Needs Analysis in the Classroom Handout

Needs Analysis in the Classroom ELTAF Conference 8 September 2012

1 Evan Frendo 2012

Communication skills Name: .. I need to improve my English in order to better: Urgent Not urgent

Deal with visitors

Understand presentations

Give presentations

Take part in meetings

Chair meetings

Read reports

Write reports

Deal with emails

Speak on the telephone

Socialise with business partners and / or customers

Deal with suppliers

Deal with customers

..

..

..


2 Evan Frendo 2012

Negotiated syllabus Look at the following list. Add three more learning activities, and then decide which is the most important for you, and which is the least. Order the list from 1 (most important) to 10 (least important). My list Colleagues list Group list

Learning about grammar

Learning specialist vocabulary

Learning general vocabulary

Reading texts

Writing letters

Speaking activities

Listening activities

..

..

..

Now show your list to a colleague and negotiate a new list (second column). Finally discuss the list as a group and negotiate a group list (third column).


3 Evan Frendo 2012

Documents 1 Look at the following list of technical documentation. Tick the appropriate column. Documents I use these

regularly I use these sometimes

I never use these

1 Job descriptions (e.g. roustabout, production engineer)

2 Group descriptions (e.g. work teams, organisation charts)

3 Safety rules and regulations (e.g. safety bulletins, HSE regulations etc)

4 Engineering drawings, schematics etc. (eg wiring diagrams, rig schematics)

5 Repair and maintenance plans. (e.g. scheduling, checklists)

6 Financial documents (e.g. purchase orders, budget planning, cost control)

7 Software documentation.

8 Operating procedures.

9 Equipment instruction manuals.

10 Newspaper articles.(e.g. press releases, accidents).

11 Correspondence. (e.g. letters, memos, emails).

12 Textbooks. 2 Are there any texts / documents which you use regularly and which are not included in the above list? Give details. 3 Now find a partner and compare. Discuss which texts are the easiest to use, and which the most challenging. Write down some reasons below.


4 Evan Frendo 2012

Focus on Asia Here is a brief needs analysis which will help you and your teacher focus on your priorities. Fill in the boxes below. My current / future job in Asia / with Asians Past experience with Asia and Asians Eg holiday in Thailand, business trip to Beijing, telephone conversations with Asian partners etc Current / future contact with Asians (give details) Travel Telephone Meetings Emails / letters Technical documents Other I would like to know more about business culture in


5 Evan Frendo 2012

Discourse

Name

Company / department

Job

Relationship between interlocutors (eg peer, superior, subordinate, long-time friends, colleagues, business partners, competitors)

Interlocutor (eg age, gender, job, company, nationality, culture)

Key topics (workplace issues (eg project related, personnel), non-work (eg sport, politics))

Workplace context (eg project meeting, negotiation, presentation, impromptu chat in office, restaurant)

Length

When (early morning, lunchtime break, afternoon)

How often

Possible genre (eg storytelling. jokes, opinions, chat, gossip)

Other


6 Evan Frendo 2012

Domains (CEFR page 44) Can I predict the domains in which my learners will operate and the situations which they will have to deal with? If so, what roles will they have to play?

What sort of people will they have to deal with?

What will be their personal or professional relations in what institutional frameworks?

What objects will they need to refer to?

What tasks will they have to accomplish?

What themes will they need to handle?

Will they have to speak, or simply listen and read with understanding?

What sort of things will they be listening to or reading?

Under what conditions will they have to act?

What knowledge of the world or of another culture will they need to call on?

What skills will they need to have developed? How can they still be themselves without being misinterpreted?

For how much of this can I take responsibility?

If I cannot predict the situations in which the learners will use the language, how can I best prepare them to use the language for communication without over-training them for situations that may never arise?

What can I give them that will be of lasting value, in whatever different ways their careers may later diverge?

How can language learning best contribute to their personal and cultural development as responsible citizens in a pluralist democratic society?


7 Evan Frendo 2012

Processes

A process can be defined as a series of steps taken in order to achieve an end or objective. Think of a work process you do quite often (eg choosing a course book, correcting homework, designing a course etc). What are the key steps? Make notes in the boxes below. Then describe it to the person sitting next to you.


8 Evan Frendo 2012

Task-based assessment

Example of task-based assessment:

The means used to place the learners into the spoken English course was a set of simulations consisting of three tasks related to the types of speech activities engineering cooperative education students might encounter in their job interviews and placements. The first task required candidates to describe their interests in their field of study, within a two-minute time limit. Candidates were instructed to talk about their interest in the field, the contributions they felt they could offer, and the benefits they expected from their cooperative work placement. The second task simulated a meeting in which the candidate was to listen to a manager announce a change in the work environment, covering three main points: what the planned change was; reasons for the change; and contributions expected from employees. After listening to the manager, the candidate was to orally relay the information to a colleague. The third task required candidates to read an inter-office memo and answer oral questions from a customer. Wood, D. (2009). Preparing ESP Learners for workplace placement. ELT Journal, 63(4), 323-331. (page 326)

What sort of tasks do your learners need to do? Think of three different tasks and make some notes about suitable criteria for assessment.

Needs Analysis in the Classroom Handout

Documents

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