A Needs Analysis Approach for a specified ESP target group, together with a detailed rationale for the approach (es) adopted.

Topic: A Needs Analysis Approach for a specified ESP target group, together with a
detailed rationale for the approach (es) adopted.
I.

INTRODUCTION:

English for Specific Purpose (ESP) is a great significant activity of English Language Teaching
(ELT) with variable characteristics. “Some people described ESP as simply being the teaching of
English for any purpose that could be specified. Others, however, were more precise describing it
as the teaching of English used in academic studies or the teaching of English for vocational or
professional purposes [ CITATION Ant \l 1033 ]. According to Hutchingson and Waters (1986),
ESP was considered as one of the approaches to language teaching in which the purpose or
language need of learners would influence on teachers’ methodology and content of lesson. It
means that an analysis for detecting learners’ needs before building a logical language course is
essential. Songhori (2008) evaluated needs analysis is a vital step in the process of designing and
carrying out any ESP course while John (1991) indicated that it is the very first step of course
design process which provides validity and relevancy for all subsequent course design activities.
Furthermore, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) stated needs analysis as the irreducible minimum of
an ESP approach to course design. This paper is conducted as an actual application of achieving
Needs Analysis by deciding a suitable Needs Analysis approach to gather information of an
identified group of learners' needs enclosed with a detailed rationale.
II.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ESP TARGET STUDENTS

As mention above, this paper will focus on finding a suitable Needs Analysis approach for a
specific group of 30 learners including 8 females and 22 females who are Oral Maxillofacial
Surgeon at National Hospital of Odonto – Stomatology. Their English level is defined at
Intermediate based on their TOEIC score from 401 – 525. On January, 2018 they will go to
England to join in an important seminar. They need to be well – equipped with specialized
vocabulary to understand the main content of that seminar. The effective solution for them at this

time is quickly attending in a short EOP course.
The course which they join will last for three months which will be divided into twelve weeks of
learning. They will learn in each morning of Thursday and Saturday with 45 minutes per lesson.


The National Hospital of Odonto – Stomatology make certain to prepare all necessary
equipments for English learning and teaching process, such as: classroom, projectors, textbook,
tape/CD players, computers. Teachers will be provided a best condition during teaching process.
That is all provided information about the target group of the English course for Oral
Maxillofacial which is taught in three months
III.

LITERATURE REVIEW OF NEEDS ANALYSIS

1.

Role of Needs Analysis in ESP

Need analysis is regarded as an important stage of course design for both General English course
or English for Specific Purpose (ESP) course [ CITATION Wes94 \l 1033 ]. This opinion was
also approved by several scholars, such as: Munby (1978), Richterich and Chancerel (1987),
Hutchinson and Waters (1987), Tarone and Yule (1989), Berwick (1989), Brindley (1989). That
means the principle activity of ESP is based on learners' needs to develop. Iwai et al. (1999) in
his research indicated that the phrase of needs analysis generally involve to set of activities in
collecting information. Those will play a role as the basic foundation for developing a course of
study which could meet the needs of a particular group of students. According to Brindley (1989)
and Berwick (1989), there are many different types of needs as well as many restrictions in
applying those concepts into reality which could be the methods that may use to discriminate
between needs recognized by analysts or experienced by learners. In his state – of- the –art
article. West (1994) provides a rigorous overview about needs analysis in teaching process in

which contains need analysis’s history, theoretical basis as well as approaches etc. Iwai et al.
(1999) in his research also revealed that formal needs analysis is fairly new in language teaching
field. Teachers still use informal need analyses in order to assess what language points their
students needed to good at. In actuality, different approaches were created and replaced by others
because teachers hoped to reach their students’ needs during their learning process. As defined by
Johns and Dudley – Evans (1998), it can be regarded as what field the learners will practice
English in the future. Studies on learner needs focused on the “need analysis” and “needs
assessment”, including the survey about students’ backgrounds and goals, as well interviewing
the faculty (Johns, 1981; Howorwittz, 1986). The more learner needs are clear, the more the
objectives are expressed and the ESP course easily becomes successful [ CITATION The13 \l
1033 ]. Needs analysis is becoming necessary in teaching and learning process which could


present as guidance of course design for teachers or an evaluation of current perception for
students. In addition, needs analysis can also help teacher to gather information to find out how
much the students already know and what they still need to learn. Pourshahian et. Al.(2012)
concluded the results of previous studies and suggested the needs analysis should be learn what
aspects of language the learners need to study, what degree they need to study and why the
learners study language.
2.

Different approaches to Need Analysis

Analysis is performed in order to find out not only the "necessity", the "lacks" and the "wants" of
learners up to the target situations but also the learning needs to do in order to learn. Though
needs analysis, as we know it today, has gone through many stages, with the publication of
Munby’s Communicative Syllabus Design in 1978, situations and functions were set within the
frame of needs analysis. In his book, Munby introduced “communication needs processor” which
is basis of Munby’s approach to needs analysis. Based on Munby’s work, Chambers (1980)
introduced the term Target Situation Analysis; other terms have also been introduced: Present

Situation Analysis, Pedagogic Needs Analysis, Deficiency Analysis, Strategy Analysis or
Learning Needs Analysis, Mean Analysis, Register analysis, discourse analysis, and Genre
Analysis Needs.
The phrase "Target Situation Analysis" (TSA) was earliest appeared in an article of Chamber
(1980) in which it was mentioned as "communication in the target situation". Nevertheless,
Munby (1978) introduced the target situation was closely deal with the target needs and target
level of performance. This theory has been supported, inherited and developed by many
researchers (Hutchinson and Waters, 1986; Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998; West, 1994).
Although in their research, they could state many similarities or difference opinion about TSA,
but their objective is the same aim. All of them hoped to find the linguistic form a prospective
ESP learner is likely to use in various situations in his target environment. For example,
Hutchinson and Waters (1986) considered Target Needs Analysis as "in essence a matter of
asking questions about the target situation and the attitudes towards that situation of various
participants of the learning process" (p59) and most of those questions are closely related to
Munby's parameters.


The second type of Needs Analysis that needs to be mentioned is Present Situation Analysis
(PSA) which may be assumed as a supporting to target situation analysis [ CITATION Rob911 \l
1033 ]. PSA is used in order to find out the background of learners at the beginning of the course.
It may estimate the strength and weaknesses of learners in all aspects, including language, skills
as well as learning experiences. A well established test or results of previous learning of learners
could bring out relatively information for PSA.
Deficiency analysis or lack of analysis is asserted to form the basis of the language syllabus
[ CITATION Jor971 \l 1033 ] since it is supposed to provide information about both the present
situation and target situation and thus, the gap between them for the course designer to consult.
What Hutchinson and Waters (1987) define as lacks can be matched with deficiency analysis.
Also, according to Allwright (1982), the approaches to needs analysis that have been developed
to consider learners’ present needs or wants may be called analysis of learners’ deficiencies or
lacks.

Strategy analysis or learning needs analysis is another important type that the course designer
should take into considerations when he/she designing an ESP course. It is concerned with
learners' view of learning or their learning preferences. It tries to establish how the learner wish
to learn rather than what they need to learn and consequently help course designer to find ways
of motivating and enabling learners to reach the goals of the course [ CITATION Wes98 \l
1033 ]. Allwright who was a pioneer in the field of strategy analysis (West, 1994) started from
the students’ perceptions of their needs in their own terms [ CITATION Jor971 \l 1033 ]. It is
Allwright who makes a distinction between needs the skills which a student sees as being
relevant to himself or herself), wants (those needs on which students put a high priority in the
available, limited time), and lacks ( the difference between the student’s present competence and
the desired competence). His ideas were adopted later by Hutchinson and Waters (1987), who
advocate a learning – centered approach in which learners’ learning needs play a vital role. If the
analyst, by means of target situation analysis, tries to find out what learners do with
language[ CITATION Hut871 \l 1033 ] learning needs analysis will tell us “what the learner
needs to do in order to learn”. Obviously, they advocate a process – oriented approach, not a
product – or goal – oriented one. For them ESP is not “a product but an approach to language
teaching which is directed by specific and apparent reasons for learning” [ CITATION Hut871 \l


1033 ]. What learners should be taught are skills that enable them to reach the target, the process
of learning and motivation should be considered as well as the fact that different learners learn in
different ways [ CITATION Dud982 \l 1033 ]
Mean analysis tries to investigate those considerations that Munby excludes [ CITATION
Wes98 \l 1033 ], that is, matters of logistics and pedagogy that led to debate about practicalities
and constraints in implementing needs – based language course [ CITATION Wes94 \l 1033 ].
Means analysis is considered to provide the course designer with "information about the
environment in which the course will be run" [ CITATION Dud982 \l 1033 ] and consequently,
the approach attempts to adapt the ESP course to the setting of the learning institution.
Discourse Analysis: Since register analysis operated almost entirely at word and sentence level,
the second phase of development shifted attention to the level above the sentence and tried to

find out how sentences were combined into discourse [ CITATION Hut871 \l 1033 ]. Also, West
(1998) says that the reaction against register analysis in the early 1970s concentrated on the
communicative values of discourse rather than the lexical and grammatical properties of register.
The pioneers in the field of discourse analysis (also called rhetorical or textual analysis) were
Lackstorm, Selinker, and Trimble whose focus was on the text rather than on the sentence , and
on the writer’s purpose rather than on form[ CITATION Rob911 \l 1033 ]. In practice, according
to West (1998), this approach tended to concentrate on how sentences are used in the
performance of acts of communication and to generate materials based on functions.
Genre – analysis approach goes two steps beyond register analysis and one step beyond
discourse analysis (though it draws on the findings of both). As Bhatia (undated) states the main
benefit of a genre – based approach to the teaching and learning of specialist English is that the
learner does not learn language in isolation form specialist contexts, but is encouraged to make
the relevant connection between the use of language on the one hand and the purpose of
communication on the other, always aware of the question, why do members of the specialist
discourse community use the language in this ways?
The last type mentioned in this paper is Pedagogic Needs Analysis proposed by West (1998). It is
considered to be a combination of all above-mentioned approaches with the hope to compensate
all shortcomings of the above approaches through the combination of collecting data about the
learner and the learning environment. However, in some cases, it does not always work. The


term “pedagogic needs analysis” covers deficiency analysis, strategy analysis or learning needs
analysis, and means analysis.
In the history of ESP development, there may exist some other Needs Analysis approaches.
However, due to the limit of this paper, only nine above approaches are selected to be briefly
described.
IV.

APPROACH SELECTION WITH A DETAILED RATIONALE
In consideration of gaining the most suitable and effective course for this group, the

planning process needs to be prepared carefully. Up to this case, a clear profile of each learner’s
is essential to be brought out by using a mixed of two different approaches which are Target
Situation Analysis (TSA) and (2) Present Situation Analysis (PSA). The reasons for such
selection are discussed as follow:
Based on the fundamental study of Grave about ESP in which an ESP course is mainly
designed to reach some certain needs of learners by overcome a break between a contemporary
situation and a desired or target one [ CITATION Gra00 \l 1033 ]. Accordingly, it is necessary for
the course designer or teacher, in other words, to be knowledgeable of the learners' current
situation at indicated time. In this manner, course designer or teacher is recommended to
combine TSA and PSA together in his/her course design. When applying this theory into this
situation, the target group of this ESP course is Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon working at National
Hospital of Odonto – Stomatology. The course designers or teachers are not certain bout the
current situation of the learners. They do not figure out the level of learners as well as the
shortage of learners. They also do not know what kinds of facilities are available to support the
learning and teaching process. Therefore, there is necessary for course designers or teachers to
use PSA in order to figure out the current English ability of learners. Besides, Hutchingson and
Water (1986) insisted on the role of TSA in teaching and learning process. It is assumed to
collect appropriate and specific information, from that course designers or teachers can decide on
what methods should be used, what content should be focus on, who the learners will use the
language with, where and when the language will be used, etc. [ CITATION Hut872 \l 1033 ]
while Munby in his study reflected TSA as interaction, instrumentality purposive domain,
dialect, communicative key, communicative event, and target level[ CITATION Mun78 \l 1033 ].


Thus, TSA is considered as a reliable tool which can decide the goals of the course which can
help course designer or teacher answer question what to teach and how to teach. It can also act as
an instrument which could give useful directions for teacher in teaching process.
In conclusion, a combination of Target Situation Analysis (TSA) and Present Situation
Analysis (PSA) is suitable for this target group of learner. It is quite certain to offer the EOP

course designer a clearly profile of current situation of learners and the targets which learners
hope to reach after finishing this EOP course.
V.SAMPLES OF THE MEANS FOR DATA COLLECTION
According to a decision which made in part IV, a combination of TSA and PSA is used to
construct a detailed profile of present situation and target situation of learners as well as
supporting for the design of the English course for Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon. More
specifically, in order to collect data both formal and informal means will be used to analyze the
needs of learner at the beginning and during the course.
Before starting of the course, learners should take part in a test which includes all four
basic skills: listen, speaking, reading, and writing. This test will be reference from TOEIC test
samples. This activity is constructed in order to examine the current situation of learners or their
English ability at present time. Based on that, teacher could decide materials, facilities i.e. to
design an effective course for their learners.
Besides testing activity, many formal interviews with group of learners seem to be
essential in identifying their target situations, more specifically, what they hope to reach after
three months. Below is some sample questions that may be included in the interview:


Where will the seminar take place?



Who will you listening to during the seminar?



What is their level of main interlocutors' knowledge? An expert or a layman?



Which part do you want to extremely focus on this course?



Could you find out your own weakness in learning language?




What is your target when joining in this course?

An informal questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions would be enclosed by
then. It will be delivered to learners to find out the preferences of learners' learning. Below is one
sample question that may be included in the questionnaire:


What kinds of materials do you want to use in the course? (Please tick on the box
the materials you want to use)
 Textbooks provided by teachers
 Authentic materials (manuals, articles about telecommunication in newspaper,
magazines, etc.) provided by teachers
 A mixed use of all kinds

Informal interviews with ex-learners (i.e. learners who already took the English course of
Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon) will be also utilized to specify the information of what they think
should be included in the course as well as the way they think the best way to learn the target
language. Below is a potential question that may be included in the interview
In your point of view, which is the most important language skill that learners of this ESP
course should improve? Reading? Speaking? Writing? Or listening? Why do you think so?
During the course, another informal questionnaire will be delivered to learners of the

course in order to check whether the course goes right or not.

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