Needs Analysis

SUMMARY CHAPTER REPORT

NEEDS ANALYSIS

The Purpose of Needs Analysis

Needs analysis in language teaching may be used for a number of different purposes, for example:

Ä To find out what language skills a learner needs in order to perform a particular role, such as sales manager, tour guide, or university student.

Ä To help determine if an exciting course adequately addresses the needs of potential students.

Ä To determine which students from a group are most in need of training in particular language skills.

Ä To identify a change of direction that people in a reference group feel is important.

Ä etc.

The Users of Needs Analysis

A need analysis may be conducted for a variety of different users. For example, in conducting a need analysis to help revise the secondary school English curriculum in a country, the end users include:

· Curriculum officers in the ministry of education, who may wish to use the information to evaluate the adequacy of existing syllabus, curriculum, and materials.

· Teachers who will teach from the new curriculum.

· Learners, who will be taught from the curriculum.

· Writers, who are preparing new textbooks.

· Testing personnel, who are involved in developing end-of-school assessments.

· Staff of tertiary institutions, who are interested in knowing what the expected level will be of students exiting the schools and what problems they face.

Procedures for Conducting Needs Analysis

A variety of procedures can be used in conducting needs analysis and the kind of information obtained is often dependent on the type of procedure selected.

Procedures for collecting information during a needs analysis can be selected from among the following:

Questionnaires

Self-ratings

Interviews

Meetings

Observation

Collecting learner language samples

Task analysis

Case Studies

Analysis of available information

Designing The Needs Analysis

Designing a needs analysis involves choosing from among the various options discussed above and selecting those that are likely to give a comprehensive view of learners’ need and that represent the interests of the different stakeholders involved. Decisions have to be made on the practical procedures involved in collecting, organizing, analyzing, and reporting the information collected. It is important to make sure that needs analysis does not produce an information overload.