Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS an initial evaluation of the listening materials for first year english majors at the faculty of english language teacher education, ULIS, VNU as perceived by students and teachers a needs

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration

i

Acknowledgements

ii

Abstract

iii

Table of contents

iv

List of abbreviations

vi

List of tables and figures

vii

INTRODUCTION

1

1.1. Rationale for the study

1

1.2. Aims and objectives of the study

2

1.3. Scope of the study

3

1.4. Methods of the study

3

1.5. Significance of the study

4

1.6. Design of the study

5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

6

1.1. Listening and teaching listening in the foreign language classroom

6

1.2.

Needs analysis in language teaching

12

1.3.

Materials evaluation in language teaching

20

1.4. Materials adaptation in language teaching

28

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

32

2.1. Description of the context

32

2.2. Description of the participants

34

2.3. Methods of data collection

34

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2.4. Methods of data analysis

37

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

39

3.1. Students’ listening needs

39

3.2. Evaluation of the current in-class listening materials for first-year ELT students as

46

perceived by the Ss and Ts
3.3. Discussions

60

CONCLUSION

64

1. Recapitulation

64

2. Recommendations

65

3. Significance, limitations of the research and recommendations for further study

67

References

69

Appendices

I

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EFL

English as a foreign language

ELT

English Language Teaching

ESL

English as a second language

ESP

English for specific purposes

FELTE

The Faculty of Foreign Language Teacher Education

L1

First language

L2

Foreign language / second language

ME

Materials evaluation

NA

Needs analysis

PSA

Present situation analysis

S(s)

Student(s)

T(s)

Teacher(s)

TSA

Target situation analysis

ULIS

University of Languages and International Studies

VNU

Vietnam National University, Hanoi

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Title

Page

Figure 1.1: Systematic approach to designing and maintaining language curriculum 16
(Brown, 1995)

Figure 3.1: Ss’ overall opinions on their main listening problems

40

Figure 3.2: Ts’ overall opinions on their Ss’ main listening problems

41

Figure 3.3: Comparison between Ss and Ts’ opinions on Ss’ main listening problems

41

Figure 3.4: Comparison between Ss and Ts’ opinions on Ss’ main listening problems

42

Figure 3.5: Ss’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

48

for first-year ELT Ss in terms content

Figure 3.6: Ts’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

49

for first-year ELT Ss in terms of content

Figure 3.7: Ss’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

50

for first-year ELT Ss in terms of recordings

Figure 3.8: Ss’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

50

for first-year ELT Ss in terms of recordings

Figure 3.9: Ss’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

51

for first-year ELT Ss in terms of topics

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Figure 3.10: Ts’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

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for first-year ELT Ss in terms of topics

Figure 3.11: Comparison between Ss and Ts’ opinions on the aspects of the current

53

in-class listening materials for first-year ELT Ss

Figure 3.12:Comparison between Ss and Ts’ opinions on the aspects of the current

53

in-class listening materials for first-year ELT Ss

Table 1.1: NA / initial assessment components (Brindley, 1984)

17

Table 2.1: Assessment in the “listening – speaking 1” course

34

Table 3.1: Opinions of Ss and Ts on Ss’ listening proficiency and attitudes towards V
the importance of listening skill

Table 3.2: Ss and Ts’ opinions on Ss’ main listening problems

VII

Table 3.3: Opinions of Ss and Ts on Ss’ wants in learning listening skill

VII

Table 3.4: Coding for listening needs interview transcript – question 1

VIII

Table 3.5: Coding for listening needs interview transcript – question 2

IX

Table 3.6: Ss and Ts’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials for

XIV

first year ELT Ss
Table 3.7: Ts’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

XV

for first-year ELT Ss in terms of objectives

Table 3.8: Ss and Ts’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

XV

for first-year ELT Ss in terms of layout / graphics

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Table 3.9: Ss and Ts’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

XVI

for first-year ELT Ss in terms of content

Table 3.10: Ss and Ts’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

XVII

for first-year ELT Ss in terms of recordings

Table 3.11: Ss and Ts’ overall judgement on the current in-class listening materials

XIX

for first-year ELT Ss in terms of topics

Table 3.12: Coding for listening materials evaluation interview transcript

XX

Table 3.13: Ss’ performance in listening tasks – theme “employment”

XXVII

Table 3.14: Ss’ performance in listening tasks - theme “holidays and festivals”

XXVII

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INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale for the study
As an input skill, listening plays a crucial role in Ss’ language development. According to Krashen
(1985), a language is acquired by understanding the linguistic information people hear. Morley (2001: 70)
claims that on average, people can expect to listen “twice as much as we speak, four times more than
what we read and five times more than we usually write”. The significant role of listening in
communication and language learning is also recognized by other researchers such as Dunkel (1991),
Anderson and Lynch (1988). This skill can be considered as a very important input in foreign language
learning; therefore it deserves sound attention from teachers (Ts) and learners.
Having spent two years teaching in the English Division 1, the Faculty of English Language Teacher
Education (FELTE), University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), Vietnam National University,
Hanoi (VNU), the author has had a number of informal talks with students (Ss) about their studies. Many
complaints and worries came from their difficulties and the lack of self-confidence in their own ability and
performance in listening comprehension. Their mid-term and end-of-term test results also showed that
to many Ss, listening skill was a bigger challenge than other three English learning skills. The results
showed that many Ss did well with the reading, speaking and writing tests with some having maximum
scores (i.e. 10 out of 10). However, they were not as successful with the listening tests. The scores for
these tests were far lower than those for the other three ones, with some Ss scoring very low. This

indicates that a lot of attention should be paid to helping Ss improve this skill.
It is undeniable that materials play a crucial role in language teaching and learning. According
to Hutchinson and Torres (1994: 3), materials are “an almost universal element of *English language+
teaching. Millions of copies are sold every year, and numerous aid projects have been set up to produce
them in *various+ countries”. Tomlinson (2003: 2) suggests that materials “include anything which can be
used to facilitate the learning of a language.” He also claims that the needs and wants of the learners
should be taken into consideration when designing materials. Many researchers (Nunan, 1988; Peacock,
1999; Richards, 2011; Rubdy, 2003) share the same idea with him. From this point of view, Ts should
identify learner expectations and attitudes about how languages are learned and also explain the
reasoning behind classroom methods in order to reduce any gap between learner and teacher beliefs.
This is a valuable source of data for Ts in designing, evaluating and adapting materials.
The importance of materials evaluation has been recognised by many researchers and experts
in foreign language teaching such as Ellis (1997) and Robinson (1991). They claim that materials

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evaluation should be carried out not only to choose among the available materials the most suitable for
one’s particular situation but also to determine whether the chosen ones work for that situation after
having been used for a period of time. It can also bring general insights into how Ts use materials and
suggest directions both for materials development and professional development activities. (Hutchinson
& Torres, 1994).
The listening materials used for first-year English majors at FELTE, ULIS, VNU have been employed
in the “listening - speaking 1” course since 2006. Some changes have been made to them based on
informal feedback from some Ts at the end of the course. During the end of term meetings for English
division 1 (which is in charge of the implementation of the course), Ts are requested to give comments on
the materials they have been using during the semester. The criticism that they make is discussed among
all Ts and based on the final conclusion, the necessary changes will be made to the materials for the next
school year. However, no research has been done on a bigger scale to find out how Ss and Ts evaluated

the materials. As Ferris (1998) stresses, it is important to use both student and faculty informants when
looking at the needs and difficulties of ESL Ss in various academic settings. This would help to provide a
well-rounded picture of the academic needs of those Ss whose first language is not English. Therefore, to
the author’s mind, a study with reflection of both Ts and Ss on the current materials will bring more
validity and reliability to the materials evaluation.
Because of the given reasons, the author decided to use a needs-based approach to discover
how the Ss and Ts evaluated the current in-class listening materials in order to help the Ss improve their
listening skill.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
This study aims to analyze and evaluate the listening materials for the first semester for first-year
English majors FELTE, ULIS, VNU by seeking answers to the following questions:
1. What are the first-year English majors’ needs when learning listening skill at FELTE, ULIS, VNU
in Ss and Ts’ perspectives?
2. To what extent do the current listening in-class materials for the first semester meet their
needs in Ss and Ts’ perspectives?
3. Scope of the study
Due to the small scale of the study as well as the limitation of time, this study focuses on
evaluating the current listening materials for the first semester for first-year English majors at FELTE from
the perspectives of the users of these materials (i.e. Ss and Ts taking part in the listening-speaking 1

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course school year 2010-2011). The materials to be evaluated include in-class materials in the form of
handouts delivered to Ss in each lesson and CDs containing listening recordings for the tasks in the
handouts. Teacher’s pack with suggestions for lesson plans and supplementary materials are not included
in this study.
Participating in the research are 100 first-year English majors of the school year 2010-2011 and
12 Ts in charge of teaching listening skill in the first semester. The evaluation took place in the first

semester of the school year 2010-2011 from September 2010 to January 2011.
4. Methods of the study
Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed in the research using the following
tools:
Questionnaires
Two questionnaires on needs analysis were delivered to 100 Ss and 12 Ts at the beginning of the
first semester of the school year 2010-2011 to collect the information about the Ss’ listening needs.
Two questionnaires on materials evaluation were delivered to the Ss and Ts at the end of the
semester to ask them about their evaluation of the listening materials used during the semester.
After two random listening lessons, two questionnaires were delivered to 50 Ss chosen randomly
from 100 participants. They were used to collect information about the difficulties they encountered
while doing the tasks in these lessons. Further explanation for this set of questionnaires is presented in
chapter 2, “methodology”.

Comment [YUN1]: Hang 2: đây là questionnaire
ạ. Em có giải thích rõ tại sao lịa dùng questionnaire
sau khi dự giờ vào chương 2 – methodology ạ.

Follow-up interviews
At the beginning of the first semester of the school year 2010 - 2011, an interview was conducted
with 10 Ss randomly chosen among the participants to collect information about their listening needs. At
the end of the semester, another interview was done with 10 other Ss randomly chosen among the
participants to judge how the materials met their needs in learning listening skill and what changes they
would like to be made to the materials to better meet these needs. The reason all the interviewees were
Ss will be explained in chapter 2, “methodology”.
Observation

Comment [YUN2]: Hang 3: Em thấy sinh viên
chưa có khả năng diễn tả hết ý kiến của mình vào
bản questionnaire. Chính vì thế sau khi trị chuyện

gợi mở với các em, em đã có được câu trả lời rõ hơn
cho phần open-ended của questionnaires. GV có khả
năng diễn đạt ngắn gọn đầy đủ ý tưởng của mình nên
em khơng thấy cần phải phỏng vấn vì nếu hỏi họ sẽ
nhắc lại những gì đã viết trong questionnaire.

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During the semester, two random listening lessons in different classes were chosen for
observation in order to obtain a general idea of how the Ss participated in activities in class and how well
they performed in these tasks.
Task performance measurement
After each observed lesson, all Ss’ papers were collected and analysed to gain insight into their
task performance.
5. Significance of the study
The findings of this research will be useful not only to the researcher and the materials
developers but also to the teaching staff and first-year English majors at FELTE. First of all, the research
will provide Ts with insightful information on Ss’ listening needs and preferences as an input to materials
design. This information could possibly be used as additional evidence for some current hypotheses
about first – year English majors’ listening needs in EFL within Vietnam.
Moreover, thanks to the research, Ss and Ts had an opportunity to raise their voice about what
the Ss needed in learning listening skill, how well the current listening materials met these needs and
what changes should be made to the materials in order to better facilitate the Ss.
Additionally, the outcomes of the research will help form a foundation towards improving the
quality of the current listening materials. They are to contribute to the database of English division 1 in
their regular materials reviewing activities.
Furthermore, it is hoped that the results obtained from the research will make some
contributions to the field of materials evaluation.

6. Design of the study
The study is divided into three parts as follows:
Part A, “Introduction” includes the rationale for the study, the purposes, scope, significance,
methods and design of the study.
Part B, “Development” starts with Chapter 1 “Literature review” presents background knowledge
to the study, the concepts and definitions to be used in the study such as the nature of listening
comprehension, listening process, listening skills, listening difficulties in EFL as identified by former
researchers, needs analysis, materials evaluation and adaptation. This chapter would lead to the
theoretical background that is used as the foundation for the study.

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Chapter 2 in part B, “Methodology” provides more specific information about the methods
employed to conduct the study i.e. the context of the study, description of participants, methods of data
collection and data analysis methods.
Chapter 3, “Findings and discussions” includes the findings from the questionnaires and
interviews. It also contains discussions about Ss’ listening needs and the evaluation of the current in-class
listening materials as perceived by the Ss and Ts.
The last part of the study, part C, “Conclusion” summarizes the main findings of the study,
presenting the recommendations based on these findings. The significance and limitations of the study;
and suggestions for further study are also included in this chapter.

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CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents the theoretical background that forms the foundation for this research. The

first part includes the literature review on listening and teaching listening in the foreign language
classroom. Since needs-based approach was employed in this study, the theory of needs analysis in
language teaching was provided in the next part of this chapter. The last part is devoted to the theme of
this research, materials evaluation in language teaching.
1.1.

Listening and teaching listening in the foreign language classroom

1.1.1

Definitions of listening comprehension
Listening is believed to play a crucial role in language acquisition which is why many researchers

have tried to define it. According to Buck (2001: 3), “listening comprehension is an active process of
constructing meaning and this is done by applying knowledge to the incoming sound’ in which ‘number of
different types of knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge”. He
claims that comprehension is affected by a wide range of variables and any characteristics of the speaker,
the situation or the listener can affect the comprehension of the message.
In addition to this, Underwood (1989) simplifies the definition of listening to the activity of paying
attention to and trying to get meaning from something we hear.
Another definition is given by Wolvin and Coakly (1985). They identify listening as the process of
receiving, attending to and assigning meaning to aural stimuli. According to this viewpoint, listening is a
complex, problem-solving skill. The task of listening is more than perception of sound, although
perception is the foundation, it also requires comprehension of meaning.
1.1.2

Significance of listening
Listening is the first language mode that children acquire. It provides the foundation for all

aspects of language and cognitive development, and plays a life-long role in the processes of

communication. According to Wilt (1950), people listen 45 % of the time they spend communicating; 30
% of communication time is spent speaking, 16 % reading, and 9 % writing.
In the light of second language acquisition theory, language input is the most essential condition
of language acquisition. As an input skill, listening plays a crucial role in students’ language development.
According to Krashen (1985), a language is acquired by understanding the linguistic information people
hear. Hence language acquisition is achieved mainly through receiving understandable input and listening
ability is the critical component in achieving understandable language input.
1.1.3

Nature of listening comprehension

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a. “Bottom-up” processing
According to early theories of language teaching, the nature of listening comprehension is
regarded mainly as a two-level activity, recognition and selection. (Rivers, 1968). This view is known as
the “bottom-up” process.
The first level involves the ability to identify features such as the structural relationship between
words and phrases, word groupings, time consequences, logical and modifying terms, intonation
patterns, pitch level significance, hesitations, reformulations and any other redundant utterances as
adding nothing to the development of thought. Until the recognition of these is fully automatic, a
listener, especially a foreign language / second language (L2) listener cannot be expected to retain
enough in his memory to relate one segment to another.
The selection level is the ability to select from the stream of sound specific details of the message
which express the meaning of the speaker’s purpose or which suit his own purposes. The incoming details
are regarded as the prime source of information about the message. Basic to comprehension is the
decoding of sounds, words, phrases and sentences until a meaning is formed. The listener must be able
to segment speech into units which have to be recognised in his mental dictionary.

Clark and Clark (1977) summarise the “bottom-up” process as follows:
1- Listeners take in speech and retain a phonological representation of it in “working memory”.
2 – They immediately attempt to organise the phonological representation into constituents,
identifying their content and function.
3 – As they identify each constituent, they use it to construct underlying propositions, building
continually onto a hierarchical representation of propositions.
4 – Once they have identified the propositions for a constituent, they retain them in “working
memory” and at some point, purge memory of the phonological representation. In doing this,
they forget the exact wording and retain the meaning.
Clark and Clark (1977)
The basis for this view of listening comprehension is the listener’s grammatical and lexical
knowledge which is used to extract the meaning of the text.
b. “Top-down” processing

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Another view is called “top-down” process. According to Anderson and Lynch (1988), listening
comprehension is not merely a process of the decoding and extracting of incoherent textual meaning. It is
one of “constructing a coherent interpretation” of the spoken message. Successful listening is perceived
to have a constructive, personal nature. The representation of the spoken message results from our
combining new information with our previous knowledge and experience.
As Adams and Collins (1979) put it, a spoken or written text does not itself carry meaning. “A text
only provides directions for listeners (or readers) as to how they should retrieve or construct the
intended meaning from their own previously acquired knowledge” (p.3).
The centre of the “top-down” processing view of listening comprehension is the importance of
background knowledge. If a listener cannot make use of background knowledge, which may be
knowledge about topic, situation or context, the incoming message may be incomprehensible.
c. Interactive process

According to some scholars, neither bottom-up nor top-down processing alone is sufficient for
comprehension. Both processes interact simultaneously. The language units that listeners use in
understanding language are the propositions which an utterance of speech event expresses. (Clark &
Clark, 1977). They are represented indirectly within the surface structure of utterances. Listeners make
use of two kinds of knowledge to identify propositions: knowledge of the syntax of the target language
and real world knowledge, or systemic (linguistic) and schematic (non-linguistic) knowledge (Widdowson,
1983). Syntactic knowledge enables them to segment incoming discourse into chunks or constituents.
The ability to correctly identify them is a result of two types of competence: grammatical and semantic.
Knowledge of the structure of noun phrases, verb phrases and the grammatical devices that signal logical
relationships enable listeners to segment discourse into appropriate chunks and thus identify the
propositions underlying what is actually uttered. For those who find segmentation difficult,
comprehension is also difficult. (Richards, 1983).
Richards (1983) also claims that knowledge of the world also helps listeners identify propositions
and produce a plausible reconstruction of likely events. This can sometimes compensate for difficulty in
segmentation at the syntactic level.
Thus, successful listening is an interplay between top-down and bottom-up processing.
1.1.4

Listening difficulties for foreign language learners

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Ur (1984) defines eight main potential L2 listening comprehension problems, set out in roughly
the order of importance. These problems are heavily based on the analysis of spoken English given by
Brown (1977).
The first problem is hearing the sounds, which means L2 learners do not perceive certain English
sounds with any accuracy because they do not exist in their first language (L1). It is even more difficult for
L2 learners when the new sound exists in L2 but only as an allophonic variation of another phoneme.

Another reason for this potential problem is that L2 learners are not used to the stress and intonation
patterns of English and the way these influence both the realization of certain phonemes and the
meaning of the utterance.
Understanding intonation and stress can also be a challenge to L2 learners since the English
system of stress, intonation and rhythm can interfere with the L2 listener’s proper understanding of
spoken English. Primary among these is the division of utterances into tone groups - strings of syllables
run together to form a single sequence and generally characterized by one heavily stressed ‘tone’. The
rhythm of speech is based on these “tones” and to a lesser extent on other minor stresses, and
intervening lightened syllables may be pronounced very fast as not to break this rhythm. The importance
of intonation derives from the great extent to which it often influences the meaning of an utterance.
Ur (1984) classifies coping with redundancy and “noise” as a listening difficulty as well. When
listening to someone speaking, we usually have to put up with a certain amount of ‘noise’. Some words
may be drowned by outside interference whereas others are indistinctly pronounced. Since L2 learners
have a slower grasp of meaning, these gaps are far more challenging to be taken to their stride. This is
the result of (1) the much larger sheer number of gaps than that in their L1; (2) unfamiliar sound
combinations, lexis and collocations which are necessary to make predictions or retroactive guesses as to
what was missing; (3) their compulsion to understand everything, even what is totally unimportant, L2
learners are getting disturbed, discouraged and even completely thrown off balance if coming across an
incomprehensible word.
Besides the aforementioned problems, predicting can also cause L2 learners difficulties. There
are several language patterns that form the basis of expectations such as intonation and stress patterns;
familiarity with the clichés, collocations, idioms and proverbs commonly used; more obvious choices of
vocabulary or grammar. L2 learners find it difficult to predict what is going to be said in the next part of
the conversation if they do not have a reasonable grasp of the pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar of
L2.

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Understanding colloquial vocabulary can be a challenge to L2 learners since they might not be
familiar with a lot of vocabulary used in colloquial speech which may already be known to them. This is
partly the matter of time and practice. It takes time before a newly learnt word becomes really known
well enough to be readily recognised. It is partly because of speed of discourse. If the speaker speaks at a
high speed, the L2 listener just simply does not have enough time to search his memory for the meaning
of something he does not immediately recall. Another reason for this potential problem is the different
pronunciation of known words or of colloquial collocations.
Another problem is fatigue. Ur (1984) explains that listening can be very tiring for L2 learners
since they cannot set their own pace and make breaks where they wish. It is even more tiring for those
who work harder than necessary in order to accurately perceive and interpret every single word they
hear. The fatigue may cause them difficulty in grasping the content of the listening comprehension
exercise as they go on with it to the end. Its effects depend on how hard the learners need to concentrate
and on their ability to do so for long periods.
Understanding different accents can also be problematic. Many L2 learners find it more difficult
to understand unfamiliar accents. Therefore, the more experience they have in listening to and
understanding a number of different accents, the more likely they are to be able to cope successfully with
further ones.
The last problem in Ur’s list is using visual and aural environment clues. It does not lie in the lack
of skill in perceiving and interpreting extra-linguistic clues, but the ability to apply it when listening to L2.
The reason for this potential problem could be L2 learners’ overloaded receptive system. Having to work
much harder at decoding than native listeners, trying to interpret every detail as it comes up instead of
relaxing and taking a broader view, they do not have time and attention to spare for absorbing
information beyond the actual semantic significance of the words themselves.
Underwood (1989) also proposes seven potential problems in learning to listen to English. Some
of these problems overlap with those listed by Ur (1984).
The first problem is the lack of control over the speed at which speakers speak. Since L2 listeners
cannot set their own pace and make breaks where they wish (Ur, 1984), they may feel that utterances
disappear, hence cannot keep up with what is being said. They either concentrate on the meaning of one
part of what is heard and miss the next part or ignore a whole chunk because they fail to sort it all out so
quickly.

Not being able to get things repeated can cause 2 learners difficulties. In many listening
situations, listeners cannot ask for repetition of what was said. This is related to controlling the “input”.

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The listeners’ limited vocabulary is a source of listening problem. For L2 listeners, an unknown
word might cause them to stop and think about its meaning and hence, miss the next part of the speech.
It is believed that this is often because the way they have been taught their English gives more emphasis
to accuracy than fluency and focuses on mastery of the forms of L2 rather than on how the language is
used. Therefore, they tend to focus on the language word by word to work out its structure, then to
decide on its meaning.
Another problem is failure to recognise the ‘signals’. The ways the speaker uses to indicate that
he is moving from one point to another, giving an example, or repeating a point are not immediately selfevident to a L2 listener and can easily be missed.
Problems of interpretation are also suggested by Underwood (1989). These problems may be a
result of L2 listeners’ unfamiliarity with the context. They can also easily misinterpret the meaning of
non-verbal clues such as facial expression, nods, gestures, tone of voice.
Underwood (1989) also considers the inability to concentrate as a listening problem. This can be
a major problem since even the shortest break in attention can seriously impair comprehension. The
reasons for L2 listeners to have this problem are various. The enormous effort (often greater than is
useful) they make to follow what they hear word by word can make listening tiring although the topic is
interesting. Poor quality of recordings and machines can also cause this problem.
Last but not least, established learning habits can cause L2 difficulties in listening to English.
Traditionally teachers have aimed to teach the L2 students to understand everything in the English lesson
by repeating and pronouncing words carefully, by grading the language to suit their level, by speaking
slowly and by pausing frequently. This may cause students to be worried if they fail to understand a
particular word or phrase when they are listening and become discouraged by their lack of success.
The aforementioned potential listening problems have been chosen to be the basis of some items
in the questionnaires on listening needs analysis (NA) in this study.

1.2 Needs analysis in language teaching
According to Richards (2001), most of the literature on needs analysis (NA) originally came from the
realm of English for specific purposes (ESP), but NA procedures have increasingly come to be viewed as
fundamental to the planning of general language courses too. He emphasizes that a NA assures a
flexible, responsive curriculum rather than fixed, linear curriculum determined ahead of time by
instructors. It provides information to the instructor and learner about what the learner brings to the
course (if done at the beginning), what has been accomplished (if done during the course), and what
the learner wants and needs to know next. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) also strongly argue against

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the misconception that the needs of the general English learners are not specifiable. They believe that
although NA started mainly in the field of ESP, there should not be any differences between ESP and
English for general purposes as far as NA is concerned. Therefore, the theoretical foundation of NA in
ESP presented below forms the basis for this research.
1.2.1

Definitions and types of needs
From goal-oriented perspective, needs can be defined as what students should be able to do at

the end of their language course or “what the user-institution or society at large regards as necessary or
desirable to be learnt from a program of language instruction” (Mountford, 1981, p. 27).
According to Brindley (1984), needs refer to wants, desires, demands, expectations, motivations,
lacks, constraints, and requirements. From this point of view, needs of students may be in a great
harmony or in opposition to the requirements of course designers. Brindley adopted Richteridh’s (1972,
1980, 1983, 1984) distinction between what is called “objective” and “subjective” needs. “Objective
needs are those which can be diagnosed by teachers on the basis of the analysis of personal data about
learners along with information about their language proficiency and patterns of language use …

subjective needs which are often ‘wants’, desires’, ‘expectations’ or other psychological manifestations of
a lack) cannot be diagnosed as easily.” (Brindley, 1984, p.31)
Brown (1995) discusses the dichotomy of situation needs and language needs, where he defines
situation needs as information of the “program’s human aspects, that is, the physical, social, and
psychological contexts in which learning takes place,” (p. 40) and language needs as “the target linguistic
behaviours that the learners must ultimately acquire” (p. 40).
The categorization of needs suggested by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) includes two types of
needs taken into account for NA of ESP course design as follows:
The first type is target needs. They are what the learner needs to do in the target situation.
Hutchinson and Waters describe the target needs in terms of necessities, lacks and wants. Necessities are
what the learner has to know in order to perform effectively in the target situation. Thus, it is a matter of
observing the existing proficiency of the learners. However, to identify necessities alone is not enough;
we also need to know what the learner knows already in order to decide which of the necessities the
learner lacks. Lacks are what the learners already know that are the gaps between the target proficiency
and the existing proficiency of the learners. Wants can be considered to be the perception of the needs
of the learners. In other words, wants are what the learners feel they need. It is concerned with asking
questions about target situation and the attitudes towards situation of the various participants in the
learning process.

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The second type is learning needs. They can be considered as what the learner needs to do in
order to learn. Learning needs covers all of the factors connected with the process of learning, such as
attitudes, motivation and awareness, personality, learning styles and strategies and social background.
Both target situation needs and learning needs are important to ESP course design. They can
guide the direction of course design to meet the learners’ needs since they influence on the nature of the
syllabus, materials, methodology, and evaluation procedures. In research studies, the researcher can
examine the needs, problems, wants and other implementation factors by investigating the target

situation and learning situation in order to adjust the new information for learners.
This categorization was employed to conduct this research since it is comprehensive and well
suited to the study.
1.2.2

Definitions of needs analysis
Many practitioners define language NA in various ways and from different viewpoints.
According to Richards and Rodgers (1986: 156), NA is “concerned with identifying general and

specific language needs that can be addressed in developing goals, objectives and content in a language
program”. Information on needs can be used for designing a new language program and/or evaluating an
existing program. NA aligns teachers and learners’ agendas by exchanging information on learners’
needs. Learners’ needs guide the teachers to select the appropriate tasks or content, while teachers’
statements of goals and objectives provide a better understanding of the purpose of instruction by the
learners (Nunan, 1988). He states that “information will need to be collected, not only on why learners
want to learn the target language, but also about such things as societal expectations and constraints and
the resources available for implementing the syllabus” (p. 14).
Nunan (1991) and Brown (1995) define NA as a set of tools, techniques and procedures for
determining the language content and learning processes that involves systematic gathering of specific
information about the language needs to meet those of a particular group of learners. Altschuld and

Witkin (1995) claim that needs analysis is a set of systematic procedures pursued in order to
establish priorities based on identified needs, and make decisions attempting improvement of a
program and allocation of resources.
1.2.3

The importance of needs analysis
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), a NA is usually seen as being most beneficial for an

ESP course, “an approach to language teaching which aims to meet the needs of particular learners” (p.

21). Nunan (1988) considers it as the initial process for the specification of behavioural objectives. It is

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from these objectives that detailed aspects of the syllabus such as functions, topics, lexis and structures
are derived.
The research to date emphasizes the significance of a NA for devising a course, writing textbooks
or coursebooks, and the kind of teaching and learning that takes place (Robinson, 1991; Jordan, 1997).
Yet it is recommended that a NA should be carried out continuously because “as students become more
involved with the course, their attitudes and approach may change” (Robinson, 1991, p.15).
The inclusion of NA can be seen in various curriculum development models that have been
developed over the past 20 years, such as the one Brown (1995) suggests. NA is the first element of his
curriculum approach. It can be clearly seen in the figure below that through evaluation of the program
the NA is part of a system that returns to the NA again.

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NEEDS ANALYSIS

E

V
OBJECTIVES
A

TESTING

L

U

MATERIALS

A

T
TEACHING
I

O

1995)

Figure 1.1: Systematic approach to designing and maintaining language curriculum (Brown,
N

Richards (2001) claims that NA can be used for a number of different purposes as follows:
- To find out what language skills a learner needs in order to perform a particular role, such as
sales manager, tour guide or university student;
- To help determine if an existing course adequately addresses the needs of potential students;

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- To determine which students from a group are most in need of training in particular language
skills;
- To identify a change of direction that people in a reference group feel is important;
- To identify a gap between what students are able to do and what they need to be able to do;
- To collect information about a particular problem learners are experiencing.
(Richards, 2001, p. 52)
Referring to growing demands for accountability and relevancy in public life, Long (2005) cites
four reasons for performing needs analyses as follows: (1) to determine the relevance of the material to
the learners’ situations; (2) to justify the material in terms of relevance for all parties concerned (teacher,
learner, administration, parents); (3) to account for differences in learner needs and styles; (4) to create a
syllabus which will meet the needs of the learners as fully as possible within the context of the situation.
Accordingly, every language course should be viewed as a course for specific purposes which just
varies in the precision with which learner needs can be specified.
Having recognised the great significance of NA in the overall language teaching process, and
materials designing in particular, the author has chosen NA as the basis for finding out the
recommendation for the current listening materials after they have been evaluated by teachers and
students using them during the semester.
1.2.4

Approaches to needs analysis

Brindley (1984) suggests a summary of NA / initial assessment components as follows:

NA/INNA / Initial assessment data

RA Rationale TIONALE

DATA
1) Learners' life goals

So that teachers have a basis on which to
anticipate learners' likely language goals,
communication networks and social roles

2) Language goals, communicative

So learners can be placed in groups based

networks and social roles

on common social roles; so that teachers
can modify syllabus content to match
learners' social roles

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3) Objective needs, patterns of language

So learners can be grouped according to

use, personal resources (incl. time)

their needs and interests

4) Language proficiency and language

So that learners can be grouped according

difficulties

to their language proficiency

5) Subjective needs, including learning

So that teachers can adapt learning

strategy preferences, affective needs,

activities to individual needs

learning activity preferences, pace of
learning, attitude towards correction
6) Information about the learners'

So that teachers can monitor performance

attainment of objectives

and modify courses accordingly

7) Information about developmental

So that teachers can gear syllabus content

processes in second language learning,

and materials to learners' stages of

including learners' communicative

development

strategies

Table 1.1: NA / initial assessment components (Brindley, 1984)
According to Robinson (1991), a careful NA should involve “Present situation analysis” (PSA) and
“Target situation analysis” (TSA). PSA aims at finding out the students’ English proficiency level and their
existing language requirements at the beginning of a language program, whereas learners’ language
requirements regarding the target situation are identified through TSA. Robinson (1991) also suggests
that TSA and PSA are complementary and form a NA.
The trichotomy of NA given by Jordan (1997) includes deficiency analysis, strategy analysis, and
means analysis. Deficiency analysis is concerned with the necessities that the learner lacks. Strategy
analysis seeks to establish the learner’s preferences in terms of learning styles and strategies, or teaching
methods. Means analysis examines the “constraints” - local situation - to find out the ways of
implementation of a language course.
The theoretical base to PSA and TSA suggested by Robinson (1991), which is an effective and
suitable approach to this research was adapted to shed light on first-year English majors’ listening needs.
1.2.5

Methods of needs analysis
Denzin (1978) proposes the triangulation methodology which can be pursued by triangulating (1)

data source (people); (2) method (interview, document, questionnaire, etc.); (3) investigator/researcher;
(4) theory (use of multiple conceptual framework); and (5) environment (time and place).

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Sharing the same point of view with the aforementioned author, Witkin and Altschuld (1995)
suggest that a variety of sources should be employed in order to obtain information necessary for NA.
They also suggest that the researcher should balance quantitative methods with qualitative ones. Data
from any single method (surveys, interviews, focus groups, or analysis of existing records) are generally
insufficient to provide an adequate basis for understanding needs and making decisions on priorities (p.
279).
Brown (1995) proposes two types of source groups for NA. The first type is audience groups: they
are directly affected by the NA results like teachers and students. The second one is resource groups who
can provide information about the target group, such as parents and future employers.
The importance of using different information sources is also recognised by Long (2005). He
claims that besides the learners themselves, other parties related to the language learning and teaching
process such as teachers, graduates of the course, administrators, and material developers also provide
information about the needs of students.
Based on the importance of diversified information sources in NA, the research questions and the
conditions in which the study was conducted, the author decided to choose teachers and students as the
subjects of this study.
Besides subjects of NA, it is also important for the researcher to choose suitable procedures and
techniques for data collection. Hutchinson and Walters (1987) propose the methods of acquiring NA
information including questionnaires, class discussions, learner diaries, one-to-one tutorials, tests and
classroom observation. It is recommended that more than one means be used to keep the balance
between objective and subjective information.
As suggested by Brown (1995), the data collection instruments for NA are put into six categories:
existing information, tests, observation, interviews, meetings, and questionnaires. Each procedure has its
own strengths and weaknesses; no procedure is conclusive on its own. Open-ended methods (e.g.,
unstructured interviews) are useful for eliciting perspectives that the researcher has not otherwise
considered. Closed methods (e.g., structured interviews and questionnaires) will work well in obtaining
overall patterns of perceptions or behaviors on predetermined constructs the researcher wants to elicit.
Brown (2001) and Long (2005) emphasize the importance of sequencing and utilizating different
methods, starting with existing information, followed by unstructured interviews and meetings with the

stakeholders to identify the scope and elements to be covered in a survey. Based on these pieces of
information, questionnaires may be designed and administered followed by post-structured interviews
that follow up on the written responses in the open-ended section of the questionnaire.

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In this study, the author combined questionnaires containing close-ended and open-ended items
with unstructured follow-up interviews and classroom observation to obtain information about students’
listening needs. These instruments suited the objectives of the research, the conditions in which it was
conducted and would ensure the reliability of the data for the study.
1.3 Materials evaluation in language teaching
1.3.1

Definitions and the roles of teaching materials
According to Tomlinson (1998), materials will be considered anything which is used to help

language learning. Examples include but are not limited to: coursebooks, workbooks, CDs, flashcards,
and CD-ROMs.
McGrath (2002: 7) views materials as all kinds that “can be exploited effectively for language
learning”. As he puts it, text materials “include those that have been either specifically designed for
language learning and teaching (e.g. textbooks, worksheets, computer software); authentic materials
(e.g. off-air recordings, newspaper articles) that have been specially selected and exploited for teaching
purposes by the classroom teacher; teacher-written materials; and learner-generated materials”. (p. 7).
The importance of teaching materials has been recognised by many scholars. Nunan (1988) sees
materials as “an essential element within the curriculum”. Materials “do more than simply lubricate the
wheels of learning. At their best, they provide concrete models for desirable classroom practice. They act
as curriculum models and at their very best they fulfill a teacher development role”. (Nunan, 1988, p.
98).

According to Bell and Gower (1998, as cited in Rubdy 2003, p. 39), materials “provide teachers
and learners with a range of professionally developed materials within tried and tested syllabus
structures”, allowing teachers to spend their valuable time more on facilitating learning than materials
production. Materials can be adapted and supplemented to meet the needs of specific classes. Moreover,
according to Richards (2001: 1), they also have the following functions: (1) serving as the basis for much
of the language input learners receive and the language practice occurring in the classroom especially in
English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) situations; (2) providing the
basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skills taught and the kinds of language practice the
students take part in; (3) serving primarily to supplement the teacher’s instruction; (4) providing learners
with the major source of contact they have with the language apart from inputs provided by the teacher;
(5) serving as a form of teacher training, providing ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as
formats that teachers can use.

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