Needs Analysis

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Curriculum Development in Language Teaching By Jack C. Richards

Designing The Needs AnalysisIt involves choosing from the various procedures

for conducting needs analysis (Questionnaire, self-rating, interviews, meetings, etc.) and selecting those that are likely to give a comprehensive view of learners’ needs and stakeholders’ interests.

Decisions have to be made on the practical procedures involved in collecting, organizing, and reporting the information collected.

There needs to be a clear reason for collecting different kinds of information so as to ensure that only information that will actually be used is collected.

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Designing The Needs AnalysisWhat might the procedure used to investigate the language needs of

non-English background students at New Zealand university (large scale needs analysis) be?

1. Literature survey2. Analysis of a wide range of survey questionnaires3. Contact those who had conducted similar surveys4. Interviews with teachers to determine goals5. Identification of participating department6. Presentation of project proposal to participating

departments7. Development of a pilot student and staff

questionnaire8. Review of the questionnaire by colleagues

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Designing The Needs Analysis

9. Piloting the questionnaire

10.Selection of staff and student subjects

11.Developing a schedule for collecting data

12.Administration of questionnaire

13.Follow-up interviews with selected participants

14.Tabulation of responses

15.Analysis of responses

16.Writing up of report and recommendations

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Designing The Needs AnalysisWhat may the procedures for a smaller-scale needs

analysis such as that of a teacher assessing the needs of new groups of students in language program?

• Initial questionnaire• Follow-up individual and group interviews• Meetings with students• Meetings with other teachers• Ongoing classroom observation• tests

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Making Use of The information Obtained

What are the kinds of information obtained from different sources as a result of a needs analysis ?

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Making Use of The information Obtained

E.g. A list of the frequency with which ESL students attending university lectures experienced difficulties with speaking and listening was as follows (by rank):

1. Large-group discussions2. Class discussions3. Interactions with native speakers4. Out-of-class projects5. Small-group work6. Demonstrator interactions7. Class participation7

Is That All?Lists of findings provide little useful info about the precise

type of problems of the learners’ experience in relation to each event

What about providing more details?

→ further analysis → further listing

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So . . . ?However, the results would still be impressionistic.

There is no direct application of the information obtained from needs analysis to a program design.

Information has to be subject to a great deal of interpretation before it can be usefully applied in program planning.

Moreover, potential needs have to be prioritizedbecause not all of them may be practical to address in a language program, or perhaps the time frame available is suitable for addressing only a portion of them.

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Does the fact that needs have been identified imply that changes in the curriculum have to be made?

• The existing curriculum ( when there is one) has to be examined to see to what extent the needs that have been identified are being met.

• Some needs will be immediate and others longer-term. For some solutions will be feasible; for others, they may be impractical.

• A great deal of consultations is needed with the various stakeholders to ensure that the conclusions drawn are appropriate and relevant

• Some of the information may be contradictory.

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When the information are contradictory

Stufflebeam et al (19985) say:

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Audience & Report Format• Where there are several different audiences for

the needs analysis such as teachers, administrators, a funding body) the information should be analyzed in a form that suits each group’s interests. One group may require a brief overview of the findings while another may be interested in detailed findings.

• The format for reporting the findings may also vary:– A full written document– A short summary document– A meeting– A group discussion– A newsletter

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Different Ways for Using the Info

There is no direct route from needs analysis to application in all of these cases

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Discussion Questions

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Thank You

Ola Sayed Ahmed

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