using

the writing structure intimated him. Seeing high progress in science, he felt the most

comfortable and enjoyed this topic the most. Being an economics T.A. he was able

to interact in English while working with his best subject.

Using the implementations of our tool, you could easily see preferences made

by the student, specific feelings towards school in America, and overall how they are

feeling about their American experience.

When working with non-English speaking students it is very important to

stay away from slang, and incorporate many visuals and different types of

explanations when trying to clarify something. For example when working with

Nawwaf we chose to use American fast food restaurant logos without their words to

see if he recognized the restaurant from their logos. This was a reflection of using

the picture ( Woodward, 158) because you are having a non native speaker

comment on the authenticity of the picture according to their own experience

(Woodward, 158). Nawwaf would explain if he had been to each restaurant or if it

was located near his home in Saudi Arabia. Overall this was a very beneficial

experience showing the differences between cultures.

References:

Brown, J. D. (1995). The elements of language curriculum: A systematic approach to

program development. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Woodward,T. (2001). Planning courses and lessons: Designing sequences of work for the
language classroom. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.