PROCEDURES FOR CONDUCTING NEEDS ANALYSIS By Ardhy Supraba

A.    Introduction

With the advent of the communicative approach, views on language teaching started to incorporate communicative features into syllabus design. Accordingly, a central question has been raised: what does the learner need/want to do with the target language? Rather than, what are the linguistic elements the learner needs to master? This movement has led in part to the development of English for Specific Purpose.

In order to cater for the learners’ specific purpose, it has become urgent to collect information about the learners: their needs and wants. Therefore, relevant techniques as well as procedures have been developed by needs analysts. These techniques have been borrowed and adopted from other areas of training, particularly, those associated with industry and technology.

In conducting needs analysis, a variety of procedures can be applied and the kind of information obtained is often dependent on the type of procedure selected. Since any one source of information is likely to be incomplete or partial, a triangular approach (i.e., collecting information from two or more sources) is advisable. Thereby, many different sources of information should be sought. Richards (2001: 59, 1^st paragraph)

Thus, this paper is going to focus on the procedures for conducting needs analysis.

B.     Discussion

The writer thinks that needs analysis was introduced into language teaching through the English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Therefore, based on the writer’s experience during studying ESP in S1, the common procedures for conducting needs analysis namely as follows:

1.      Test: proficiency test, placement test, diagnostic test, achievement test

2.      Interview, and

3.      Questionnaires.

Afterwards, to back up the writer’s statement above, there are two statements come from Richards and McMillan & Schumacher. The first statement is based on Richards (2001: 60, 1^st paragraph) procedures for collecting information during a needs analysis can be selected from among the following:

v  Questionnaires

One of the most common instruments to be applied is questionnaires. Because the questionnaires are easy to be prepared and conducted. This kind of instrument is not only applied in small numbers of subject, but also in large numbers of subject. And also the information obtained is not really complicated because they are easy to be analyzed and arranged in a table.

v  Self-ratings

In self-ratings, the learners or others can assess their competence by themselves.

v  Interviews

Generally, interviews are conducted face-to-face in smaller group. In this case, interview is very beneficial to be conducted in the beginning when designing questionnaires. Because the designer can get clear understanding about the topic or issues. So the designer can focus on designing questionnaires clearly.

v  Meetings

In conducting needs analysis, a meeting can have function too. Its function is to collect a lot of information in short time.

v  Observation

In assessing learners’ attitude, observation is another way to be conducted in assessing their needs as well.

v  Collecting learner language samples

This kind of activity is like some tests to be done in collecting learner language samples. The tests are:

·      Written or oral tasks that is collecting learners’ written or oral work.

·      Simulations or role plays that are simulating learners’ performance to be observed or recorded.

·      Achievement tests that is testing learners’ competence in different domain of language use.

·      Performance tests that is testing learners’ attitude towards their job-related or task-related.

v  Task analysis

In task analysis, the learners are given a kind of tasks to be done in English for their future job situation.

v  Case studies

In case studies, there is a relevant work or educational experience to be done which is followed by a single student or a selected group so that the characteristics of that situation can be decided.

v  Analysis of available information

In analysis of available information, various sources are available in a large amount of relevant information. These include:

·      Books

·      Journal articles

·      Reports and surveys

·      Records and files

Furthermore, the second statement is according to McMillan & Schumacher (2000) in Hayriye Kayi (2008: 31, in Method Design 1^st paragraph) the procedures for conducting needs analysis consist of questionnaires that were given to learners, interviews that were conducted by teachers, and observation.

                                                                                                                         

C.    Conclusion

Based on the discussion above, the writer can conclude that the procedures for conducting needs analysis can be selected from among the following as follows:

v  Questionnaires

v  Self-ratings

v  Interviews

v  Meetings

v  Observation

v  Collecting learner language samples (like some kinds of tests)

v  Task analysis

v  Case studies, and

v  Analysis of available information

However, actually the general procedures for conducting needs analysis namely as follows:

v Observation

v Interview, and

v Questionnaires.

References

Richards, Jack C. 2001. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press. Page 60, 1^st paragraph.

Kayi, Hayriye. 2008. Developing an ESL Curriculum Based on Needs and Situation Analyses: A Case Study. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies. Vol. 4. No. 1. Page 31, in Method Design 1^st paragraph.

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