BBI3224 Language Learning Needs
• Just as no medical intervention would be prescribed before a thorough diagnosis of what ails the patient, so NO language teaching program should be designed without a thorough needs analysis.
Getting started Based on your experience as a learner of English language, .. • Have you ever thought of designing a language course? • What are the contents and activities that would be interesting? • Why does the audience need the course?
Do you know.. • Why do these learners need to learn English? • Why did the locals (under the British administration) have to learn English? • After independence, why did the locals have to learn English? • Under the present education system, why did the locals have to learn English?
What is NA?
Definition of needs analysis (NA) • ..a procedure for collecting
information about learners and classroom activities to design a syllabus (Nunan 1988)
• ..systematic collection and analysis of all subjective and objective information necessary to define and validate defensible curriculum processes that satisfy the language learning requirements of students within the context of particular institutions that influence the learning and teaching situation (Brown, 1995)
NA •
the awareness of a target situation
• What are needs? • What kind of information should NA tell us?
John Munby • Communicative Syllabus Design (1978) • set of procedures known as the Communication Needs Processor (CNP) • Range of Qs about key communication variables (topics, participants, medium, etc) • to identify the target language needs of any group of learners
What is needs? • The ability to comprehend and/or produce the linguistic features of the target situation. • Target needs ? • Learning needs ?
• Target needs – what the learner needs to do in the target situation
• Learning needs – what the learner needs to do in order to learn
Target needs • Necessities, lacks and wants • Necessities – type of need determined by the demands of the target situation • = what the learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation
Target needs • Lacks – know the current knowledge of the learner before deciding which of the necessities the learner lacks • Wants – the learner has an idea on what he/she wants
Target situation analysis framework • • • •
Why is the language needed How will the language be used What will the content areas be Who will the learners use the language with • Where will the language be used • When will the language be used
Framework for analysing learning needs • Why are the learners taking the course? • How do the learners learn? • What resources are available • Who are the learners • Where will the ESP course take place • When will the ESP course take place
Processes in needs analysis • Making basic decisions • Gathering information • Using the information (Brown, 1995)
Discuss 1. How might you analyse the needs of secondary school learners? 2. Using the Framework for analysing target needs, analyse a group of learners’ needs.
References • Hutchinson, T. & Walters, A. English for Specific Purposes – A learning-centred approach • Dudley-Evans, T. & St. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press