ACKNOWLEDGE.COM: Need Analysis

Need Analysis

A. Introduction

One of the basic assumptions of curriculum development is that a sound educational program should be based on an analysis of learner’s needs. Procedures used to collect information about learner’s needs are known as needs analysis. Needs analysis as a distinct and necessary phase in planning educational programs emerged in the 1960s as part of the systems approach to curriculum development and was part of the prevalent philosophy of educational accountability (Stufflebeam, McCormick, Brinkerhoff, and Nelson 1985 ). If providers of training programs wanted public or other sources of funding in order to provide different kinds of training programs, they were required to demonstrate that a proposed program was response to a genuine need ( Pratt 1980 ).[1]

According to Iwai et al. (1999), the term needs analysis generally refers to the activities that are involved in collecting information that will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum that will meet the needs of a particular group of students.[2]

Historically, needs analysis was introduced into language teaching through the ESP movement among 1960s to 1970s. Even though, this needs analysis was not advocated only for ESP, but also for second/foreign language students in general. In fact, needs analysis have been conducted informally for years by teachers who wanted to assess what language points their students needed to learn. Indeed, the various activities usually called “approaches” are different expressions of this desire to figure out what students need to learn. Information sources for such informal needs analysis might include scores on an overall language proficiency test, facts gathered from a background questionnaire that asks where and for how long students have had previous language training, or impressions gleaned from teacher and students interviews about the students’ cognitive and linguistic abilities (Iwai et al, 1999). Further, for Johns (1991), the needs analysis is the first step in course design and it provides validity and relevancy for all subsequent course design activities. This information should include the desired outcomes or expectations of a high quality program, the role of assessment, the current status of student achievement and actual program content. The information should also consider the concerns and attitudes of teachers, administrators, parents and also the learners. While the data should include samples of assessments, lessons from teachers, assignments, scores on state standardized tests, textbooks currently used, student perception and feedback from parents.[3]

B. The purpose of needs analysis

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

Ø 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

Ø To help determine if an existing course adequately addresses the needs of potential students

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

Ø To identify a change of directions that people in a reference feel is important

Ø To identify a gap between what students are able to do and what they need to be able to do

Ø To collect information about a particular problem learners are experiencing

In the case of K-12 ESL programs (e.g., for ESL students in public schools) Linse (1993) identifies the following purposes for needs analysis:

Ø To compile a demographic profile of all the languages and language groups represented by the students

Ø To assess their level of language acquisition in their native language and in English

Ø To determine their communicative abilities in English

Ø To determine their formal knowledge of English

Ø To find out how students use language skills are necessary to enable students to participate in all school and community activities in English

Ø To find out what prior experiences students have had with formal education

Ø To determine the attitudes of the students and their families toward formal schooling and education

Ø To find out what preliteracy and literacy skills the students possess

Ø To ascertain the students’ level of cognitive development and acquisition of academic skills in their native language (s)

Ø To ascertain what cognitive and academic skills students have acquired in English

Ø To determine the cultural, political, and personal characteristics of students

The first step in conducting a needs analysis in therefore to decide exactly what its purpose or purpose are. For example, when a needs analysis of restaurant employees is conducted, the purposes might be:

Ø To determine current levels of language proficiency of employees

Ø To determine how many employees are in deed of the language training

Ø To identify senior restaurant staff’s perceptions of language problems have on the job

Ø To ascertain the types of transactions employees typically perform in English

Ø To determine the language characteristics of those transactions

Ø To assess the extent to which employees’ needs are met by currently available programs and textbooks

In many cases, learners’ language needs may be relatively easy to determine, particularly if learners need to learn a language for very specific purposes, for example, employment in fields such as tourism, nursing or the hotel industry. In this case, the tasks employees typically carry out in English can be observed and the language needs of those determined. The information obtained can then serve as a basis of planning a training program. In some cases, “needs” also includes student’s right. Linse comments:

It is the school’s responsibility to take into account the cultural, political, and personal characteristics of student as the curriculum is developed in order to plan activities and objectives that are realistic and purposeful. It is not the responsibility of the school to act on political matters, but it’s the school’s responsibility to provide equal access to school opportunities and to validate the experiences of all students, regardless of their political and/or cultural background. (Linse, in Hudelson 1993, 46)

In the other cases, learners’ needs may not be so immediate-for example, students learning English as a secondary school subject in an EFL context. Here English may be a compulsory subject that is considered an important part of a child’s general education. However, even though the students may not have any immediate perceptions of needs, curriculum planners will generally have consulted employers, parents, teachers, and others to find out what knowledge of English they expect high school graduates to achieve. In many countries, the introduction of English or another foreign language in a elementary or secondary school is based on what curriculum planners consider best for students to study at school in the same way that math, history, and physical education are included in the school curriculum. Learners are not consulted as so whether they perceive a need for such knowledge. Their needs have been decided for them by those concerned with their long-term welfare. Needs analysis thus includes the study of perceived and present needs as well as potential and unrecognized needs.

Need analysis may take place prior to, during, or after a language program. Much of literature on needs analysis is based on the assumption that it is part of the planning that take place as part of the development of a source. It assumes that time and resources are available to plan, collect, and analyze relevant information for a planned program of instruction. This ‘a priory’ approach to needs analysis requires long-term planning assumes adequate time and resources to devote to needs analysis.

In some cases, however, long-term planning is not an option. Little may be known in detail about a group of learners apart from the fact that group of forty-five Mexican civil servant will be arriving in 3 weeks’ time and want to work on their language skills. In these circumstances, need analysis has to be carried out as part of the delivery of the course. Goals, content, and the teaching approach are shaped by information collected during the teaching of the course.

At other times, the bulk of the information that constitutes the needs analysis may be collected after the course is finished. The information collected is then analyzed in order to obtain a more comprehensive view of the learners’ needs as a basis for evaluating and revising the program. [4]

C. What are needs?

Learners often find it difficult to define what language needs they have and cannot distinguish between needs, wants and lacks (Kavaliauskiene and Užpaliene, 2003, p.1). It was Allwright (1982) as quoted by West (1994) who made a distinction between needs (the skills which a student sees as being relevant to himself or herself), wants (those needs on which students put a high priority in the available, limited time or in other words it is what learner feels she/he needs), and lacks (the difference between the students present competence and the desired competence or what learner does not know). His idea were adopted later by Hutchinson and Waters (1987), who advocate a learning-centered approach in which learners’ learning needs play a vital role. If the analyst, by means of target situation analysis, tries to find out what learners do with language, then learning needs analysis will tell us “what the learner needs to do in order to learn (Hutchinson and Water, 1987).

Richards explains that needs are often described in terms of a linguistic deficiency, that is, as describing the difference between what a learner can presently do in language and what he/she should be able to do (2002, p. 54). It suggests that needs have objective reality and are simply there waiting to be identified and analyzed. On the other hand, Richards’ proposition is slightly different to Porcher’s. Porcher (1977, in Brindley 1984, p. 29) as quoted by Richards clarify that need is a thing that is constructed and dependent on judgment and reflects the interest and values of those making such judgment. Therefore, the teachers, learners, employers, parents and other stakeholders may have different views as to what needs are. For example, in considering the needs of immigrants, representatives of majority population may see the immigrants’ needs as achieving cultural and linguistic assimilation and hence may want a needs analysis to identify the language skills immigrant require in order to survive, and assimilate into the dominant culture. In fact, however, those immigrant minorities in English-dominant societies also have other kinds of needs that might be related to housing, health care, access for children’s’ school, services, and others. It is like what Auerbach (1995) says as quoted by Richards that English teaching has often been viewed as a “neutral transfer of skills, knowledge, or competencies” and that such an approach is based on the needs of social institutions, rather than language learners. Due to this problem, then the curriculum should facilitate or fill in this gap. In this case, he adds that planning an ESL curriculum is not only involves identifying students’ language needs, but seeks “to enable them critically examine the existing order, and become active in shaping their own roles in it” (Auerbach, 1995, p. 15). In other words it can be concluded that learner’s needs cannot be determined alone by institution, teachers, parents, or even society, but it is the learners themselves as the main sources that should be involved in determining their own learning needs, particularly in language learning needs ((Kavaliauskiene and Užpaliene, 2003, p.2).

D. The users of needs analysis

A needs analysis may be conducted for a variety of different users. For example, in conducting a needs analysis to help revise the secondary English curriculum in a country, the end users include curriculum officers in the ministry 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 assessment; and staff of tertiary institutions, who are interested in knowing what the expected level will be of students existing the schools and what problems they face (Richards, 2002, p. 56).

Determining the likely audiences is an important first step in planning a needs analysis in order to ensure that the information they needs is obtained and that the needs analysis will have the impact it is designed to have. Therefore, the audiences might be involved in small-case needs analysis such as done by a single teacher on his or her class would consist of the teacher, other teachers, and the program coordinator.

Further, needs analysis can have a political dimension. It can be used to support a particular agenda, for example by giving priority to one group to the exclusion of others within a population or in order to justify a decision that has already been made on economic or other grounds. Hence, there are different stakeholders where needs analysis is being undertaken. Stakeholders are those who have a particular interest or involvement in the issue or programs that are being examined, and it is important to try to get a sense of what their different agendas are. Connelly and Clandinin (1988, p.124) as quoted by Richards identify stakeholder as “a person or group of person with a right to comment on, and have input into, the curriculum process offered in schools.” That is why different stakeholders will want different things from the curriculum. [5]

E. The target population

According to Richards, the target population in a needs analysis refers to the people about whom information will be collected. For example in conducting a needs analysis to determine the focus of an English program in public secondary school in an EFL context, then the target population might include:

• Language learners or potential language learners

• Policy makers

• Ministry of education officials

• Teachers

• Academics

• Employers

• Vocational training specialists

• Parents

• Influential individuals and pressure groups

• Academic specialists

• Community agencies[6]

Basically, sampling is an important issue in determining the target population. Sampling involves asking a portion of the potential population instead of the population and seeks to create sample that is representative of the total population. For example, in conducting a needs analysis of studying foreign languages at a New Zealand university (Richards and Gravatt, 1998) toward students’ motivation for selecting a language course, dropping a language course, or choosing not to take a language course, then the sample that might be taken from the whole population of New Zealand university students are: 1) students currently enrolled in a foreign language course, 2) students previously enrolled but no longer studying a language, 3) students who have never studied a foreign language. Actually, there are some factors influenced in determining the approach of sampling, such as the homogeneity of the population in terms of kinds of skills, attitudes, or knowledge being sought or the need to study subgroups within the sample (based on sex, language groups, or other factors).[7]

F. Administering the needs analysis

Planning a needs analysis involves deciding who will administer the needs analysis and collect and analyze the results. Needs analysis will be vary in their scope and demands, from a survey of a whole school population in a county to a study of a group of thirty learners in a single institution. Sometimes a team of personnel is assembled specifically for the purpose of doing the analysis, at other times two or three interested teachers may be the only ones involved. For example, in a needs analysis of the language needs of non-English-background students studying at a New Zealand University, the following were involved:

Ø the researcher team made up of two academics and a research assistant

Ø colleagues in different departments who discussed the project and reviewed sample questionnaires

Ø students who piloted the questionnaire

Ø academic staff of the university who administered some of the questionnaires

Ø secretarial support involved in preparing questionnaires and tabulating data

In some language, program informal needs analysis is part of the teacher’s ongoing responsibilities. Shaw and Dowsett (1986) describe this approach in Australian Adult Migrant Education program:

Informal needs assessment deals with the informal negotiations that take place between class teachers and students and form of chats with either individual students, group of student, or the whole class in order to select a focus for the class and create group cohesion by establishing a coincidence of learning needs.

….Informal needs assessment is normally the main task of the classroom teacher during week one of the course…. (it) is a necessary component of information retrieval on students’ learning needs and should be recorded. It can subsequently be used as an input for aims and objectives setting and for devising course outlines. (Shaw and Dowsett 1986, 47-49)

Information collected in this way may complement information collected though mere formal means. [8]

[1] Richard, Jack c. curriculum development in language teaching. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 2001

[2] http://www.esp-world.info/articles_20/doc/introduction%20to%20needs%20analysis.pdf

[3] http://upipasca.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/needs-analysis-in-curriculum-development/

[4] Richard, Jack c. curriculum development in language teaching. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 2001

[5] http://upipasca.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/needs-analysis-in-curriculum-development/

[6]http: // spaces.isu.edu.tw/upload/18518/.../chapter3.p.

[7] http://upipasca.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/needs-analysis-in-curriculum-development/

[8] Richard, Jack c. curriculum development in language teaching. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 2001

A. Procedure for conducting needs analysis

A variety of procedures can be in conducting needs analysis and the kind of information obtained is often dependent on the type of procedure selected. Since any one sources of information is likely to be in complete or partial, a triangular approach is advisable. Many different sources of information should be sought. For example, when a needs analysis of the writing problems encountered by foreign students enrolled in American universities is conducted, information could be obtained from the following sources:

· Samples of students writing

· Test data on student performance

· Reports by teachers on typical problems students face

· Opinion of experts

· Information from students via interviews and questionnaires

· Analysis of textbooks teaching academic writing

· Survey of related literature

· Examples of writings programs from other institutions

· Examples of writing assignments given to first year university

Students

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

a. Questionnaires

Questionnaires are one of the most common instruments used. They are relatively easy to prepare, they can be used with large numbers of subject, and they obtain information that is relatively easy to tabulate and analyze. They can also be used to elicit information about many different kinds of issues, preferred classroom activities and attitudes and beliefs.

Questionnaires are either based on a set of structured items or unstructured which open-ended questions are given that the respondent can answer as he or she chooses

b. Self-ratings

These consist of scales that students or others used to read their knowledge or abilities. For example a student might rate how well she or he can handle a job interview in English. The disadvantage of such an instrument is that it provides only impressionistic information and information that is not very precise.

c. Interviews

Interviews allow for a more in-depth exploration of issues than possible with a questionnaire, though they take longer to administer and are only feasible for smaller groups. An interview may often be useful at the preliminary stage of designing a questionnaires, since it will help the designer get a senses of what topics and issues can be focused on in the questionnaire.[1]

Due to these questions, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) as quoted by Songhori (2007) suggest a framework for analyzing learning needs which consists of several questions, each divided into more detailed questions, as follows:
1. Why are the learners taking the course?

a. Compulsory or optional;

b. Apparent need or not;

c. Are statuses, money, promotion involved?

d. What do learners think they will achieve?

e. What is their attitude towards the ESP course? Do they want to improve their English or do they resent the time they have to spend on it?

2. How do the learners learn?

a. What is their learning background?

b. What is their concept of teaching and learning?

c. What methodology will appeal to them?

d. What sort of techniques bore/alienate them?

3. What sources are available?

a. Number and professional competence of teachers;

b. Attitude of teachers to ESP;

c. Teachers’ knowledge of and attitude to subject content;

d. Materials;

e. Aids;

f. Opportunities for out-of-class activities.

4. Who are the learners?

a. Age/sex/nationality;

b. What do they know already about English?

c. What subject knowledge do they have?

d. What are their interests?

e. What is their socio-cultural background?

f. What teaching style are they used to?

g. What is their attitude to English or to the cultures of the English-speaking world?

Finally, as Allwright (1982, quoted in West, 1994) says that the investigation of learners’ preferred learning styles and strategies gives us a picture of the learners’ conception of learning.[2]

d. Meetings

A meetings allows a large amount of information to be collected in a fairly short time. Information obtained in this way may be impressionistic and subjective and reflect the ideas of more outspoken members of a group.

e. Observations

Observations of learners’ behavior in target situation is another way of assessing their needs. In addition, observation is a specialized skill. Knowing how to observe, what to look for and how to make use of the information obtained generally requires specialized training.

f. Collecting learner language samples

Collecting data on how well learners perform on different language tasks and documenting typical problems they have is a useful and direct source of information about leaners’ language needs. Language sample may be collected through the following means:

· Writer of oral tasks

· Simulations or role plays

· Achievement tests

· Performance tests

g. Task analysis

This refers to analysis of the kinds of tasks the learners will have to carry out in English in a future occupational or educational setting and assessment of the linguistic characteristic and demands of the tasks.

h. Case studies

With a case studies, a single student or a selected group of students is followed through a relevant or educational experience in order to determine the characteristics of that situation. In any situation where a needs analysis is needed, a large amount of relevant information is generally available in various. These include:

§ Books

§ Journal articles

§ Reports and surveys

§ Records and files

An analysis of available information is normally the first step in a needs analysis because they are very a few problems in language teaching that have not been written about or analyzed somewhere.

B. Design 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 learner’s needs and that represent the interest of the different stakeholders involved. Decisions have to be made on the practical procedures involved in collecting, organizing, analyzing, and reporting the information collected.

In investigating the language needs of non-English-background student at a New Zealand university (Gravtt, Richards, and lewis 1997), the following procedures were used :

1. Literature survey

2. Analysis of a wide range of survey questionnaires

3. Contact with others who had conducted similar surveys.

4. Interviews with teachers to determine goals.

5. Identification of participing departments

6. Presentation of project proposal to participing departments and identification of liaison person in each department.

7. Development of a pilot student and staff questionnaire.

8. Review of the quetionnaries by colleagues.

9. Piloting of the quetionnaries

10. Selection of staff and student subjects

11. Developing a schedule for collecting data.

12. Administration of questionnaires

13. Follow up interst with selected participants

14. Tabulation of responses

15. Analysis of responses

16. Writing up of report and recommendations

In smaller-scale needs analysis such as that of a teacher or group of teacher asseing the needs of new groups of student in a language program needs analysis procedures may consist.

· Initial qustionnarie

· Follow up individual and group interviews

· Meeting with student

· Ongoing classroom observation

· Test

C. Making use of the information obtained

The result of a needs analysis will generally consist of information taken from several different sources and summarized in the form of ranked lists of different kinds.

One of the findings of a needs analysis of problems of ESL student attending university lectures was a list of the frequency with which students experienced difficulties with speaking and listening skills (Gravett et all. 1997, 36). The most common difficulties reported were (by rank) :

1. Large group discussions

2. Class discussions

3. Interactions with native speakers

4. Out-of class projects

5. Small-group work

6. Desmonstrator interactions

7. Class participation

However, such a listing provides little useful information about the prescise type of problems the learners experience in relation to each event. Even if more detailed information had been provided , the result would still be impressiontistic. Johns and Johns (1997) providesuch a list based on needs analysis of problems student have with discussions. The most frequent difficulties were.

1. Comprehension of spoken English (‘they speak too fast’ : ‘they mumble : ‘vocabulary is idiomatic’)

2. The pressing need to formulate a contribution quicly (‘I can’t think what to say’)

3. Shyness about the value of a contribution (‘I might say something wrong’)

4. Inability to formulate an idea in English (‘ I don’t know how to say it in English’)

5. Awareness that a given fuction may be realized in different ways (‘I don’t know the best way to say it’)

6. Frustration about being unable to enter the discussion (‘some students speak too much’) (Johns and Johns 1997)

In the course of carrying out a needs analysis, a large number of potential needs may be identified. However, these needs will have to be prioritized because not all of them may be practical to address in a language program , or perhaps the time frame available in the program is suitable for addressing only a portion of them. And the mere fact that needs have been identified does not automatically imply that changes will have to be made in the curriculum. First, the exciting curriculum (when there is one) has to be examined to see to what extent the needs that have been identified are being met. Dicisions will therefore have to be made concerning which of the needs are critical, which are important, and which are merely desirable. In addition, soe needs will be immediate and others longer-term. For some, solutions will be feasible , for others, they may be impractical.

It also important to remember that because needs are not objective facts but subjective interpretations of information from a large variety of sources , a great dealof consultation is needed with the various stakeholders to ensure that conclusions drawn from a needs analysis are appropriate and relevan.

A number of different points of view emerged as to what should be changed.

· Learners view more support for learning needs and reduction of the amount of materials they had to study.

· Academics view better preparation for tertiary studies needed in terms of reading and writing skills

· Employers view : better preparation for employment required in terms of basic communication

· Teachers view : better grasp of grammar needed by leaners.

Apeendix 1. Designing a questionnaire

1. Preliminary questions

a. How will the questionnaire be piloted?

b. How will it be administered?

2. The types of information asked for

a. Is the question really necessary? How will the information it provide be used?

b. Are other question needed on this issue?

3. How the questions are worded

a. Can the questions be understood? Is the wording unambiguous?

b. Can the questions be shortened?

4. The types of items in the questionnaire

a. Open question: one that can be answered freely and where no kind of choice is required in the answer

b. Closed question: one that is answered by choosing alternatives provided

Appendix 2. Needs analysis questionnaire for Cantonese learners

In what situations is Cantonese useful for you? Please check the appropriate column.

A1. Buying things in stores and supermarket

A2. Buying things in the market place

A3. Getting information about services and goods I want to buy[3]

CONCLUSION

This discussion indicates that needs analysis has a vital role in the process of designing and carrying out any language course and considered as a crucial component of systematic curriculum development. However, learners as the main sources in needs analysis often find difficult to define what language needs they have. Therefore, as the teacher or even institution should be aware of their impetus on successful teaching by conducting this needs analysis through some procedures. At least there are some advantages might be obtained by conducting needs analysis, such as:

1. In a learner-centered curriculum, teachers’ reconciliation in content selection though extensive consultation with the students about their learning needs and interest is critical. Therefore needs analysis helps teachers create in-class activities in which the students can utilize learned skills and knowledge as tools to meet their real-life needs in meaningful ways.

2. Needs analysis can helps teachers understand “local needs” of students or the needs of a particular group of students and make practical decision in pedagogy and assessment for improvement, and also for the selection of appropriate teaching methods in a program.

3. In proficiency-oriented instruction/curricula, needs analysis helps teachers understand the potential difference in learning expectations between themselves and their students.

4. Obtaining input from the students about a planned or existing program through a needs analysis is fundamental to the design, implementation, evaluation and revision of the program.

5. Needs analysis may provide the basis for planning goals and objectives for a future program, and also for developing syllabus design and teaching materials for the course.

6. A program that attempts to meet students’ perceived needs for the students will be more motivating and successful.[4]

[1] Richard, Jack c. curriculum development in language teaching. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 2001

[2] file:///I:/CURRICULUM/ONLINE/need%20analysis.htm

[3] Richard, Jack c. curriculum development in language teaching. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 2001

[4] http://www.dirjournal.com/guides/how-to-conduct-a-training-needs-analysis/