2. Introduction
What are ‘Needs’?
Wants, desires, demands, expectation,motivations,
lacks, constraints, and requirements
(Brindley1984)
What is ‘Needs Analysis’?
Procedures for collecting information about
learners’ needs.
3. The purpose of needs analysis
1. To find out what language skills a learner needs
2. To help determine if an existing course adequately
addresses the needs of potential students
3. To determine which students are most in need of
training in particular language skills
4. The purpose of needs analysis
4. To identify a change of direction that people in a
reference group feel is important
5. To identify a gap between what students are able
to do and what they need to be able to do
6. To collect information about a particular problem
learners are experiencing
5. The Aim of Need Analysis
‘
’Discover what needs to be learned
and What the learners wants to
learn’’
6. The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) divide needs into target needs and learning needs. The
analysis of target needs can loot at :
1. Necessities
2. Lacks
3. Wants
7.
8. Objective needs : Teachers
Subjective needs : Learners
Objective and Subjective needs information Discovers by Questionaires, Interviews, Data
collection, Observation and Consultation.
Lacks fit into Present
Knowledge
Necessities fit into Required
Knowledge
Wants fit into Subjective
needs
12. Analysis of available information
• Books
• Journal articles
• Reports and surveys
• Records and files
13. Necessities
Is it neccesary to have a large vocabulary to write a good assignment?
Do the learners prepare notes, draft and further draft?
Did the course has helped the assignment writing of learners who studied it in previous years?
Did learners who studied on the course do well in their later study?
14. Lacks
Ways to gathering information about lacks:
1. Interview questions
2. Assignment task and Consultation
16. Evaluating Need Analysis
Reliability, validity and practicality
1. Reliable needs analysis involves using well-though- out, standardised tools that are
applied systematically.
2. Valid needs analysis involves looking at what is rellevant and important.
3. Practical needs analysis is not expensive, does not occupy too much of learner and
teacher’s time, provides clear, easy-to-understand results and can easily be incorporated into
into the curriculum design process.
17. ISSUES IN NEEDS ANALYSIS
There are several issues in needs analysis that have been the focus of continuing debate. Theree
are briefly discussed here
1. Common core and specialed language
2. Narrow focus wide focus
3. Critical needs analysis
18. 1. Common core and specialised language
What are the content selection stages that a special purposes language course should follow?
19. 2. Narrow focus wide focus
Detailed system of needs analysis have been set up to determine precisely what language a
particular language learner with clear needs should learn(Munby,1978)
20. 3. Critical needs analysis
Benesh(1996)points out with some striking examples that needs analysis is affected by the
ideology of those in control of the analysis.
21. Can Needs Analysis ever be objective?
At what point are learning needs assessed/decided on?
Conflict between wants and necessities?
What tools do we use to assess needs, are they objective?
How reliable are these tools?
