Needs Analysis

by Sarjaniah Zur
Course objective
• WHAT IS NEED ANALYSIS IN ESP?
• Identifying the aims, function and elements of Need
Analysis in ESP
• Design of Need analysis in ESP
Introduction
• What are ‘Needs’?
Wants, desires, demands, expectation,
motivations,
lacks, constraints, and requirements (Brindley
1984)
• What is ‘Needs Analysis’?
Need Analysis or needs assessment (NA) is a way
of gathering empirical data or information about
the needs of particular institutions or students
(Widodo, 2010)
• Richards and Platt (1992:242) state that NA is:“the
process of determining the needs for which a learner or a
group of learners acquires a language and arranges the
needs according to priorities.“
• Need analysis is a procedure used to collect information
about learners’ needs (Richard, 2001)
• Need analysis is a process in which the language and
skills that the students will use in their vocational
worksplace are identified and considered (Basturkmen,
2010)
The need analysis process
• The needs analysis process is seen as one of the corner
stones of ESP in order to understand fully all the factors
which will influence both learner and the learning program.
• We can only start teaching ESP student when we know
what their need for the language are.
• When we are deciding how to go about needs analysis
with
- What do we want/need to know about the students?
- What do we want to know about the context of their
learning?
- How can we find this out?
What will be identified?
• Target Needs:
Learner’s wants
Learners Lack
• Learning needs:
Areas of Needs Analysis
Dudley-Evans and St. John (2009) have identified 5 broad areas of
needs analysis
• Target Situation analysis and objective needs analysis (e.g tasks
and activities learners will use English for)
• Linguistic analysis, discourse analysis, genre analysis, i.e.
knowledge of how language and skills are used in the target
situation;
• Subjective needs analysis, i.e. learners’ wants, means, subjective
needs-factors that affect the way they learn (e.g. previous
learning experience, reasons for attending the course,
expectations)
• Present situation analysis for the purpose of identifying learners’
current skills and language use
• Means analysis, i.e. information about the environment where
the course will run.
The purpose of needs analysis

1. To find out what language skills a learner needs

2. To help determine if an existing course

adequately addresses the needs of potential
students

3. To determine which students are most in need

of training in particular language skills
The purpose of needs analysis

4. To identify a change of direction that people in

a reference group feel is important

5. To identify a gap between what students are

able to do and what they need to be able to do

6. To collect information about a particular

problem learners are experiencing
The purpose of needs analysis

• ‘Needs’ also includes students’ rights

‘It’s school’s responsibility to take into account the cultural,

political, and personal characteristics of students …. in order to
plan
activities and objectives that are realistic and purposeful.’ (Linse,
1993)

• Needs also includes perceived and present needs,

potential and unrecognized needs

• Needs analysis may take place

1. prior to
2. during
3. after a language program
Administering the needs analysis

• Who will administer the needs analysis?

• Who will collect and analyze the results?
* academic or research assistant
* colleagues in different department
* students who piloted the questionnaire
* academic staff of the university
* secretarial support
Procedures for conducting needs
analysis
• Questionnaires
• Self-ratings
• Interviews
• Meetings
• Observation
• Collecting learner language samples
• Task analysis
• Case studies
• Analysis of available information
ESP as a Learner Centered Approach
ESP as a Learner Centered Approach
 a re
f t h em N
All o TRUME
IN S
Procedure of Need Analysis
Need Analysis

Intrument

Questionnaire Interview Observasi

The profil of
communication
need
Function of Language form/
Language Vocabulary
struktur bahasa

Syllabus
Design of Questionnaires
The following questions need to be considered:

• Preliminary questions
• The types of information asked for
• How the questions are worded
• The type of items in the questionnaire:
open questions, closed questions, checklist, rating scale, ranking,
inventory
A disadvantage of Questionnaires
• The information obtained may be fairly superficial or imprecise.
• The information will often need follow-up to gain a fuller
understanding.
* Advice: to familiar with the principles of
good questionnaire design.
Interviews
• Advantage:
* Allow for a more in-depth exploration of
issue
* may be useful at the preliminary stage of
designing
a questionnaire.
• Disadvantage:
* Take longer to administer
* Only feasible for smaller groups
Observation

• Take into account:

* People often do not perform well when they are
observed.
* The skill of observer.
Collecting learner language
samples
Language samples may be collected through:
• Written or oral tasks
• Simulations or role plays
• Achievement tests
• Performance tests
Task analysis

Analysis the tasks the learners will have to carry out in

English in a future occupational or educational setting.
Analysis of available
information
• Books
• Journal articles
• Reports and surveys
• Records and files
Designing the needs analysis
Procedures for smaller-scale
• Initial questionnaire
• Follow-up individual and group interviews
• Meetings with students
• Meetings with other teachers
• Ongoing classroom observation
• Tests
Thank you!