Ch 3 Needs Analysis.ppt
- 1. Chapter 3: Needs Analysis Lecturer: MR. VATH VARY Phone: 017 471 117 Email: varyvath@gmail.com
- 2. The aim of this part of the curriculum design process is to discover what needs to be learned and what the learners want to learn. MR. VATH VARY
- 3. Contents The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis Discovering Needs When to do Needs Analysis Evaluating Needs Analysis Issues in Needs Analysis Summary of the Steps MR. VATH VARY
- 4. Preliminary discussion Do the learners you teach have specific needs to learn English? How do you assess their needs? How does a Needs Analysis contribute to specifying goals, developing a syllabus, choosing materials, creating assessments and evaluating a course? MR. VATH VARY
- 5. What is Needs Analysis? Needs analysis (also known as Needs Assessment): refers to the process of gathering information about learners’ needs and then analyzing it to formulate clear goals and make decisions about what to teach. involves gathering two kinds of information: about learners at the start of a programme or course and about possible or expected final outcomes (Graves, 2016). was introduced to language teaching through the ESP movement and vocationally-oriented program (Richards, 2001) MR. VATH VARY
- 6. Needs Analysis identifies the goals and content of a course examines what the learners know already and what they need to know ensures the course contains relevant and useful things to learn. • It is the GPS of language curriculum design. • It shows you where you are now, where you want to be, and how to get there. MR. VATH VARY
- 7. The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis Target needs: what the learner needs to do in the target situation (what students need to learn and for what purposes): Necessities, Lacks & Wants Learning needs: what the learner needs to do in order to learn. How are we going to get from our starting point to the destination? refer to learning styles, motivations to learn, thinking styles, preferences and types of intelligences they use when learning. MR. VATH VARY Hutchinson and Waters (1987) divide needs into:
- 8. The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis Another Needs’ major division: Present knowledge and required knowledge objective needs and subjective needs. Lacks fit into present knowledge, Necessities fit into required knowledge, and Wants fit into subjective needs. MR. VATH VARY
- 9. The Analysis of target Needs can look at: Types of Needs Questions Meanings Examples Necessities What is necessary in the learners’ use of language? • What the learner has to know to function effectively (required knowledge) • Do the learners have to write answers to exam questions? Lacks What do the learners lack? • What the learner knows and does not know already or where the learners are at the present (present knowledge) • Are there aspects of writing that were not practiced in their previous learning (L1, L2)? Wants What do the learners wish to learn? • what the learner views about what they need and what they think useful for them(subjective needs) • Do the learners need to know what they want to learn? MR. VATH VARY https://espeed2016.blogspot.com/2016/06/chapter-6-need-analysis.html?m=1
- 10. Objective needs include information about who the learners are, their language ability, and what they need the language for. Learners’ background: country, culture, education, family, profession, age, language, current language proficiency , etc. Means of Gathering Objective Needs Information: questionnaires, interviews, observation, informal consultation with teachers and learners, tests, and data collection (e.g. gathering exam papers or text books and analysing them) The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis MR. VATH VARY
- 11. Subjective needs include information about learners’ attitude toward the target language and expectations the learners have with respect to what and how they will learn (Graves, 2000). Learners’ attitude toward the target language, learning, and to themselves as learners Learners’ expectations of themselves and of the course, purpose and preferences of how they will learn Means of gathering information: learner self-assessment using lists and scales, questionnaires, and interviews. The Various Focuses of Needs Analysis MR. VATH VARY
- 12. When to do needs analysis? Pre-course: takes place prior to the start of the course and can inform decisions about content, goals and objectives, activities, and choice of materials. Initial takes place during the initial stage of a course, the first few sessions, the first week or weeks, depending on the time frame of the course. Ongoing takes place throughout the course; focuses on shared experiences changing the course as it progresses MR. VATH VARY
- 13. The outcomes of needs analysis must be useful for curriculum design. Table 3.1 covers many of the questions that are usually raised in an analysis of target needs, organised under four learning goals because needs analysis must lead to decisions about what will be learned during a course. can be used to make sure that a needs analysis is gaining information on a suitable range of learning goals. Needs Analysis MR. VATH VARY
- 14. Table 3.1 Questions for focusing on needs Goals Questions Types of information in the answers Language What will the course be used for? How proficient does the user have to be? What communicative activities will the learner take part in? Where will the language be used? Sounds Vocabulary grammatical structures Functions set phrases and set sentences tasks Ideas What content matter will the learner be working with? Topics themes texts Target Needs MR. VATH VARY
- 15. Table 3.1 Questions for focusing on needs Goals Questions Types of information in the answers Skills How will the learner use the language? Under what conditions will the language be used? Who will the learners use the language with? Listening Speaking Reading Writing degree of accuracy degree of fluency Text What will the language be used to do? What language uses is the learner already familiar with? genres and discourse Types sociolinguistic skills Target Needs MR. VATH VARY
- 16. Discovering Needs: Needs Analysis Tools MR. VATH VARY Table 3.2 can be used to check that a wide enough range of information-gathering methods is being used.
- 17. Proficiency relates to present knowledge and situations of use involves the study of situations and tasks that learners will need to engage in using knowledge gained from the course. Self-report can take a variety of forms. It may involve: written responses to a structured set of questions or to a sentence completion task. diary writing or some other form of extended written report. group activities such as voting, ranking, brainstorming, or problem solving. Discovering Needs MR. VATH VARY
- 18. Observation and analysis may involve process and product. Observation of skilled and unskilled writers performing target tasks may reveal important areas that need attention during a course. Analysis of the written products of target tasks such as university assignments or exams can reveal the type of language needed to perform the tasks well. Discovering Needs MR. VATH VARY
- 19. Let us look at possible tools in more detail by taking the case of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course which is preparing learners of English for university study. Necessities: Sources of information: listen to lectures, take part in tutorials, write assignments and tasks, and sit exams. doing a vocabulary analysis of good assignments, using a program like the Frequency programme look at past assignment topics to see the kinds of discourse that learners would have to handle. interview university staff who are involved in setting and marking such assignments to see what they expect in a good assignment. to look in course outlines and other departmental information to see if there are any guidelines on writing assignments. look at the timeframe involved in writing an assignment. An Example of Needs Analysis MR. VATH VARY
- 20. Lacks: Sources of information: To looking at where learners are at present. To look at an assignment or two that the learners have just written. The assignment can be analysed from an information perspective, from a grammar perspective and from the discourse perspective. To look at the parts of the writing process and to see what degree of skill in each part is reflected in the assignment. To look at the learners in the process of writing an assignment. Observing students writing can give some insight into these conditions and the learners’ control over parts of the writing process. Information about lacks could come from the university lecturer who marks such assignments. What do they see as the strengths and weaknesses of the assignment that the learner has written? The learners themselves are also a very useful source. to question the learner about the assignment task using a set of interview questions. To get the learner to talk about the assignment task encouraging them to say what they think they have to do to answer the assignment. An Example of Needs Analysis MR. VATH VARY
- 21. Lacks: Sources of information: 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 standardised proficiency tests like the TOEFL test or the IELTS test can be a very useful source of information when they provide information about separate aspects of language proficiency such as writing or speaking. An Example of Needs Analysis MR. VATH VARY
- 22. Wants: Sources of information: Learners have their own views about what they think is useful for them. We can gather such information through an interview or a questionnaire. A well-designed questionnaire can be a very useful source of information which can be reused for later courses. Talking with students both past and present, Surveying the environment, Looking at pieces of work, Talking with teachers, employers and assessors, Using personal experience and commonsense An Example of Needs Analysis MR. VATH VARY
- 23. Evaluating Needs Analysis Reliability Validity Practicality MR. VATH VARY
- 24. Evaluating Needs Analysis Reliable needs analysis: Involves using well-thought-out, standardised tools that are applied systematically. Observation: of people performing tasks throughout the course: by using a checklist, or recording and apply standardized analysis procedures. The more pieces of observation and the more people who are studied, the more reliable the results. MR. VATH VARY
- 25. Evaluating Needs Analysis Valid needs analysis involves looking at what is relevant and important. type of need and type of information Before needs analysis begins, do a ranking activity to decide what type of need should get priority in the needs analysis investigation. 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. MR. VATH VARY
- 26. Issues in Needs Analysis Common core and specialised language Critical needs analysis Narrow focus – wide focus MR. VATH VARY
- 27. Issues in Needs Analysis Common core and specialised language Common core (2,000 word families) General academic (570 word families) Specialised/Technical (approximately 1,000 word families) Study of vocabulary occurrence shows that this gives the best return for learning effort. 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 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. https://www.eapfoundation.com/vocab/ MR. VATH VARY
- 28. Issues in Needs Analysis Common core and specialised language What are the content selection stages that a special purposes language course should follow? First focus on: Common core (2,000 word families) Then focus on: General academic (570 word families) common to a wide range of disciplines Study of vocabulary occurrence shows that this sequence of goals gives the best return for learning effort. MR. VATH VARY
- 29. Issues in Needs Analysis Critical needs analysis needs analysis is affected by the ideology of those in control of the analysis: questions they ask, the areas they investigate, and the conclusions they draw influenced by their attitudes to change and the status quo It is worth considering a wide range of possible viewpoints when deciding on the focus of needs analysis, and seeking others’ views on where change could be made. MR. VATH VARY
- 30. Summary of the Steps Discover learner needs by considering lacks, wants and necessities or some other framework. Decide what course content and presentation features will meet these needs. Needs analysis makes sure the course meets the learners’ needs. Environment analysis looks at the way the course needs to fit the situation in which it occurs. MR. VATH VARY
- 31. MR. VATH VARY FURTHER READINGS
- 32. MR. VATH VARY