Needs Analysis

Needs analysis is directed mainly at the goals and content of a course. It examines what the learners know already and what they need to know. Needs analysis makes sure that the course will contain relevant and useful things to learn. Good needs analysis involves asking the right questions and finding the answers in the most effective way.

The various focuses of needs analysis

Target needs:

-  Necessities: What is necessary in the learners’ use of language?  (Required knowledge).

-  Lacks: What do the learners lack? For example, are there aspects of writing that were not practiced in their previous learning (L1, L2)? (Present knowledge).

-  Wants: What do the learners wish to learn? (Subjective needs).

Another way to look at the needs:

-       Present knowledge:

-       Required knowledge:

-       Objective needs: they can be gathered by questionnaires, personal interviews, data collection, observations, informal consultation with teachers and learners, and tests.

-       Subjective needs: they are discovered through learner self-assessment using lists and scales, and questionnaires and interviews.

Needs Analysis Tools

Necessities: The demands of the target tasks. That is, what will learners have to do when they do university study? Among the things they will have to do is listening to lectures, take part in tutorials, write assignments and tasks, and sit exams. 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: Looking at where learners are at present. Learners’ general proficiency contributes to the way they handle any language task. To gather data about the learners’ general proficiency, we can interview them, get them to sit tests such as vocabulary tests, grammar tests, writing tests and comprehension tests, or we can get them to do self-assessment using a specially prepared checklist. Learners’ scores on standardized proficiency tests like the TOEFL test or the IELTS test can be a very useful source of information particularly when they provide information about separate aspects of language proficiency such as writing or speaking.

Wants: Learners have their own views about what they think is useful for them. At the very least, information about this is useful in working out whether the learners’ views and the needs analyst’s views are the same or not. If they are not the same, then the curriculum designer may need to rethink the results of the needs analysis or persuade the learners that there is a more useful view of what they need.

The times of needs analysis can include needs analysis before a course begins, needs analysis in the initial stages of a course, and ongoing needs analysis during the running of the course. If a course is to be repeated with different learners, then needs analysis at the end of a course is useful.

Evaluating Needs Analysis

It is important to consider the reliability, validity and practicality of the needs analysis. Reliable needs analysis involves using well-thought-out, standardized tools that are applied systematically. 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. Valid needs analysis involves looking at what is relevant and important. Consideration of the type of need that is being looked at and the type of information that is being gathered is important. Practical needs analysis is not expensive, does not occupy too much of the learners’ and teacher’s time, provides clear, easy-to-understand results and can easily be incorporated into the curriculum design process.

Issues in needs analysis

Common core and specialized language:  What are the content selection stages that a special purposes language course should follow? From a vocabulary point of view there is evidence to support the idea that learners should first focus on a common core of 2,000 words, then focus on general academic vocabulary common to a wide range of disciplines if their goal is academic reading and writing, and then focus on the specialized vocabulary of their particular disciplines.

Narrow focus – wide focus: Detailed systems of needs analysis have been set up to determine precisely what language a particular language learner with clear needs should learn. The arguments in favor of a narrow focus include the faster meeting of needs, the reduction of the quantity of learning needed, and the motivation that comes from getting an immediate return from being able to apply learning.

Critical needs analysis: Needs analysis is affected by the ideology of those in control of the analysis. That is, 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.

Needs analysis makes sure that a course will be relevant and satisfying to the learners.