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Needs Analysis

Introduction
What are Needs?
Wants, desires, demands, expectation, motivations,
lacks, constraints, and requirements (Brindley 1984)
What is Needs Analysis?
Procedures for collecting information about learners
needs.
When did Needs Analysis emerge?
In the 1960s
ESP movement
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

Its schools 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
Examples of needs analyses conducted
prior to a language program

Method:
Staff questionnaire:
* background information about the course the lecturer was
describing
* overview of problems experienced by ESL students
* linguistic demands of the course
* suggestions to which language skills should be focuses on
* modifications made in teaching or in examinations

Students questionnaire
The users of needs analysis
Big-scale needs analysis
curriculum officers in the ministry of education
Teachers
Learners
Writers
Testing personnel
Staff of tertiary institutions
Small-scale needs analysis
Teacher
Program coordinator
The target population
Language learners or potential language learners
Policy makers
Ministry of education officials
Teachers
Academics
Employers
Vocational training specialists
Parents
Influential individuals and pressure groups
Academic specialists
Community agencies
The target population
Subcategories of respondents
students currently enrolled in a foreign language course
students previously enrolled but no longer studying a language
students who have never studied a foreign language

An important issue in determining the target


population: Sampling
Sampling involves asking a portion of potential population
instead of the total population
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
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.
Self-ratings

Self-ratings might be included as part of a


questionnaire.

Disadvantage:
It provides only impressionistic information.
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
Meetings
Advantage:
* Allows a large amount of information to be
collected in a fairly short time.
Disadvantage:
* Information may be impressionistic and subjective
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.
Case studies

A single student or a selected group of students


is followed through a relevant work or
educational experience in order to determine
the characteristics of that situation.
Analysis of available
information
Books
Journal articles
Reports and surveys
Records and files
Designing the needs analysis

Procedures for bigger-scale


Literature survey
Analysis of a wide range of survey questionnaires
Contact with others
Interviews with teachers
Identification of participating departments
Presentation of project proposal
Development of a pilot student and staff questionnaires
Review of the questionnaires
Designing the needs analysis

Piloting of the questionnaires


Selection of staff and student subjects
Developing a schedule for collecting data
Administration of questionnaires
Follow-up interviews
Tabulation or responses
Analysis of responses
Writing up of report and recommendations
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
Making use of the
information obtained
Making a list consists of information collected from different
source and summarized in ranking

More analysis and research


..The primary goal of analysis is to bring meaning to the obtained
information (Stufflebeam et al. 1985)

Take different views into account:


* learners view
* academics view
* employers view
* teachers view
Making use of the
information obtained

The format for reporting the findings:


A full written document
A short summary document
A meeting
A group discussion
A newsletter
Thank you!

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