TEFL / Master 2

Lesson One: Needs Analysis

1. Introduction
2. Definition of Needs Analysis
3. Making Decisions
3.1. Those Involved in the Needs Analysis
3.2. Philosophies of Needs Analysis
3.3. Types of Needs
4. Gathering Information
4.1. Types of Questions
4.2. Types of Instruments
4.3. Characteristics of Procedures
5. Language Needs Analysis
5.1. Discourse Analysis
5.2. Text Analysis
6. Conclusion

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1. Introduction

Needs analysis is relatively new in language teaching. However, needs

analyses have been conducted informally for years by teachers who wanted to
assess what language points their students needed to learn.

In order to perform a needs analysis, we need to consider some basic

decisions about the needs analysis and the means of gathering information.

2. Definition of Needs Analysis

Needs analysis, or needs assessment, refers to the activities of gathering

information that will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum/syllabus
that will meet the learning needs of a particular group of students: how much
the students already know and what they need to learn.

Once identified, needs can be stated in terms of objectives which serve as

the basis for developing:

 the content,
 the materials,
 the teaching activities,
 and the tests.

Brown (1995: 36) summed up the main points of needs analysis specifying
that needs assessment is:

“the systematic collection and analysis of all subjective and objective

information necessary to define and validate defensible curriculum
purposes that satisfy the language learning requirements of students within
the context of particular institutions that influence the learning and
teaching situation”.

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3. Making Decisions

3.1. Those involved in the Needs Analysis: 04 participants.

3.1.1. The Target Group: those about whom information will be gathered,
usually the students in a program but sometimes the teachers and/or
administrators.

3.1.2. The Needs Analysts: those responsible for conducting the needs
analysis, i.e. members of the institution designated for the job or consultants
brought in for the purpose.

3.1.3. The Audience: those who will be required to act upon the analysis, i.e.
teachers and/or administrators.

3.1.4. The Resource Group: those who may serve as a source of information
about the target group, i.e. parents or future employers or teachers from the
students’ other courses.

3.2. Philosophies of Needs Analysis

Stufflebeam (1977, cited in Stufflebeam, et al., 1985) identified four
philosophies that can be followed in a needs analysis:

A. The discrepancy philosophy implies that needs are viewed as differences or

discrepancies between a desired performance from the students and what they
are actually doing.

─ This philosophy involves gathering detailed information about what is

needed to change students’ performance based on the observed difference
between the desired performance and the one the students are producing
instead.

B. The democratic philosophy implies that a need is defined as any change

that is desired by the majority of a group.

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 ─ This philosophy leads to a needs analysis that gathers information about
the learning most desired by a group.

C. The analytic philosophy implies that a need is what the students will
naturally learn next based on what is known about them and the learning
processes involved.

─ This philosophy leads to a survey of the existing literature on second

language acquisition in search of the hierarchical steps involved in the
language learning process.

D. The diagnostic philosophy implies that a need is anything that would prove
harmful if it was missing.

─ This philosophy leads to an analysis of the important language skills

necessary for a group of learners.

3.3. Types of Needs: (03 dichotomies)

3.3.1. Situation Needs versus Language Needs

Situation needs refer to needs related to any:

 administrative,
 financial,
 manpower,
 pedagogic,
 or other factors that might have an impact on the program.

Language needs refer to target linguistic behaviours that the learners must
ultimately acquire, i.e. details about:

 the methodology in which the language will be used,

 the dimensions of language competence involved,
 the learners’ reasons for studying the language,

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  and their present abilities with respect to those reasons.

3.3.2. Objective needs versus subjective needs

Objective needs refer to needs gathered from observable data about the:

 situation,
 learners,
 language that the students must eventually acquire,
 and their present proficiency level.

Subjective needs refer to the students’ desires and expectations.

3.3.3. Linguistic content versus learning processes

The linguistic content refers to needs analyzed objectively from a language

needs perspective and expressed in linguistic terms, i.e. phonemes,
morphemes, grammatical structures, functions and notions.

The learning process refers to needs specified from a situation needs

perspective; they tend to be more subjectively analyzed needs in the affective
domain such as motivation and self-esteem.

Conclusion about the three dichotomies:

Once decisions have been made about what position(s) a particular needs
analysis will take with regard to the above dichotomies, their interrelationship
must be considered.

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4. Gathering Information

Gathering information implies identifying the type of questions we need to

ask, the type of instruments needed and respecting specific characteristics in
order to develop a suitable needs analysis.

4.1. Types of Questions

In the process of gathering information, different types of questions should
be considered.

Rossett (1982) identified five categories of questions:

4.1.1. Problems

The purpose of this type of questions is to identify the problems that are
being experienced by the target group.

These questions are usually open-ended, for example: “What problems have
you been having with the Grammar module?”

4.1.2. Priorities

Questions of this type can be asked of a resource group to find out which
topics, language skills are considered most essential for the target group.

4.1.3. Abilities

This type of questions is usually used to determine the abilities of the

students at the beginning of the year and is answered by using pre-tests results.

Such information is important for establishing a starting point for the

course and for delineating the range of abilities of the students.

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4.1.4. Attitudes

Such questions are given to uncover information about participants’

feelings and attitudes toward the course.

4.1.5. Solutions

This type of questions elicits ideas for solutions to problems in terms of

what changes might bring about compromise and/or final solutions.

4.2. Types of Instruments

The instruments to be used to gather information vary in relation to the
objectives of needs analysis.
4.2.1. Existing information

This can include files that may be on hand at the institution when the needs
analysis begins, or external data sources such as library resources or letters
exchanged with other existing programs in other institutions with similar
students.

4.2.2. Tests

They are vital for collecting a need analysis.

They assess:

 the general ability level of the students (proficiency tests),

 possible ability groupings necessary for a course (placement tests),
 specific problems that students may be having with the language
(diagnosis tests),
 and their achievement in previous courses (Achievement tests).

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4.2.3. Observation

This involves watching an individual or a group of individuals, and

recording their language behaviours either informally or formally as a study.

4.2.4. Interviews

They allow for gathering personal views privately. This confidentiality can
lead to insights into the real opinions of the participants.

They may best be used to explore what issues should be pursued in a follow-
up instrument using more structured procedures such as questionnaires.

4.2.5. Meetings

They are organised for specialists in the field to discuss specific tasks.

4.2.6. Questionnaires

They are more efficient to gather information on a large scale than are some
of the other procedures discussed above.

They can be designed as:

 Biodata surveys used to elicit facts about the background of the

participants: age, address, sex, marital status, number of years of
language study.... ;
 Opinion surveys designed to uncover opinions and attitudes about the
program: the objectives, the materials, the tests....;
 Self-ratings which require individuals to rate their own abilities,
interest level, motivation.....which are useful to obtain practical insights
into the self-image of individuals.

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4.3. Characteristics of Procedures

To ensure that a needs analysis is efficient, we have to follow three

characteristics/criteria.

4.3.1. Reliability:

Reliability is defined as the consistency with which a procedure obtains

information the results obtained are the same or very similar.

It can be checked statistically or by commonsense examination of the

results.

4.3.2. Validity:

Validity is defined as the degree to which an instrument measures what it

claims to measure.

4.3.3. Practicality:

This issue has to do with the degree to which a procedure is practical to

use, i.e. if it is relatively easy to administer (to hand in), to score and to
interpret the scores.

Reliability, validity and practicality are interrelated: a procedure must

logically be reliable, valid, and practical within a given context before it can
be effectively used in a needs analysis.

5. Language Needs Analysis

This involves a needs analysis at the level of the discourse and at the level
of the type of texts.

5.1. Discourse Analysis

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 The instruments used are set to identify the language and communication
features commonly found in the language setting the learners will be involved
in. This will generate objectives, materials and tests.

Munby (1978: 190-198) suggested a framework for a language needs

analysis for gathering information about the types of discourse that the
students will need to use with nine parameters:

1. Participant: biographical facts and language background about those

involved in the needs analysis.
2. Purposive domains: the specific purposes for which the language will be
used.
3. Setting: physical and psychological characteristics of the environment
where language is learned.
4. Interaction: the social relationships involved between two or more people.
5. Instrumentality: channel of communication, i.e oral or written or both.
6. Dialect: regional or class related language.
7. Target level: language characteristics required.
8. Communicative event: functions and notions, i.e. the type of language
needed to communicate.
9. Communicative key: attitude relevant to the functions and notions
identified.
5.2. Text Analysis

If the learners need to encounter the target language primarily for purposes
of reading or writing, text analysis may help in determining what the students
will ultimately have to read and/or write.

Many different genres (types of texts) need to be under scrutiny, for

example scientific texts and newspaper articles.

6. Conclusion

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 A number of basic decisions must be addressed before starting a needs
analysis: who will be involved, what type of information will be gathered,
what tools can be used and what criteria should be followed.

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References

1. Brown, J. D. (1995). The Essentials of Language Curriculum. Newbury

House Teacher Development.

2. Munby, J. (1978). Communicative Syllabus Design. Cambridge University

Press.

3. Pratt , D. (1980). Curriculum Design and Development. Harcourt Brace

Jovanovich.

4. Richards, J. C., Platt, J. & Weber, H. (1985). Longman Dictionary of Applied

Linguistics. Longman.

5. Rossett, A. (1982). A Typology for Generating Needs Analysies. Journal of

Instructional Development, 6(1), 28-33.

6. Stufflebeam, D. L. McCormick, C.H., Brinkerhoff, R.O & Nelson, C. O.

(1985). Conducting Educational Needs Assessments. Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff.

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