Needs AnalysisI.S.P Nation and John Macalister

BY :1) SUDIANTORO 2) HAMID DARMADI3) SIJONO

POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TANJUNGPURA UNIVERSITYPONTIANAK

2015

NEEDS ANALYSIS PURPOSE

The aim of this part of the curriculum design process is to discover what needs to be learned and what the learners want to learn.

The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) divide needs into target needs (i.e. what the learner needs to do in the target situation) and learning needs (i.e. what the learner needs to do in order to learn). The analysis of target needs can look at:

THREE TYPES OF NEEDS

WANTS

NECESSITIES

LACKS

NECESSITIES

• What is necessary in the learners’ use of language? For example, do the learners have to write answers to exam questions?

LACKS

• What do the learners lack? For example, are there aspects of writing that were not practised in their previous learning (L1, L2)?

WANTS

• What do the learners wish to learn?

Discovering Needs

knowledge and situations of use and involves the study of situations and tasks that learners will need to engage in using knowledge gained from the course.

Observation and analysis may involve process and product. Observation of skilled and unskilled writers performing target tasks may reveal important areas that need attention during a course

The outcomes of needs analysis must be useful for curriculum design. It is not worth gathering needs analysis information if no application can be found for it. It is therefore useful to do a pilot study first to check for this.

Table 3.2 covers many of the questions that are usually raised in an analysis of target needs (Munby, 1978; Hutchinson and Waters, 1987).

Needs Analysis Tools

Others method by Long, 2005aMethod Source

Triangulated method Long, 2005

Task-based/criterion referenced performance test

Nornis, et al, 2002

Surveys and questionnaires Bernard, 1994

Computer-aided corpus analysis interviews

Flowerdew, 1994

Register/rhetorical analysis Selinker, 1988

Discourse analysis Hatch, 1992

Content analysis Flowerdew, 1994

Diaries/journals/logs Bailey & Oschrer, 1983

Classroom observation Chaudron, 1988

Non-participant observation Bernard, 1998

Participant observation Bernard, 1994

Unstructured interviews Hoadley-Maidment, 1983

Structured interviews Bernard, 1994

Sample : EAP courseType of Need

Type of information

Focus Source of Information

How the information will be gathered

Necessities

Writing assignment

Proficiency

Situation of use

Lecturer

University staffCourse OutlineLearnerOther course

Vocabulary analysisInterviewSyllabusTimeframeCorpus analysis

Lacks Proficiency

Situation of use

Learner’s assignmentLecturer

LearnerLearner

Task analysis

Think-aloud protocolInterview questionsChecklist/proficiency TestObservation

Wants Wishes

Use

Learner

Learner

Interview/questionnaireobservation

Evaluating Needs Analysis consider ….1. The range of type of information gathered in

the needs analysis.2. Considering its reliability, validity and

practicality of the needs analysis procedures3. The quality of the application of the need

analysis findings to the other parts of the curriculum design process.

RELIABILITY, VALIDITY AND PRACTICALITY

Reliability consider about well-thought-out; standardized tools. By recording, checklist, or observation.

Validity consider about what is relevant and important. By using LIST or scale.

Practicality consider about learner/teacher time efficiency, clear/easy to understand result, easily incorporated to the curriculum design process.

Learner’s self evaluation

Evaluating Teacher’s need and wants (Masuhara in Tomlinson, B.)

Stages of use

Agent Kind of investigation

Methods

Pre-use (materials selection)

Teachers Director of studies

Collecting information about the books

ELT reviews reputation colleagues’ opinion based on experience of use

Impressionistic pre-use evaluation

Looking through the book for:-overall impression, syllabus, topics/ subjects, illustrations.

Systematic pre-use evaluation

a. Making use of self-generated criteria

b. Making use of experts checklist

Whilst-use Teachers director of studies

Analysis of subjective data by the teacher and by others

The teacher diary/journal/interview/forum

Quantitative and qualitative analysis

Classroom-observation data

Analysis of objective data

Keeping records of: selective use of units and parts of units, supplementary use of homegrown materials, adaptation of the coursebook.

Rubric for evaluating INSTITUTION/COURSE instructional Goals (Walter, Lou, James : 2009)

No Some Yes A. Congruence with Organization Needs      Is/Are the instructional goal statement (s) :      1. linked clearly to an identified problem in the organization?      2. linked clearly to documented performance gaps?      3. Clearly a solution to the problem?      4. acceptable to those who approve the instructional effort?             B. Feasibilty      Does the plan include :      1. stable content/skills over time to warrant investment/resources?      2. sufficient designer expertise in instructional goal area?      3. sufficient people to design/develop/deliver instruction?      4. sufficient time to design/develop/deliver instruction?      5. an adequate number of learners for development/delivery?             C. Clarity      Do the instructional goal statement (s) describe the :      1. actions of the learners (what they will do)?      2. content clearly?      3. intended learners?      4. performance context?      5. tools available to learners in performance context?             D. Other      1. ………….      2. …………

Issues in need analysis Common core and specialised

language Narrow focus- wide focus Critical need analysis

1. Common core and specialised language

learners should first focus on a common core of 2000 words.

Focus on general academic vocabulary to wide range of disciplines

Cont...

The study of vocabulary shows that:

A. The goals are very focused (1,600 common core & 650 general academic words)

B. Grammatical items; Stage 1 consisting of high-frequency Stage 2 text types of the discipline

2. Narrow facus – wide focus

• Detailed systems of needs analysis determine by what language a particular language.

• the importance of successful communication within a specific discourse community.

3. Critical needs analysis

Affected by the ideology of those in control of the analysis

the questions they ask the areas they investigate the conclusions they draw

Case studies(1)The range of types of information

gathered in the needs. (2)the reliability, validity and

practicality of the needs analysis procedures.

(3)the quality of the application of the findings of the needs analysis to the other parts of the curriculum design process.

ReferencesNation, ISP and Macalister, J. 2010.

Language Curriculum Design. New York: Routledge

Dick, W. and Carey, et al. 2009. The Systematic Design of Instruction. New Jersey: Pearson

Tomlinson, B.2011. Materials Development in Language Teaching. 2nd Ed. UK: Cambridge University Press

Discussions

1. In your opinion, what part that you feel difficult in conducting needs analysis? (Sari)

A: In our opinion, analyzing the learners necessities is very difficult. Because each students has various needs.

2. What do you mean by common core word? (Yovinus)

A: based on the issue, common core words is kind of standardized vocabulary that the learner must acquired before comprehending any writing assignment.

3. Who will take responsible in need analysis? (Gina)

A: The Ministry of Education, The institution/school/course, and the teacher.

4. What is the different between necessities and

wants? (M.Ridho)A: Necessities is what the learner has to know

in order to get clearly understanding of the material that they learn in the class. And Wants is what the learner wishes for life after learning the materials.

5. How many types of need analysis? In your opinion, which one goes first? (M.Ridho)

A: consequently, all part of needs analysis is important and has the same portion. But particularly, necessities could be the starter of learner’s need analysis.

Thank You…