NEEDS ANALYSISEnglish for Specific PurposesTom Hutchinson & Alan Waters

By: R. Khalili

WHY DO LEARNERS NEED TO LEARN ENGLISH?

All courses are based on a perceived need of some sort.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ESP AND GE?

“In theory nothing, in practice a great deal”.

GENERAL ENGLISH (GE)

• GE learner’s needs are not specifiable.

• This is the weakest of all arguments

• It is always possible to specify needs

•There is always an identifiable need of some sort.

What Distinguishes ESP from GE?

It is not the existence of a need but rather an awareness of the need.

It is not so much the nature of the need which distinguishes the ESP from the General course but rather the awareness of a need, i.e. the awareness of a target situation, the need to communicate in English.

Thus, any course should be based on an analysis of the learner needs.

ANALYSIS FOR ESP AND GE:

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “NEEDS”?

According to the language-centered approach: it is “the ability to comprehend and/or produce the linguistic features of the target situation.”

Target needs: what the students need to do in the target situation

Learning needs: what the students need to do in order to learn.

Target Needsa) Necessities: according to the demands of the target situation,

this is what the learner has to know in order to function effectively in that situation.

Business letter/the linguistic features, discoursal,funtional, structural, lexical

communicate effectively at

sales conferences/

Getting information from sales catalogues.

b) Lacks: according to what the learner already knows, we decide what necessities are missing. There is a gap between the existing proficiency and the target proficiency.

c) Wants: according to what we have considered from an objective POV, we have to say that ‘a need does not exist independent of a person.

Gathering Information About Target Needs

Different ways in which information can be gathered about needs:

• Questionnaires

• Interviews

• Observation

• Data collection

• Informal consultations

Important: The choice will depend on the time and resources available, and needs analysis is not a once-for-all activity. It should be a continuing process.

A Target Situation Analysis Framework

1.Why is the language needed?

2. How will the language be used?

3. What will the content areas be?

4. Who will the learner use the language with?

5. Where will the language be used?

6. When will the language be used?

LEARNING NEEDS

What we have not considered yet is the route. How are we going to get from our starting point to the destination? The whole ESP process is concerned not with knowing or doing, but with learning.

We need to take into account the destination or needs of a learning situation:

A task that is enjoyable, fulfilling, manageable, generative, etc.

A project in class can be guided in terms of its general orientation by the target situation, but its specific content is a response to learning needs.

For example, in a target situation students may need to read long, dull, complex texts, but their motivation may be high because:

1. They like the subject in general

2. Job/Promotion prospects may be involved

3. They will carry out interesting experiments or practical work (based on the text)

4. They like and/or respect the teacher/boss.

ANALYSING LEARNING NEEDS

A framework for analysing learning needs: Why are the learners taking the 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?

Thank You For All Your Attention