UNIT 2:LEARNER NEEDS ANALYSIS

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UNIT 2 LEARNER NEEDS ANALYSIS

• Unit Objectives
• At the end of the unit, students are able to
• describe the concept of need in ESP
• identify the different types of need
• classify the various types of need with respect
  to ESP learners target, present and learning
  situations
• outline the various techniques of needs analysis
  and
• conduct small-scale needs analyses to meet the
  initial requirements of proposed ESP courses.

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Unit 2 Sub-Topics

• Introduction
• Defining needs analysis
• Approaches to needs analysis
• (a) Target Situation Analysis (TSA)
• (b) Present Situation Analysis (PSA)
• (c) Learning Situation Analysis (LSA)

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Unit 2 Sub-Topics (contd)

1. Language audits
2. Methods of needs analysis
3. The timing of a needs analysis
4. Who carries out the needs analysis / Who decides
   what the language needs are?
5. Translating needs analysis outcomes

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Definition of need

• in education the gap between what is and what
  ought to be
• in ESP what the learner has to be and do in the
  target situation using English
• in ESP practice, definition of need depends on
  the context and who is doing the analysis

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• Hutchinson and Waters (1987) on needs analysis in
  ESP
• if we had to state in practical terms the
  irreducible minimum of an ESP approach to course
  design, it would be needs analysis, since it is
  the awareness of a target situation a definable
  need to communicate in English that
  distinguishes the ESP learner from the learner of
  General English. (p.54)

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Needs analysis in ESP

• For practical purposes, it involves
• collecting and collating relevant information
  about a single learners or a set of learners
  common purpose(s) for learning English, and
• interpreting the data so that choices and/or
  decisions can be made about defining objectives
  and principles for course design and materials

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Concept of needs

• In general, need gap between what is and what
  ought to be
• objective vs. subjective needs (Brindley, 1989)
• perceived vs. felt needs (Berwick, 1989)
• target needs vs. learning needs
• product-oriented needs vs. process-oriented needs
  (Brindley, 1989)
• necessities, lacks and wants (Hutchinson
  Waters, 1986)

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General Categories of Needs

• Goal-oriented Needs (objective needs)
• Process-oriented Need (subjective needs)
• Goal-oriented needs (narrow interpretation)
  elements of language, and related knowledge,
  skills and strategies s/he will have to use for
  study and/or occupational purposes

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• Process-oriented needs (broad view) needs of the
  student qua (as) language learner i.e. skills,
  strategies, styles of learning, language
  proficiency, desires, etc.
• Hutchinson 7 waters (1987) necessities, lacks
  and wants

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NA framework in ESP

• Based on approaches to needs analysis
• (a) Target Situation Analysis (TSA)
• (b) Present Situation Analysis (PSA)
• (c) Learning Situation Analysis (LSA

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Types of Input into ESP Course design
ESP Course Design
TSA Necessities
PSA Lacks
LSA Wants
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TSA

• Traditional approach for the purpose of compiling
  information to identify language needs and to
  determine objectives
• identifying language needs consists primarily
  in compiling information both on the individuals
  or group of individuals who are to learn a
  language and on the use which they are expected
  to make of it when they have learnt it.
  (Richterich, 1983 2)

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TSA (contd)

• key genres (text-types) used in the target
  situation/context
• special language elements (register)
• communicative purposes and functions of language
• other conventions of language use in particular
  fields of study and work

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A Working Model

• Target Situation Analysis
• Learners, genres, tasks, activities using
  English, genre knowledge skills (necessities)
• Present Situation Analysis
• Previous learning experiences, language
  proficiency, cultural information Means analysis
  resources, time, physical environment, etc.
  (lacks)
• Learning Situation Analysis
• reasons for attending course and expectations,
  attitude to English, preferred ways of learning,
  styles, strategies (wants)

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• Professional communication information
• knowledge of genres, language and skills used in
  target situation/context analysed via
• Linguistic analysis (inc. lexical analysis)
• Discourse analysis
• Genre analysis

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A Target Situation Analysis framework (Hutchinson
Waters 1987)

• Why is the language needed?
• How will the language be used?
• What will the content areas be?
• Who will the learners use the language with?
• Where will the language be used?
• When will the language be used?

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A Framework for Analysing Learning Needs

• Why are the learners taking this course?
• How do the learners learn?
• What resources are available?
• Who are the learners?
• Where will the ESP course take place?
• When will the ESP course take place?

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Example of a genre and its moves

• Research Article Abstract (adapted from Bhatia,
  1993)
• 1. WRITER INTRODUCES PURPOSE OF STUDY The
  purpose of the study was to examine
• 2. WRITER DESCRIBES METHODOLOGY 50 high school
  students in Kelantan participated in the study.
  They were selected from
• 3. WRITER SUMMARISES RESULTS OF STUDY It was
  discovered that
• 4. WRITER PRESENTS CONCLUSIONS High school
  students in Kelantan, and probably in other
  similar settings

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PSA

• A PSA seeks to establish what the students are
  like at the beginning of their language course,
  investigating their strengths and weakness.
  (Robinson 1991, p 9)
• Assessment of learners strengths and weaknesses
• Hutchinson Waters (1987) lacks
• language-based gaps feed into syllabus design

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LSA

• pedagogical, methodological and logistical
  factors which will affect decisions about the
  design of a course
• may subsequently impede or positively influence
  the success of a language learning programme
• sub-categorised as strategy analysis and means
  analysis.

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Materials to collect - Authentic Texts

• What are authentic texts for classroom use?
• narrow and defined audience
• owned by discourse community
• used by people in the learners target context
  in the course of their work
• Examples
• written text types emails, memos, reports, calls
  for tender, contracts, project documentation,
  mission statements, minutes of meetings, etc
• spoken text types interviews, meetings, phone
  calls, etc

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Sample text
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Text Analysis

• Real Content vs. Carrier Content
• Carrier content the subject of a text, what it
  is about
• Real content language items which the teacher
  determines to be present in a text and which
  he/she regards to be worthy of teaching

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Text analysis...

• Dudley-Evans and St. John (1997)
• technical vocabulary specialized and restricted
  meanings in certain disciplines and which may
  vary in meaning across disciplines
• semi-technical vocabulary used in general
  language but has a higher frequency of
  occurrence/use in the specialist discourse of
  professional life

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Task Analysis

• What is the main communicative purpose of the
  task?
• Which of the four skills does the task require?
• Are there preliminary and follow-up tasks
  involved?
• What language functions can be expected to play a
  role in the task?
• What text types does the task involve?
• Where can these texts be found?

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Methods of Analysing Needs

• Tests
• Questionnaires
• Interviews /structured interviews
• Observation
• Case studies
• Learner diaries
• Previous research
• Participatory needs analysis (including
  Shadowing)

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Remaining issues

• The timing of a needs analysis
• Pre-course (GNP specs)
• In-course (formative assessment of LOs)
• Post-course (course evaluation)
• Who carries out the needs analysis / Who decides
  what the language needs are?
• JIJOE? (Alderson, 1996)
• Home-grown expert?
• Often the practitioner/instructor

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Remaining issues...

• Translating needs analysis outcomes the GNP
  (Generalised Needs Profile)
• Construct TSA, PSA LSA specifications for
  target group of learners
• Problem with heterogeneous groups
• Resolve within available means/resources (Swales,
  1989 opportunity cost)

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Remaining issues...

• Resolve mismatches in expectations to establish
  happy mean (Richterich, 1983)
• e.g. How much grammar? How much focus on
  speaking skills?
• Immediate needs and projected needs
• A key issue how much data to collect and
  analyse?
• Adopt pragmatic approach/stance
• Question of power English specialist vs. Content
  specialist

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Question of power...