Needs analysis

A cornerstone of ESP
Essential step in ESP course design
What distinguishes ESP from EGP is not the existence of
a need as such but rather an awareness of the need
(Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p. 53)

Origins of the term:
First appeared in the 1920s in India
In ESP from the 1960s
Munby (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design: communicative needs
processor



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Definition of needs analysis
Classification of needs
Processes in needs analysis
Kinds of information and sources
Instruments and procedures
A practical example of Needs Analysis.
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the purpose of needs analysis
what are needs?
the users of needs analysis
target population
administering the needs analysis
Procedures for conducting analysis
a. questionare
b. interview
c. meeting
collecting language sample
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a family of procedures for gathering information about
learners and about communication tasks...
(Nunan, 1988, p.75)
DEFINITION
systematic collection and analysis of all subjective and
objective information necessary to define and validate
defensible curriculum processes that satisfy the language
learning requirements of students within the context of
particular institutions that influence the learning and
teaching situation. Brown, 1995, p.36
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THE USERS OF NEED Analysis
the ministry of education
to gain information to evaluate curriculum, syllabus and material
teachers who will teach from the new curriculum
writers who are preparing new textbooks
testing personnel, (school or course assessors)
school staff to create school decision
Private Institution
Trainer
Employee who is interested in developing staff performance
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TARGET POPULATION
policy maker
ministry of education officials
teachers
students
academics
employers
vocational teaching specialist
Needs analysis
as a step in course design
In the course design cycle, when is it conducted?

A) As a first step, before course design
B) On-going: during the course
C) After the course


Needs analysis Course design Teaching/Learning





Evaluation Assessment







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Types of needs
Need = umbrella term
Hutchinson & Waters (1987)
1. Target situation needs = needs defined in relation to the situation in
which the learner will eventually need to function
A. Necessities = what the learner needs to know in order to function
effectively in the TS
B. Lacks = what the learner already knows and does not know
C. Wants = what the learner feels s/he needs
Q: Which of these are subjective and which objective?
2. Learning needs = needs of the learning situation (what is
manageable at present)



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Learner 1:
What are his necessities, lacks and wants?
Karl Jensen is a German engineer who has a frequent and important need
to read texts in English. He also needs to talk to overseas colleagues
occasionally, for example, at the annual planning conference. The
company he works for is a multi-national company and the operating
language for communication outside national boundaries is English,
although the majority of workers are non-native speakers. By any
quantitative analysis Karl Jensens need is for reading, because it is a much
more frequent activity for him. But he feels a far stronger need to spend
his time in the English class improving his oral competence. Why? The
answer lies in the way in which he identifies his own personality with the
use of a foreign language. He reads in private and at his own speed: he can
use a dictionary if he wants. But when he is speaking, his pride is on the
line: his English competence (or lack of it, as he sees it) is exposed for all
to see and he is under pressure to participate at a speed determined by
the discourse.


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Learner 2:
What are her necessities, lacks and wants?
Li Yun Zhen is a Chinese graduate in chemistry, who is going to
study in the United States. She needs to be able to survive
socially and professionally in an English-speaking community.
Fluency is, therefore, her greatest need. Li Yun Zhen, however,
prefers to spend her time improving her knowledge of English
grammar. Why? Her answer lies in her estimation of priorities.
Inorder to be accepted for her course of study she must first
pass a test. The most important criterion in the test is
grammatical accuracy. She, therefore, sees as her priority need
as being to pass the test.


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Learner 3:
What are his necessities, lacks and wants?
Jose Lima is a Brazilian salesman. He needs to be able to talk on the
telephone to customers and to other colleagues. He also needs to read
catalogues and business letters. Jose is an outgoing, sociable man, who gets
on easily with people. His spoken English is not very accurate, but is fluent.
His employer feels that Jose s real need is for greater accuracy in spoken
conversation, because it reflects badly on the companys image to have one
of its representatives speaking very incorrect English. However, Jose feels
that his spoken English very good, and he resents the implication that it is
not. After all, he communicates very well. He sees the English classes as a
criticism of his performance as a salesman. He, therefore, has little
motivation to attend classes.
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Target situation analysis vs.
analysis of learning needs
Target situation analysis
Why is the language needed? (e.g., for study,
work)
How will the language be used? (speaking on the
phone)
What will the content areas be? (e.g., medicine)
Who will the Ls use the language with?
(native/non-native speakers,
customers/colleagues)
Where will the language be used? (meetings
abroad)
When will the language be used? (concurrently
with ESP course/afterwards; frequently)
Analysis of learning needs
Why are the Ls taking the course? (e.g.,their
attitudes)
How do the Ls learn (what methodology will
appeal to them?)
What resources are available? (materials, trained
ESP teachers?
Who are the Ls? (age, nationality, subject
knowledge)
Where will the ESP course take place? (classroom
features)
When will the ESP course take place? (every
day/once a week)
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Types of needs analyses I
Dudley-Evans & St John (1998)
1.Target situation analysis
= objective, perceived, product-oriented needs
2. Learning situation analysis
= subjective, felt, process-oriented needs
3. Present situation analysis
= the learners current strengths and weaknesses (what
learners already know)
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Target situation, learning situation or present
situation needs analysis?
1. I need to see vocabulary written down.
2. I have occasional meetings with British colleagues.
3. I find it difficult to write persuasively.
4. I pick things up by listening.
5. Student X needs to read more widely.
6. I like problem solving.
7. I get my tenses mixed up.
8. I hate group work.
9. I have to write reports.
10. My problem is finding the right word.
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Types of needs analyses II
Holliday & Cooke (1982): means analysis
= analysis of the environment where the course will be run
- Factors in the environment are seen not as negative
constraints but rather as relevant features
- Question to be asked: What is best given the situation?
(rather than How can programme X be implemented?)
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Conducting needs analysis:
Sources of information (based on Long, 2005)
Literature: published (e.g., ESP research articles) and
unpublished (e.g., in-house reports)
Learners: current and former
Teachers and applied linguists
Domain experts /subject specialists
Employers
Documents
Triangulated sources
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Conducting needs analysis:
Methods of gathering data (based on Long, 2005)
Interviews (structured, semi-structured, unstructured)
Questionnaires
Language audits
Lesson observations
Diaries and logs
Discourse analysis (spoken and written) using genre analysis,
computer-based analysis, etc.
Tests
Triangulated methods
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How not to design a questionnaire:
What is wrong with the following items?
1. Do you need spoken and written language? Yes / No
2. Do you use a lot of English in your work? A) a lot b) a little
c) not much
3. do you prefer a friendly student-centred approach to a rigid
teacher-dominated one?
4. If you utterance is linguistically deviant, do you want: a)
peer correction, b) a metalinguistic signal, or c) language
correction
5. How much individual consultation with the teacher do you
think you should have on this course?
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Task
Suppose you were hired by the International
Academy to do a needs analysis in order for new pre-
sessional and in-sessional courses to be introduced
for MA students at Essex. What sources of
information and methods would you use to collect
information?
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Critique of needs analysis
(based on Basturkmen, 2006)
Learners may not be reliable sources of information about
their own needs, especially if they are pre-experience learners
Learners may lack metalinguistic awareness
Objective needs are not the same as subjective needs
Perspectives of needs vary; whose perspective of needs
should be taken into account?
Language use is too unpredictable
Needs analysis often serves the interests of the institution
rather than learners
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Further reading

Long, M. (Ed.).(2005). Second language needs analysis. Cambridge: CUP.
For further information on methods and sources of information in needs
analysis see Longs own article in the volume.
For examples of needs analyses in various settings, see other chapters.

West, R. (1994). Needs analysis in language teaching. Language Teaching,
27(1), 1-19.
Good for the history and development of needs analysis.

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Article analysis
Cowling, J.D. (2007). Needs analysis: Planning a syllabus for a series of intensive
workshop courses at a leading Japanese company. English for Specific Purposes,
26(4), 426-442.

What was/were
1. the clients requirements?
2. the target group?
3. sources of information used for needs analysis?
4. methods of data gathering used?
5. methods of data gathering discussed but not used? Why were they not
used?
6. information provided during each step in the data gathering process?
7. the most useful and the most disappointing step in needs analysis?

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