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Needs Analysis

The document discusses needs assessment for developing an effective language course. It defines objective and subjective needs and explains the process of needs assessment involves gathering factual and cognitive/affective information about learners' current abilities and future language needs. Regular ongoing needs assessment allows teachers to adapt courses based on student feedback.

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normanofianto poltekkes
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30 views23 pages

Needs Analysis

The document discusses needs assessment for developing an effective language course. It defines objective and subjective needs and explains the process of needs assessment involves gathering factual and cognitive/affective information about learners' current abilities and future language needs. Regular ongoing needs assessment allows teachers to adapt courses based on student feedback.

Uploaded by

normanofianto poltekkes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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NEEDS ANALYSIS

Needs Assessment
 Finding out
 what the learners know and can do
 what they need to learn and do

 so that the course can bridge the gap


 Have you ever taken a course that has made you
wonder why you are there?

 Think about a situation in which you were taught


English. What were some of the needs that were not
met?

 How do you think students can help their teachers to


understand what their needs are?
Objective & Subjective Needs
 Objective needs:
 Different kinds of FACTUAL information about learners, their use of
language in real-life communication situations, their current
language proficiency, and language difficulties

 Subjective needs:
 COGNITIVE and AFFECTIVE needs of the learner in the learning
situation (personality, confidence, attitudes, learners’ wants and
expectations regarding the learning of English and their individual
cognitive style and learning strategies)

 If subjective information is not taken into consideration, objective


information might not mean anything. E.g. if your students prefer
working individually, there is no use in asking them to work in groups.
 Now work in groups.

 Interview a few of your classmates. Take notes. And


find out the needs of your friends in this program (ELT
program).

 You can use the diagram!


What are my
needs as an
ELT student?

My objective My subjective
needs needs
(factual info) (cognitive &
affective info)
Role of Needs Assessment in the
Development of a Course
 Needs assessment is
 a systematic and ongoing process of gathering information
about students’ needs and preferences

 interpreting the information

 making course decisions based on the interpretation

 The underlying belief in needs assessment :


 learning is a process in which learners can and should
participate; it shouldn’t be just learners absorbing pre-
selected knowledge the teacher gives them.
 Using needs assessment as an ongoing part of
teaching helps the learners to

 reflect on their learning


 identify their needs
 gain a sense of ownership
 control their learning

 Thus, the teacher is not the only person who has views
about the roles and power dynamic in the classroom.
The Process of Needs Assessment
 1. Deciding what information to gather and why

 2. Deciding the best way to gather it: when, how and from whom

 3. Gathering the information

 4. Interpreting the information

 5. Acting on the information

 6. Evaluating the effect and effectiveness of the action

 7. (back to 1) Deciding on further or new information to gather


What areas of learning does needs assessment
address?
 It is possible to gather various information about the
learners about their PRESENT SITUATION and their
FUTURE EXPECTATIONS.

 Needs assessment can be done at the beginning of a


course but it might also be repeated during the course
and necessary modifications might be done.
Gathering information for the
PRESENT SITUATION
 Who the learners are:
 Their age, gender, educational background, profession, nationality,
etc.

 This information provides background for the rest of the assessment as, for
example, interpretation of info will change if they are children or adults.

 The learners’ level of language proficiency:


 Students’ level of proficiency in each language skill: speaking,
listening, reading, writing.
 Their knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, functional
skills

 This information helps us choose the kids of texts, skills to develop, grammar
elements to focus on, etc.
 Learners’ level of intercultural competence:
 Their experience in the target culture; their understanding
of socio-cultural and socio-linguistic aspects of the target
language.

 This info helps us choose the kinds of materials to use

 Their interests
 Topics/issues they are interested in; their personal or
professional experiences

 This info helps us design the lessons according to learners’


experience and interests
 Their learning preferences:
 The ways they want to be taught; individual, pair or group
work; teacher’s and learners’ roles

 This information helps us organize activities that make them


comfortable

 Their attitudes:
 Their attitudes to themselves as learners and the target
language and culture

 This information helps us know how they feel when using the
target language
Gathering information for their
FUTURE EXPECTATIONS
 Learners’ goals and expectations:
 Reasons they are taking the course; their goals,
expectations

 This information helps us shape goals and gives info to the


learners about what is realistic in this course

 The target contexts: situations, roles, topics, and


content:
 How will they use English beyond the classroom, and with
whom? What topics and contents will they need?
 Types of communicative skills they need and tasks
they will perform:
 For what purpose will they use the language? Do they need
to understand and give directions? Do they need to talk on
the phone? Will they listen to lectures?...

 Language modalities they will use:


 Will they speak, read, listen and/or write in the target
language?
TYPOLOGY OF NEEDS ANALYSIS

PRESENT SITUATION FUTURE EXPECTATIONS


-age, gender, educational -target context (How will they use the
background, nationality, etc. language outside the classroom?, What
topics will they need?, etc)
-level of language proficiency
OBJECTIVE NEEDS (Reading, Writing, Listening, -types of communicative skills they
(FACTUAL INFO) Speaking, Vocab. etc) need (Will they talk on the phone?,
Will they listen to lectures?, etc)
-level of intercultural competence
(experience in target culture, -language modalities (Will they speak,
understanding of socio-cultural, read, write or listen?)
socio-linguistic aspects of target
language, etc)

-interests (personal & professional) -their goals and expectations (why are
SUBJECTIVE NEEDS they taking the course)
(COGNITIVE & -learning preferences (the way they
AFFECTIVE NEEDS want to be taught: individual, pair-
work, group-work, etc)

-attitudes (to themselves and the


target language/culture)
Factors that might guide your choices
 Purpose of the course: Info you gather should be relevant to
the purpose of your course. If your students’ purpose is to
improve their oral skills, then assessing writing is no use.

 Your beliefs: if you don’t believe what you are doing, then you
might not be successful.

 Information you already have about the students: If you


already have information about your students competences,
interests, etc then don’t reinvent the wheel.

 Information you can use: Don’t try to get information which


you will not use.
 Look at p. 107 for a sample needs assessment plan
Scenario
 You are asked to teach a group of adult learners who
want to improve their speaking skills in English. The
group involves people from various occupations:
doctors, engineers, businessmen, etc.

 What types of information would you like to gather for


this group? Why?

 Make a needs assessment plan.


When should one do needs assessment?
 Pre-course Needs Assessment: before the course
 Info about content, goals and objectives, activities, choice of materials.

 For placement purposes


 To place students at the right level

 Diagnostic
 Strengths and weaknesses to be addressed

 Target needs
 Content, language items and skills, materials and texts

 Learning needs
 Type of activities to be used
 Initial Needs Assessment: during the initial stage of
the course: first few sessions, first few weeks
depending on the duration of the course

 The kind of info collected as pre-course can also be


collected for initial needs assessment
 Ongoing Needs Assessment: throughout the course

 Shared experiences so can change the course as it progresses

 Helps us learn whether what is being taught, how it is being


taught, and how it is being evaluated are effective for students.
Using the results, the content, the materials, and/or the
objectives can be adjusted.

 How is it done?
 Students can be asked to reflect on something they have done
 Advantages of initial and ongoing needs assessment:

 Direct needs assessment: focus of the activity is on


gathering specific information

 Indirect needs assessment: a “regular” teaching


activity is given a needs analysis focus

 Informal needs assessment: carefully observing the


students

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