writing sample sample

Needs Analysis: An Innovation in the Language Classroom in China

1.

INTRODUCTION

Teaching

primary

students

in

an

EFL

context,

the

differential

language

proficiency

levels

of

students has been one of the obstacles I came across when planning teaching. This essay opens

with an introduction of needs analysis as an innovative solution to tackle the difficulty in syllabus

designing as well as lesson planning

[1]

in my own context. The following part presents how to

exploit

needs

analysis.

The

procedures

of

implementation

then

lead

to

the

investigation

of

the

rationale

of

needs

analysis.

The

final

part

outlines

the

implication

as

well

as

suggestions

of

exploiting needs analysis in the pedagogical field in my teaching context.

2.

OUTLINE OF THE USE OF NEEDS ANALYSIS

In

this

section,

explanation

of

why

needs

analysis

might

be

an

appropriate

solution

to

the

difficulties

I

encountered

in

course

designing

will

be

specified.

How

to

exploit

and

implement

needs analysis will then be illustrated as well.

As

mentioned,

teaching

primary

students

English

as

a

foreign

language,

one

of

the

major

difficulties I encountered is how to manage the various discrepant proficiency levels of students

within one class and meanwhile, remaining teaching within the scope of the assigned textbooks. In

addition

to

issues

related

to

language

proficiency

and

learning

objectives,

how

to

maintain

motivation of young learners’ in the learning process is also my concern when planning teaching.

Searching

for

solutions

to

these

wonders,

I

realize

the

answer

to

the

neutral

balance

among

national

curriculum,

proficiency

level

and

motivation

of

learners

may

very

likely

lie

in

the

learners themselves. Therefore, I resort to needs analysis as a way to elicit the individual opinions

about English learning from my students in order to make adjustment to the teaching as well as

learning pattern we currently have. As Stern (1992) suggests, needs analysis of language enables

the

language

course

to

meet

‘the

needs

of

groups

of

students

working

in

various

countries

at

different

levels

o

f

proficiency

and

with

a

variety

of

objectives

in

mind’

(p.43),

and

this

is

the

reason I would like to introduce needs analysis to my students and also what I expect to bring in to

the course design.

To

outline

suitable

procedures

of

implementing

needs

analysis

in

my

teaching

context,

here,

I

make

reference

to

Tarone

and

Yule

(1989),

Linse

(1993,cited

in

Richards

2001),

Richards

(2001)

,Nunan

and

Lamb

(2001)

as

well

as

my

own

teaching

experience

to

specify

how

needs

analysis might work to provide information to the course design process.

As can be seen in Chart 1(please refer to Appendix A), the starting point of needs analysis is to

decide the purpose of the analysis (e.g. to compile the profile of language groups in class; to find

out

the

students’

language

use

in

daily

life;

to

discover

students’

interests

in

topics).

Then

the

consequential important step is to identify the potential needs from students. In this essay, I adopt

Brindley’s (1984, cited in Nunan 1988) viewpoint of ‘subjective needs’ and ‘objective needs’ to

categorize

learners’

needs,

which

defines

‘subjective

needs’

as

‘wants,

desires,

expectations

or

other psychological manifestation’ of learners while ‘objective needs’ as ‘those can be diagnosed

by teachers on the basis of the analysis of personal data about the learners along with information

about their language proficiency and patterns of language use’ (p.44). After these two sources of

needs are identified, the instruments used to elicit learners’ opinions of their needs can be chos

en.

The following pilot study of the instrument is crucial,

because of the age factor of my students

(most of them aged from eight to ten), this step could be very influential to whether students can

comprehend as well as express their opinions in the elicitation process successfully. Once the data

is collected, the teacher needs to interpret the data based on considerations of elicited information,

the national curriculum, and the teaching objectives on

the core textbooks…etc. Then the more

neutral

teaching

objectives,

which

reflect

the

needs

of

learners

and

the

needs

of

language

knowledge or skills that are crucial for their learning, can be reached. What goes on next is the

adjustments made to teaching materials (especially when designing the whole-term syllabus) and

the arrangement and analysis of specific tasks. By using the general analysis model from Tarone

and Y

ule (1989), teachers can be oriented in designing the specific knowledge, skills or function of

target

language

features;

meanwhile

they

can

examine

whether

the

task

reflects

the

needs

from

learners as well. If it does, then the teachers can move on to the instruction phase. The last step in

the

analysis

is

the

assessment

phase,

which

would

not

only

give

feedback

to

both

learners

and

teachers but may also become the new starting point of another needs analysis potentially.

3.

RATIONALE

OF

NEEDS

ANALYSIS:

FROM

DIFFERENT

PERSPECTIVE

OF

LEARNING TO DIFFERENT APPROACHES AND FOCI

In this section, the main concepts that bolster needs analysis

will be unfolded with reference to

literature and my own teaching context.

As mentioned in the previous section, to identify the needs from learners is the keystone in needs

analysis. The two categories of needs

–‘subjective needs’ and ‘objective needs’

arise from the two

orientations

of

needs

analysis,

which

is

the

‘product

-

oriented’

and

the

‘process< /p>

-

oriented’

implementation of needs analysis (Brindley, 1989). In ‘product

-

oriented’ analysis, to discover the

discrepancy

between

the

current

and

anticipated

proficiency

level

of

learners’

and

to

set

the

beginning

and

ending

points

of

achievement

are

the

target

aims

of

the

analysis.

Therefore,

the

descriptions of learners’ needs are based on their future use of the target language. However, in the

‘p rocess

-ori

ented’

analysis,

learners

are

viewed

as

individuals

in

the

learning

process.

Hence,

individual factors of learners such as motivation, expectations and learning styles are concerned.

With different orientations of needs analysis, it results in the different approaches, which are the

‘language

proficiency

orientation’,

the

‘psychological

/humanistic

orientation’

and

the

‘specific

orientation’

(Brindley,

1989)

[2]

.

Table

1(please

refer

to

Appendix

B)

outlines

some

salient

characteristics in terms of the view of learners, needs, emphasis and educational rationale of these

three approaches. In Table 1, it can be seen that the function of these three approaches is mainly to

categorize or to group learners based on different perspectives of needs. Nunan and Lamb(2001)

also indicate that needs analysis can be used to enhance teaching planning: ‘the grouping function

(of

needs

analysis)

facilitates

the

specification

of

content

and

learning

procedures

that

are

consonant with some aspect of the learner data that has been gathered’ (p.39).

With consideration to what kind of approach to exploit in my context, the issue links back to what

sort of needs to be emphasized. In China, English teachers are required to use textbooks which are