Chapter 3 - Needs Analysis

Needs Analysis

The needs analysis target the goals and content of the course in what learners know already and what they need to know. As well, it makes sure that the course will contain relevant and useful things to learn. It involves asking the right questions and finding the answers in the most effective way. 

The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis

The needs analysis must be divided in target needs, which are the learner needs to do in the target situation and the learning needs, which are the learner needs to do in order to learn. The needs analysis must look at: 

-Necessities: These should look in what is necessary in the learner’s use of language. They are the demands of the target tasks. If we take assignments as one example of the things they have to do, we could analyze the kind of language needed to do an assignment as a way of working out what the learners would need to know.  

-Lacks: These should focus in the learner’s lacks. An important part of needs analysis involves looking at where learners are at present. One way to investigate this is to look at an assignment or two that the learners have just written. The assignment can be analyzed from an information perspective from a grammar perspective and from the discourse perspective. The quality of an assignment often depends on the conditions under which it was developed. Learners’ general proficiency contributes to the way they handle any language task.  

-Wants: These should look in what learner’s wants to learn or improve. Learners have their own views about what they think is useful for them. Good needs analysis covers a range of needs using a range of data-getting tools. Needs are not always clear and are always changing, so it is important that needs are looked at from a variety of perspectives at a variety of times. The times of needs analysis should be included before a course begins, during the initial stages of a course and ongoing process. 

Another way to look at needs is to make a division between present knowledge and required knowledge, towards objective needs and subjective needs. The lacks information will fit in the present knowledge, necessities will fit into required knowledge and the wanted information will fit into subjective needs. The objective needs should be gathered by surveys, questionnaires, interviews or data collection, in the other hand the subjective needs are discovered through learner self-assessment using lists and scales, questionnaires and interviews. These objectives should be organized under the four learning goals because needs analysis must lead to decisions about what will be learned during a course. The report should rank the students skills and will help the teacher in planning a class program as well as arranging individualized or small group work. 

With a negotiated syllabus, learners negotiate with each other and with the teacher to determine the content and other aspects of the course. The findings of needs analysis need to be balanced against constraints found in environment analysis, particularly the limitation of time. 

Discovering Needs

It could involve diary writing or some other form od extended written report, as well it should include group activities such as voting, ranking, brainstorming or problem solving. 

Needs Analysis Tools

As teachers always look at possible tools in more detail by taking the case of an English for academic purposes course which is preparing learners of English for university study, look at necessities, lacks and wants in that order.     

Evaluating Needs Analysis

Needs analysis is a kind of assessment and can be evaluated by considering its reliability, validity and practicality. It is better to systematize the observation by using a checklist or by recording and apply standardized analysis procedures. Before needs analysis begins it may be necessary to do a ranking activity to decide what type of need should get priority in the needs analysis investigation. 

Issues in Needs Analysis

-Common core and specialized language: Always support the idea that learners should first focus on a common core of 2000 words, and then focus on general academic vocabulary common to a wide range of disciplines. 

-Narrow focus-Wide focus: Detailed systems of needs analysis have been set up to determine precisely what a language a particular language learner with clear needs should learn. 

-Critical needs analysis: Needs analysis is affected by the ideology of those in control of the analysis. The questions they ask, the areas they investigate and the conclusions they draw are inevitably influenced by their attitudes to change and the status quo. 

Remember that a good needs analysis makes sure that a course will contain relevant and satisfying information to the learners.