Needs’ analysis and teacher effectiveness

Needs’ analysis and teacher effectiveness

Needs’ analysis

A general definition of needs analysis is described by Iwai et al. (1999), cited in Songhori (2008), as the activities that are involved in collecting information that will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum that will meet the needs of a particular group of students.  Khan & Awan (2011) define the term as “a process undertaken by trainers, teachers and course designers to ascertain the pre-requisites for developing a course and its implementation”. This process is also termed as needs assessment by some authors presented below:

Richterich (1983) as cited in Cowling (2007) argues that the concept of learners’ needs remains ambiguous. West (1994) as cited in Cowling (2007) describes Needs’ analysis as the identification of “what learners will be required to do with the foreign language in the target situation, and how learners might best master the target language during the period of training’ (p. 427).

Songhori (2008) highlights the vital role of needs analysis in the process of carrying out and/or designing any language course regardless of the type of course, whether an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course or a General English course (GPE).

ESP is according to Khan & Awan (2011) “English that is learnt or taught to get specific goals in specific field like English in technology, science, business, law, study etc” p. 633. At the same time, ESP is divided into English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP). EAP is taught in an academic context and in a target situation, whereas EOP is taught in an occupational framework according to their needs in their occupational environment and it can be before or during they perform their occupational roles.

In ESP, learners of the language will use it practically, to meet their needs in their particular context. The course is designed for that purpose and it is expected that after being exposed to instruction learners acquire the necessary competence to fulfill their needs. This is different in GPE, where there is not a specific purpose, but the course is designed so that learners use the language whenever they come across a situation where they need to make use of the language.

The role of needs analysis in teacher effectiveness

 An example of how need’s analysis relates to teacher effectiveness is illustrated by Samson and Collins (2012), in their study, the authors explain that the number of English language learners (ELL) has increased rapidly in the last years. However, “the rapid growth in the ELL population has not been matched by sufficient growth in teachers’ understanding of how to best educate these students.” P. 5

Needs analysis is useful for teachers and administrators in many ways. It should therefore be considered as a dynamic process in continuous development aimed to gather essential information about the needs of learners of the target language in a particular setting. This information will be useful to determine whether the program's objectives and the learners' requirements are being achieved and it will serve as a guide for the program's future directions and making informed decisions (Purpura & King, 2003) cited in (Eslami, 2010).

An interesting approach to needs analysis is critical needs analysis. Benesch (1996) cited in (Eslami, 2010). Describes it as beyond the descriptive approach to needs analysis and it highlights the difference between critical and descriptive needs analysis in the sense that “Critical needs analysis acknowledges the existing demands but considers the target situation demands as a site of possible reform.” P. 4

Needs analysis is necessary for an appropriate development of syllabi and curriculum and the impact that the right syllabus may have will be reflected not only on teacher effectiveness, but also on learning outcomes.

References

Benesch, S. (1996). Needs analysis and curriculum development in EAP: An example of a critical approach. Tesol Quarterly, 30(4), 723-738.

Cowling, J. D. (2007). Needs analysis: Planning a syllabus for a series of intensive workplace courses at a leading Japanese company. English for specific purposes, 26(4), 426-442.

Eslami, Z. R. (2010). Teachers' Voice vs. Students' Voice: A Needs Analysis Approach to English for Acadmic Purposes (EAP) in Iran. English Language Teaching, 3(1), 3-11.

Khan, T. M., & Awan, A. S. (2011). Needs Analysis of English for Occupational and Specific Purposes. International Journal of Social Sciences & Education, 1(4), 632-643.

Samson, J. F., & Collins, B. A. (2012). Preparing All Teachers to Meet the Needs of English Language Learners: Applying Research to Policy and Practice for Teacher Effectiveness. Center for American Progress.

Songhori, M. H. (2008). Introduction to needs analysis. English for specific purposes world, 4(20), 1-25.