Need Analysis

Presented by: Maryam AL-OufiSupervised by:

Prof. Antar Abdallah

I- The meaning of NA II- The importance of NAIII- Divisions of NAIV-Tools of NAa-Necessitiesb-Lacksc-WantsV-Perspectives that NA can vary according to themVI-Times of NAVII-Evaluating NAa- Reliable needs analysisb- Valid needs analysisc- Practical needs analysis VIII-Issues in NAa-common core & specialized languageb-Narrow focus- wide focusc-critical NA

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Present-ation

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I-The meaning of need analysis It examines what the learners know already and what they need to know.

II-The importance of need analysis It makes sure that the course will contain relevant and useful things to learn.

III-Huntchinson and Water division of needs

Target needs: what the learner need s to do in the target situation.

Learning needs: what the learner needs to do in order to learn.

Necessities: What is necessary in the learners’ use of language? E.g. do the learners have to write answers to exam questions?

Lacks: What do the learners lack? E.g. are there aspects of writing that were not practiced in their previous learning.

Wants: What do the learners wish to learn?

Another way to look at needs is to make a major division between:

1- present knowledge required knowledge

2- objective needs and subjective needs

lacks necessities

wants

IV-Needs Analysis Tools

A-Necessities: The first thing to look is the demands of the target tasks. That is, what will the learners have to do when they do university study?Listening to lectures, writing assignments and tasks, and sitting exams. - let’s take an assignment as an example.

1-We could analyze the kinds of language needed to do an assignment, by doing vocabulary analysis. Is it necessary to have a large vocabulary to write a good assignment or a limited ones. 2- We can look at past assignment topics to see the kind of discourse: descriptions, analyses, comparisons. 3- We could interview university staff to see what they expect in a good assignment.

4- Another source of information would be to look in course outlines and other departmental information to see if there are any guidelines on writing assignments.5-Access to assignments from successful students in previous years could be a useful source of information.6- We could also look at the timeframe involved in writing an assignment.

B-Lacks: involves looking at where learners are at present. How good are the learners at writing assignments now?

Sources of information about lacks:1-Looking at the assignment that the learners have just written. 2-Observing students’ writing can give some insight into these conditions.3- Another source could come from the university lecturer who marks the assignment. This information could be gathered by using a think-loud protocol as the examiner marks the assignment.4- The learners themselves are also a very useful source of information. This information can be gathered by interviewing them.

-Learners’ general proficiency contributes to the way they handle any language task.-To gather data about this, we can interview them, get them to sit tests, or we can get them to do self-assessment using a prepared checklist.

C-Wants: Learners have their own views about what they think is useful for them. Information about this is useful in working out whether the learners’ views and the needs analyst’s views are the same or not. If they are not the same, then the curriculum designer may need to rethink the results or persuade the learners that there is a more useful view of what they need.

We can gather such information about lacks through:

-an interview-a questionnaire

This table briefly suggests a rang of tools by taking the case of an English for academic purposes course which is preparing learners of English for university study.

Type of need Focus Method ExampleNecessities Proficiency

Situations of use

Self reportProficiency test Self-reportObservation and analysis Review of previous research

Level of vocabulary knowledgeLevel of fluency e.g. reading speedAnalysis of textsAnalysis of exams & assignments

Lacks Proficiency

Situations of use

Self-report testing

Self-report, observation and analysis

Vocabulary test

Examiners’ reportsAnalyzing of tasks

Wants Wishesuse

Self-report, observation

Records of choices of activitiesTeachers’ observation

V-Needs are changing so it is important that needs are looked at from a variety of perspectives at a variety of times. The perspectives can vary according to:

Type of need

(lack, necessities, wants; or present knowledge, required knowledgeobjective and subjective needs)

Source of infor-mation

(Present or past learners, teachers, present or future tasks and materials, future colleagues, assessors, or teachers)

Data gathering tools

(text analysis, frequency counts, interviews, questionnaire, observation, negotiation and discussion, reflection on experience)

Type of infor-mation

(learning goals, preferred styles of learning, learners’ commitment to learning.)

VI-The times of needs analysis:

Before a

course begins

During the

running of a

course

At the end of a course

VII-Evaluating

Needs Analysis

Needs analysis is a

kind of assessment

and thus can be

evaluated by

considering its

reliability, validity

and practicality.

A-Reliable needs analysis: involves using well-thought-out, standardized tools that are applied systematically.-Rather than just observing people performing tasks that learners will have to do after the course, it is better to systematize the observation by using a checklist.-The more pieces of observation and the more people who are studied, the reliable the results.

B-Valid needs analysis: involves looking at what is relevant and important. Consideration of the type of need that is being looked at and the type of information that is being gathered is important.-Before NA begins it may be necessary to do a ranking activity to decide what type of need should get priority in the NA investigation.

C-Practical needs analysis: is not expensive, does not occupy too much of the learners’ and teacher’s time, provides clear, easy-to-understand results and can easily be incorporated into the curriculum design process.

Issues in NA

Narrow focus-wide focus

Critical needs analysis

Common core and specialized language

Common core and specialized languageWhat are the content selection stages that a special purposes language course should follow?From a vocabulary point of view, the learners should first focus on a common core of 2000 words, then focus on general academic vocabulary of their particular disciplines, then focus on the specialized technical words.

Narrow focus-wide focusDetailed systems of NA have been set up to determine precisely what language learner with clear needs should learn.-If language learners have more than very short-term goals for language learning not only satisfies immediate needs but also provides the basis for the development of control of the wider language system.

Critical needs analysisBenesch (1996) points out that NA is affected by the ideology of those in control of that analysis. -That is, the questions they ask, the areas they investigate, the conclusions they draw are influenced by their attitudes to change.-For this reason, it is worth considering a wide range of viewpoints when deciding on the focus of NA.

Task I Needs analysis for a writing courseYou have been asked to design a writing course for learners of English who intended to go on to university study in English. As a part of the fact-finding stage you have decided to carry out a needs analysis.

Type of information Source of the information

How the information will be gathered

Thank you for your listening