Learning Experiences: Learning
Outcomes Evaluation, Resources
Management, Strategies and
Environment
Unit #: 1
Didactic resources
Topic #: 2
Needs analysis and its use to select teaching resources
Lcda. Diana Estrada Mg.
Subtopics
 Subtopic 1: Needs Analysis and its role in the
selection of teaching.
 Subtopic 2:Needs Analysis Tools: Necessities,
Lacks and Wants.
Subtopics
 Subtopic 3: Gathering Information:
framework for Analyzing.
 Subtopic 4: Evaluating Needs Analysis.
A
Objective
Discuss and analyze the role
of teaching materials in a
learning program and its use.
Introduction
Curriculum development include processes used to
determine the needs of learners and to develop
aims for a program. To address those needs, to
determine an appropriate syllabus, course structure,
teaching methods, and materials, and to succeed an
evaluation of the language program it is necessary
to emphasize that result on these processes.
(Nunan, 1991) and (Richards J. C., Curriculum Approaches in
Language Teaching: Forward, Central, and Backward Design. ,
2013)
Warm-up activity:
Go to the link provided and try to
complete the activity.
https://quizlet.com/_8qtv3h?x=1qqt&i=1246w0
Subtopic 1: Needs Analysis and its role in the selection
of teaching.
Richard (2001) indicated that the
ability to formulate goals enables
language teachers to consider in the
instructional process what to be
attained after the completion of the
teaching-learning process. This is
known as teaching goals that can be
drawn based on the results of a needs
analysis or needs assessment.
Richard (2001)
The need analysis is usually
based on the experiences
faced by the learners in
relation to the teaching and
learning process and the
learning strategies.
Subtopic 1: Needs Analysis and its role in the selection
of teaching.
Objective Needs
Objective needs supported by personal
data study of learners like gender, age,
legal status, nationality, and background
about the learner's education, prelanguage courses, current language
proficiency, language patterns, difficulties
in the foreign acquisition, current or future
profession.
Figure 2 Types of needs. (taken from Language Curriculum Design)
(pág. 25)
Subtopic 1: Needs analysis and evaluation.
Subjective Needs
Subjective needs are the acquisition of
cognition and emotional needs of
learners. It refers to the requirements
inferred from the "affective and cognitive
factors" of the learners. These factors
include the learners' personality, selfconfidence, personal cognitive styles,
expectations: and self-esteem during the
educational process.
Subtopic 1: Needs analysis and evaluation.
Figure 3. Questions for focusing needs (table taken from Language Curriculum Design) (pág.
26)
Subtopic 1: Needs analysis and evaluation.
Subjective Needs
In concordance with Graves (2007),
learners' selected information must be
gathered to gauge the subjective
needs.
It means the learners' attitudes
concerning learning, the intended
culture, the language, their
expectations for themselves and the
language course, and their
"underlying purposes." Sometimes
emotional needs cannot be
distinguished readily. Sometimes
they can not be specified even by
learners themselves.
(Graves, 2007)
Subtopic 1: Needs analysis and evaluation.
Discovering Needs
“Need, desires, and deficiencies
include some comparison or relation
to lists of things which will act
because of the course's learning
goals. He emphasized that an
exception to the current is to base
the course on what the learners
request. During this case, the lists
are created by the learners".
(Nation, 2009)
Subtopic 2:
Needs Analysis Tools: Necessities, Lacks and Wants
The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis
Necessities: What is necessary in the
learners’ use of language? For example, do
the learners have to write answers to exam
questions? (Mustafa Zamanian, Sara Mohammadi
Kashkouli, Sorour Seddighi, 2015)
Lacks: What do the learners lack? For
example, are there aspects of writing that
were not practiced in their previous learning
(L1, L2)? Nation, (2009)
Figure 5. The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis. (taken
from Language Curriculum Design) (pág. 24)
Wants: What do the learners wish to
learn? (Nation, 2009, pág. 29).
Subtopic 2:
Needs Analysis Tools: Necessities, Lacks and Wants
Necessities
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 perspectives can vary
according to the type of need (lack, necessities, wants; or
present knowledge, required knowledge, objective and
subjective needs), the source of information (present
learners, past learners, teachers, present tasks and materials,
future tasks and materials, future colleagues or future
assessors or teachers), the data-gathering tools (text and
discourse analysis, interviews, questionnaires, observation,
negotiation and discussion, reflection on experience.
(Mustafa Zamanian, Sara Mohammadi Kashkouli, Sorour Seddighi, 2015)
Subtopic 2:
Needs Analysis Tools: Necessities, Lacks and Wants
Lacks
The learners themselves
are also a very useful
source of information
about lacks.
(Nation, 2009, pág. 28)
There are different ways to
get learners to talk or show
what do the need to
improve. One of the best is
to let them to talk about
how and what to do in an
assignment, performing a
writing activity or the usual
that is in a proficiency test.
Subtopic 2:
Needs Analysis Tools: Necessities, Lacks and Wants
Wants
Interviewing or asking them to
answer a questionary is one of
the best choices to know what
they really wish.
Students can be given a
series of items that may
describe their wants.
(Nation, 2009, pág. 29)
Subtopic 2: Needs Analysis Tools: Necessities, Lacks and
Wants
Conclusion
To illustrate the “target
needs” more explicitly, it is
more useful to look at the
target situation in terms of
“necessities”, “lacks” and
“wants”.
(Juan, 2014).
In conclusion, needs
analysis must lead to
decisions about what
will be learned during a
course.
Subtopic 3: Gathering Information: A framework for
Analyzing.
Needs analysis conclusion
have to be well-adjusted in
contrast to constraints found
in environment analysis,
specially the time limitation.
Figure 4. Methods and examples of need analysis (Table
taken from Language Curriculum Design) (pág. 27)
SUBTOPIC 3: GATHERING INFORMATION: A FRAMEWORK
FOR ANALYZING.
Demands when developing teaching materials.
Development of materials
involves the production of a
widespread series of
educational resources to
illustrate methods but at this
time things had changed due
to teachers' mindfulness of
two issues.
(Núñez Pardo, 2004)
• The huge production in the
interest of methodologies and
materials used for teaching;
• The importance of including
students' voices in order to
update teaching materials in
terms of the way learners
would be interested in
learning and what they need
to learn in today's increasingly
globalized world.
19
Subtopic 3: Gathering Information: A framework for
Analyzing.
The effectiveness of materials applied during the
learning teaching process basically depends on
how meaningful, relevant and motivating they are
to the learners. These three conditions are met
when there is a match between the materials and
tasks proposed in them, with the learners' needs,
interests, attitudes and expectations.
(Núñez Pardo, 2004)
Subtopic 3: Gathering Information: A framework for
Analyzing.
Conclusion
Language teachers must lead their
students to have materials designed
in a way they interact appropriately
with their necessities and interests
to facilitate teaching-learning
process.
Subtopic 4: Evaluating Needs Analysis.
What effective teaching involve?
The effective teaching model of
teaching is correspondingly to the
top-down philosophy of teaching,
in the sense that once the
characteristics
of
effective
teaching are identified, teachers
must aim to implement such
practices in their own classes.
(Richards J. C., 2012, pp. 66–68)
Subtopic 4: Evaluating Needs Analysis.
The four questions are:
There are at least four
fundamental
questions
that have to be answered
when it is intended to
develop a curriculum.
Richard (2001)
1) What educational purposes should the
school seek to attain?
2) What educational experiences can be
provided that are likely to attain these
purposes?
3) How can these educational experiences
be effectively organized?
4) How can we determine whether these
purposes are being attained
Kelly (2009)
Subtopic 4: Evaluating Needs Analysis.
The
Politics
curriculum
development
guarantees that the formulated goals
are up-to-date so that it responds and
Curriculum
(New/ /
Developed/
revitalized
Information
Technology,
Science
Culture
Fig. 7.
Economics
fulfills needs of learners and needs of
learners in relation to the society.
Social
Factors changed affecting curriculum development
It means that the outputs of the
implemented curriculum in any
education level respond and suit
needs of society after the
completion of their education
period.
Subtopic 4: Evaluating Needs Analysis
Needs Analysis Evaluation
Needs analysis is considered
assessment and consequently
it can be evaluated by
considering reliability, validity
and practicality.
Rather than just observing
people performing tasks that
learners will have to do after the
course, it is better to systematize
the observation by using a
checklist, or by recording and
apply standardized analysis
procedures.
(Nation, 2009)
Subtopic 4: Evaluating Needs Analysis
Conclusion
Taking into account learner´s needs
effective materials make learners
feel comfortable and confident
because both the content and type
of activities are perceived by them
as significant and practical to their
lives.
Bibliografía
Cambridge, D. (2020). Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/thinking
Graves, K. (2007). Designing language courses: A guide for teachers. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Juan, L. (2014). Literature Review of the Classifications of "Needs" in Needs Analysis Theory. .
International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 2(3), 12-16. Obtenido de Retrieved from
http://www.journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/IJELS/article/view/535/447
Kelly, A. V. (2009). The Curriculum: Theory and Practice. . SAGE Publications.
Mustafa Zamanian, Sara Mohammadi Kashkouli, Sorour Seddighi. (2015). Book Review : Designing
Language and Teaching Curriculum : Based on Nation and Macalister ’ s 2010.
Nation, I. S. (2009). Language curriculum design. . New York, NY: Routledge. : Routledge.
Nunan, D. (1991). Syllabus design. Oxford University Press.
Núñez Pardo, A. P. (2004). Key Aspects for Developing Your Instructional Materials. Profile: Issues in
Teachers´ Professional Development,, 5(1), 128-139. Obtenido de Retrieved from
https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/profile/arti
Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. (C. U. Press., Ed.) Cambridge.
doi:10.1017/CBO9780511667220
Richards, J. C. (2012). Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J. C. (2013). Curriculum Approaches in Language Teaching: Forward, Central, and Backward
Design. . 44(1), 5–33. . doi:10.1177/0033688212473293