Needs Analysis
Instructor: Dr. Mavis Shang
Presenter: Sophia Yar-ling Tsai
27 March 2008
I-Shou University, Taiwan
Introduction
• What are ‘Needs’?
Wants, desires, demands, expectation, motivations,
lacks, constraints, and requirements (Brindley 1984)
• What is ‘Needs Analysis’?
Procedures for collecting information about learners’
needs.
• When did ‘Needs Analysis’ emerge?
In the 1960s
ESP movement
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
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
The purpose of needs analysis
• ‘Needs’ also includes students’ rights
‘It’s school’s responsibility to take into account the cultural,
political, and personal characteristics of students …. in order to plan
activities and objectives that are realistic and purposeful.’ (Linse, 1993)
• Needs also includes perceived and present needs,
potential and unrecognized needs
• Needs analysis may take place
1. prior to
2. during
3. after a language program
Examples of needs analyses conducted
prior to a language program
• Method:
Staff questionnaire:
* background information about the course the lecturer was
describing
* overview of problems experienced by ESL students
* linguistic demands of the course
* suggestions to which language skills should be focuses on
* modifications made in teaching or in examinations
Students questionnaire
The users of needs analysis
Big-scale needs analysis
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curriculum officers in the ministry of education
Teachers
Learners
Writers
Testing personnel
Staff of tertiary institutions
Small-scale needs analysis
• Teacher
• Program coordinator
The target population
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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
The target population
• Subcategories of respondents
students currently enrolled in a foreign language course
students previously enrolled but no longer studying a language
students who have never studied a foreign language
• An important issue in determining the target
population: Sampling
Sampling involves asking a portion of potential population
instead of the total population
Administering the needs
analysis
• Who will administer the needs analysis?
• Who will collect and analyze the results?
* academic or research assistant
* colleagues in different department
* students who piloted the questionnaire
* academic staff of the university
* secretarial support
Procedures for conducting
needs analysis
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Questionnaires
Self-ratings
Interviews
Meetings
Observation
Collecting learner language samples
Task analysis
Case studies
Analysis of available information
Design of Questionnaires
The following questions need to be considered:
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Preliminary questions
The types of information asked for
How the questions are worded
The type of items in the questionnaire:
open questions, closed questions, checklist, rating scale, ranking, inventory
A disadvantage of
Questionnaires
• The information obtained may be fairly
superficial or imprecise.
• The information will often need follow-up to
gain a fuller understanding.
* Advice: to familiar with the principles of
good questionnaire design.
Self-ratings
• Self-ratings might be included as part of a
questionnaire.
• Disadvantage:
It provides only impressionistic information.
Interviews
• Advantage:
* Allow for a more in-depth exploration of issue
* may be useful at the preliminary stage of designing
a questionnaire.
• Disadvantage:
* Take longer to administer
* Only feasible for smaller groups
Meetings
• Advantage:
* Allows a large amount of information to be
collected in a fairly short time.
• Disadvantage:
* Information may be impressionistic and subjective
Observation
• Take into account:
* People often do not perform well when they are
observed.
* The skill of observer.
Collecting learner
language samples
Language samples may be collected through:
• Written or oral tasks
• Simulations or role plays
• Achievement tests
• Performance tests
Task analysis
Analysis the tasks the learners will have to
carry out in English in a future occupational or
educational setting.
Case studies
• A single student or a selected group of students
is followed through a relevant work or
educational experience in order to determine
the characteristics of that situation.
Analysis of available
information
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Books
Journal articles
Reports and surveys
Records and files
Designing the needs analysis
Procedures for bigger-scale
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Literature survey
Analysis of a wide range of survey questionnaires
Contact with others
Interviews with teachers
Identification of participating departments
Presentation of project proposal
Development of a pilot student and staff questionnaires
Review of the questionnaires
Designing the needs analysis
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Piloting of the questionnaires
Selection of staff and student subjects
Developing a schedule for collecting data
Administration of questionnaires
Follow-up interviews
Tabulation or responses
Analysis of responses
Writing up of report and recommendations
Designing the needs analysis
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Procedures for smaller-scale
Initial questionnaire
Follow-up individual and group interviews
Meetings with students
Meetings with other teachers
Ongoing classroom observation
Tests
Making use of the
information obtained
• Making a list consists of information collected from different
source and summarized in ranking
• More analysis and research
‘…..The primary goal of analysis is to bring meaning to the obtained
information …’ (Stufflebeam et al. 1985)
• Take different views into account:
* learners’ view
* academics’ view
* employers’ view
* teachers’ view
Making use of the
information obtained
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The format for reporting the findings:
A full written document
A short summary document
A meeting
A group discussion
A newsletter
Thank you!