ENGLISH FOR

SPECIFIC
English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442 PURPOSES
www.elsevier.com/locate/esp

Needs analysis: Planning a syllabus for a series

of intensive workplace courses at a leading
Japanese company
Jeremy David Cowling *

103 Riberu Kuwabara, 3-12-26 Kuwabara, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-0911, Japan

Abstract

This paper gives a detailed description of the needs analysis (NA) stage in the development of a
set of English language intensive courses at a large Japanese industrial firm. The case study high-
lights the NA practices of using multiple sources and multiple methods in the data gathering stage
and uses triangulation in order to validate results. The perceived needs of different informant groups,
resource constraints, data gathering techniques and syllabus design are all discussed in light of cur-
rent theory and research. It was found that great care and thought is required in the planning and
execution stages as this area of course and syllabus design is often far more complex than described
in the syllabus design literature.
Ó 2006 The American University. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

This paper describes the needs analysis (NA) stage of developing a set of English lan-
guage materials for an intensive course at a large Japanese company. The case study
describes the different methods which were employed in gathering data in order to compile
a syllabus outline.

*
Tel.: +81 89 977 9739.
E-mail address: jeremy@movenet.or.jp.

0889-4906/$30.00 Ó 2006 The American University. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.esp.2006.10.003
 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442 427

2. Immediate context of the courses

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), based in Takasago, Japan contacted Nippon

Information and Communications (NIC), a corporate language training provider, to set
up an intensive course package for its year 1–3 employees. The requirement was for a busi-
ness English communication course to run for three days, three times a year over a period
of three years. Therefore, all new employees would complete a total of nine three-day
intensive courses within their first three years at the company. The courses were intended
to give students practical English language training focusing on language used in business
situations which they may encounter in their workplace. I was asked to create the course
syllabus and co-ordinate material development. The first stage, analyzing the needs of the
students, is described in this paper.

3. A theoretical overview

In many cases syllabus design is a greatly overlooked area of course planning with
many EFL schools and institutions relying on a textbook as the sole syllabus. Such an out-
look eliminates the need of a time consuming and often-expensive syllabus design process
and is often adequate for many general English courses where a suitable textbook exists.
However, such an approach ignores the specific learning needs of the target students,
something that could be examined through a needs analysis (NA) process. Research has
shown (Gardener & Winslow, 1983; Long, 2005; Richterich, 1983; West, 1994) that there
is often a lack of awareness of the existence of NA as a tool in EFL course design, espe-
cially in General English courses where the specific needs of students are difficult to deter-
mine. In fact, there are documented cases of teachers and course planners paying little or
no regard to any concept of need (described by Abbott (1981) as TENOR – teaching Eng-
lish for no obvious reason). One area that has a higher regard for NA is ESP (English for
specific purposes) (Jasso-Aguilar, 2005; West, 1994) as students’ needs are often clearer
and of such a nature that a published textbook would not adequately fulfill their needs.
The formal concept of NA was largely established during the 1970s by the Council of
Europe in the field of ESP (Richterich, 1973/1980) although the term ‘analysis of needs’
first appeared in India in the 1920s (Howatt, 1984; White, 1988). Defining NA is an oft
argued point as ‘‘The very concept of language needs has never been clearly defined
and remains at best ambiguous’’ (Richterich, 1983, p. 2). However, in broad terms NA
can be described as identifying ‘‘what learners will be required to do with the foreign lan-
guage in the target situation, and how learners might best master the target language dur-
ing the period of training’’ (West, 1994, p. 1). Before the 1970s NA was generally very
informal and little research was done as language teachers based their teaching on ‘‘some
kind of intuitive or informal analysis of students’ needs’’ (West, 1994, p. 1). The 1970s saw
a much more detailed analysis of NA with Munby (1978) having a considerable influence
with his instrument of profiling students needs by creating lists and ticking boxes.
Munby’s performance-based approach had its merits but essentially excluded areas that
have been broadened by others since – such as practicalities and constraints, teaching
methods, learning strategies and materials selection. More recently, task-based NAs are
gaining attention (Gilabert, 2005; Long, 2005; Long & Crookes, 1992, 1993; Long & Nor-
ris, 2000) using multiple sources and methods (Al-Khatib, 2005; Bosher & Smalkoski,
2002; Jasso-Aguilar, 2005; Li So-mui & Mead, 2000; Long, 2005; Sullivan & Girginer,
428 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442

2002) to gather quality data. The different sets of data from these sources/methods can
then be triangulated to produce credible results (Bosher & Smalkoski, 2002; Jasso-Aguilar,
2005; Long, 2005). Focus is now moving away from outsiders’ views (such as pre-experi-
ence learners and applied linguists) which ‘‘focused on the notions and functions suppos-
edly required to satisfy various occupational language’’ (Long, 2005, p. 21) to insiders’
views (such as experts of their domain who therefore have expert insider knowledge, for
example, company employees in the target language situation), although the majority of
NAs continue to rely the views of outsiders (Gilabert, 2005).

4. The needs analysis at MHI

4.1. Course requirements

Initial discussions between MHI (the client) and NIC (the language training provider)
envisaged a communicative business English course. The objective (set by the client) was
‘to give students the opportunity to adapt their current general English skills to business
situations they will come across during their working lives’. ‘Current general English skills’
refers to the general English courses that all 1st to 3rd year employees attend at MHI on a
weekly basis. The client’s ‘perceived needs’ (Berwick, 1989) were that their junior employ-
ees needed to practice their English in business situations which would help them when
meeting foreign business people. Finally, it was stipulated by the client that each course
should deal with one ‘area’ of business English, ‘‘such as meetings, business telephoning
and business presentations’’. With these requirements and information, a three-week dead-
line was established for the production of a basic syllabus of topic areas to be approved by
the client.

4.2. Sources and methods

The client’s initial brief appeared to be relatively general with only a few examples of
the kind of content they wanted to see in the syllabus (meetings, telephoning and presen-
tations) and was based on their intuitions and the perceived needs of the learners, which
may have been at odds with the learners’ actual needs. It is important to point out here
that our ‘‘English speaking Western TESOL ideas of innovation’’ (Holliday, 2005) such
as the key role of needs analysis in course design, may be in conflict with the learners’
expectations of how an English language course should be developed.
It was decided early on to take a multiple sources/methods approach and to triangu-
late the findings in order to increase the credibility of the data (2005). Multiple sources,
such as published or unpublished literature (e.g. job descriptions), learners, teachers and
domain experts (Long, 2005) ensure that a wide variety of data can be gathered and
compared, and that the methods of doing this (such as through gathering informants’
intuitions, interviews, surveys, language audits, observations, journals, tests and so on)
(Long, 2005) allow for different kinds of data to be collected. As Long states, ‘‘It is dif-
ficult to overemphasize the likelihood that use of multiple measures, as well as multiple
sources, will increase the quality of information gathered’’ (2005, p. 32) and this has
been concurred with by some important NA studies (e.g. Chaudron et al., 2005; Cumar-
anatunge, 1988; Gilabert, 2005; Jasso-Aguilar, 2005; Sullivan & Girginer, 2002). It tran-
spired that this method was particularly useful as identifying the specific needs of the
 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442 429

students was not always clear, and by casting a large net to cover many sources allowed
for more opportunities to identify needs and also to filter out any inaccurate perceived
needs through the use of triangulation.
For the NA at MHI the following sources were identified:

(a) The sales director at NIC who is responsible for language training contracts at MHI:
as MHI’s primary English language training provider NIC has had years of contact
and experience setting up and running courses at MHI and therefore has a good
knowledge of the company and the employees that take part in English language
programs.
(b) The staff of MHI’s training section who requested the intensive course (the client).
(c) The English language instructors at MHI. MHI employs four full-time and a number
of part-time language teachers.
(d) The learners who would be required to take the intensive courses.

I started background research with the sales director at NIC: the director had a great
deal of knowledge and was keen to help with background information about the company
and employees. Our discussions were via informal meetings at the NIC office from which I
took notes which were written up later in a research journal. The target group (the stu-
dents taking the course) was 1st to 3rd year employees with the following characteristics:
(i) they are trainee employees for plant design and construction; (ii) they graduated from
engineering universities with Master’s qualifications, aged 24–28; (iii) they are the product
of the Japanese English education system: particularly adapt at reading and writing and
finding grammar errors in exam questions. However, they have had little experience in
spoken English, which causes confidence problems when interacting with native speakers
of English; (iv) as trainees they often worked in different departments to gain on-the-job
experience. Their chosen field/department would not be decided until their 4th year; (v) the
company had many overseas plant building and maintenance contracts in addition to its
domestic operations. English was therefore clearly important for engineers who needed to
converse with foreign clients and suppliers, as well as those who had to travel or live
abroad; (vi) the company required most employees to take the TOEIC test but rarely used
scores as a pre-requisite to working on international projects.
It was clear that producing a specifically designed course directed at the clearly defined
needs of the target audience would be impossible. At this stage the students did not hold
actual positions within their company, nor did they know what their future positions
would be. All of the students (over 60 in total) would be working in various sections in
the future and play different roles within the company. Some may use English extensively
and some very little. However, conducting a needs analysis could still prove beneficial as
many employees could potentially work on project teams with international clients and
therefore require some degree of English language skill. Therefore, if these particular needs
were identified and included in a syllabus, the needs of the students who would in the
future require a degree of English language proficiency would be met. This appears to
be what the client had in mind with their initial brief – some of the new employees may
need to use English in their working lives and this course would help prepare them for this.
Methods of carrying out the NA were also discussed with the director. It was decided
that an open-ended humanistic NA approach in which target students could express their
‘‘own needs and anxieties in their own words’’ (Mackey & Bosquet, 1981) would be
430 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442

adopted. It was also recognized that this may be a culturally difficult thing for the students
to do. In deciding how to go about the NA the ‘opportunity cost’ (Swales, 1989) of weigh-
ing resources against NA research had to be taken into account. A language audit (Cole-
man, 1988; Reeves & Wright, 1996; Watts, 1994), for example, would have been
impossible given the time and budget constraints of the project. In addition, as all MHI
junior employees regularly took the TOEIC test, it would be possible to identify (to some
degree of accuracy) the range of English proficiency throughout the target group (testing
being a major stage of a language audit – Vandermeeren, 2005). Class observations (Yal-
den, 1987) was another area of NA that could have been pursued, however scheduling and
time constraints factored against this approach and it is arguable whether this would
reveal any useful details about the actual needs of the students. It transpired that the
use of ‘informants’ would have to play a major role in the NA research process. Through
interviews and questionnaires relevant data would be gathered from differing sources and
compared. The use of questionnaires (Al-Khatib, 2005; Bosher & Smalkoski, 2002; Jordan
& Mackay, 1973; Li So-mui & Mead, 2000; Mackey & Bosquet, 1981; Richterich &
Chancerel, 1977) would allow for informant input, a process that is ‘‘the most common
method of needs analysis’’ (West, 1994), as would firstly unstructured interviews (e.g.
Chaudron et al., 2005; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Long, 2005) and then structured interviews
(Fixman, 1990; Gilabert, 2005).

5. Data gathering

The data gathering process required a number of steps (as discussed by Schutz & Der-
wing, 1983) in which the effective use of informants was to be the key to producing a syl-
labus that fulfilled the needs of all the parties involved.
Step 1: Discussion with the client (MHI). This envisioned ‘informal’ interview set out to
examine the reasons behind the client’s instructions and course needs as well as to gather
more information about the nature of the target group’s working situation in an attempt
to understand what their English needs were. By conducting an unstructured, or open-
ended, interview, it was hoped that the interviewees would openly give more detailed
accounts instead of being ‘‘constrained by a set of pre-planned questions’’ (Long, 2005,
p. 36).
Unfortunately, little information was gathered at this stage as the staff in the training
section appeared to show little interest in the needs analysis and had little idea of the kind
of course syllabus that would be required. The client seemed to feel that it had relayed all
that it wanted for the course and had little time or interest in being involved in the NA
process. Again, this may be explained culturally, as our expectations are based on Western
ideas rather than what is expected in a Japanese based NA (see Barmada, 1994; Holliday,
2005). In effect, the client had passed all responsibility of the course over to the ‘course
design specialists’ and only wanted to be involved when approval of the syllabus was nec-
essary: they were busy preparing other in-house training programs and had little time or
resources to spend on the program they had brought in outside specialists to do. However,
they were able to confirm the points brought out in the meeting with NIC’s sales director
(above).
Step 2: Semi-structured interviews with the target group teachers. These informers are
essentially ‘outsiders’ or ‘‘non-experts’’ (Long, 2005, p. 35) as although they may be expe-
rienced language teachers within the target domain they do not have the required insider
 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442 431

knowledge of the job content and therefore may have NA views which may be inaccurate,
especially compared with domain experts. However, interviewing these teachers would
hopefully provide useful insights (Chaudron et al., 2005) into their students’ language abil-
ity and some of the company’s operations, especially as the teachers were based at MHI
five days a week and had constant contact with employees.
Fortunately this group proved very receptive and willing to cooperate and provided
useful feedback. A meeting was arranged with the four full-time teachers and the NA
objectives were explained and some pre-planned questions were asked, however, much
of the interview was kept open-ended. The meeting was recorded on tape and notes were
taken which were later written up in the research journal. The data gathered is as follows:

(a) The target group make-up: the students’ working situations differed greatly as they
would all work in different sections of MHI.
(b) The target group’s English ability: ranged from lower intermediate level to lower
advanced. This was confirmed by their TOEIC scores (between 450 and 750). The
current general English classes concentrated on speaking skills as students had
had little practice in this area (school and university English courses concentrated
on reading and grammar). The students often suffered from confidence problems
when speaking and relied too heavily on accuracy, rather than fluency and commu-
nication. All the teachers felt that a communicative course that centered on basic
business situations would be most beneficial for students (echoing the perceived
needs stated by the client).
(c) The target group’s experience in using English in their working situations. All 1st to
3rd year employees are trainee employees. Most of their training is on-the-job at the
MHI factory and employees move between two or three different sections during
their training period. As such it was rare that they had much contact with foreign
clients/customers. Students had very little need for using English during this training
stage and it was not until later that they would be required to host foreign visitors or
go on foreign business trips.
(d) The target group’s future English needs. These were difficult to assess. Many employ-
ees had opportunities to go on business trips when their project required. Different
project groups had different projects in different countries (for example, one section
had a factory construction contract in Malaysia and another was updating the air
conditioning system at a factory in Germany). This would mean a specific culturally
defined English course would be impossible. Also, as stated above, the nature of the
employees’ jobs meant different genres of English skills were necessary.

Step 3: Interviews with the target group students. Using target students as informers
seems an obvious choice, and are often the ‘‘primary, sometimes the only, respondents’’
(Long, 2005, p. 19) (see, e.g., Alalou, 2001; Lepetit & Cichocki, 2002). The success of
the results from this source depends on how well informed the students are and whether
they are ‘‘pre-experience’’, ‘‘pre-service’’ or ‘‘in-service’’ learners (Long, 2005, p. 20).
Many advocate the use of students as informers (see, e.g., Edwards, 2000; stating their
input is ‘‘crucial’’) and others, such as Long (2005); take a more cautious stance depending
on the expertise of the learner in their domain. Therefore, much thought was put into this
stage and it was also important to consider the sensitivity issue of directly questioning stu-
dents: students could feel uncomfortable being questioned by an unknown foreigner, or
432 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442

even their teachers. Cultural aspects play an important role as well: the teacher is often
expected to know the best way to teach and set up a course, not the student (Long, 2005).
With these issues in mind it was decided that an ‘open-ended’ questionnaire would be
devised that would be lead in class by the MHI English teachers. Students would be given
the questionnaire to discuss in small groups as a task, and then report their findings in a
final group discussion with their teacher (such in-class task approaches to NA are dis-
cussed by Nunan, 1988; Graves, 1996). The questionnaire centered on the working lives
of the students and hoped to identify areas of the students’ English needs. The full ques-
tionnaire can be found in Appendix A.
The feedback from the teachers regarding the questionnaire task was limited,
although this was generally expected. Students explained that they had had few oppor-
tunities to use English at work and they did not seem to know what their business Eng-
lish needs would be in the future (pre-experience learners). Also, students were unaware
of what kind of areas could be included in a business English course. However, there
were a few useful areas raised: students had openly described how they felt in instances
of contact with foreigners, which was almost unanimously negative: students explained
they felt very uncomfortable and wanted to close such encounters as quickly as possible.
They put this down to their lack of English skill and confidence. Most students had used
English in two situations at work (a) telephoning: many students had had the unfortu-
nate experience of answering a call in their office only to be confronted by an English
speaker. The necessary actions of transferring the call or taking a message were
explained as difficult and training in this area would be useful and relevant to their pres-
ent working situations; (b) business greetings: some students reported that even though
this should be an obviously easy area of business English, they felt uncomfortable when
doing so in English and were not quite sure how to handle the cultural aspects of greet-
ings and introductions.
Due to the disappointing outcome of this stage of the NA a fourth stage was imple-
mented in order to gain more of an insight to the target group and its English needs.
Step 4: Open-ended, structured questionnaires for students to complete with their senior
employees. At this point I was looking for a new perspective from a source that had expe-
rience in the target situation as well as in previous English language courses at MHI. These
informants, known as ‘domain experts’, can provide quality information about the tasks
they undertake, especially in the case of when English is required. Some researchers (e.g.,
Drobnic, Trimble, & Trimble, 1978; Marriot, 1991) warn against asking this source for lin-
guistic features and discourse events as they often prove unreliable. However, by using
task as the unit of analysis they can provide quality data (see, e.g., Gilabert, 2005; Lett,
2005).
The most obvious point of access was employees at MHI who had successfully gradu-
ated through the three year trainee stage and were now working on projects that involved
the use of English. Such informants fell under the umbrella of former students (Allen &
Spada, 1983) and those already working in the target situation (Richterich, 1973/1980; Tar-
antino, 1988) and could hopefully provide useful insights for the NA research, as was the
case of Gilabert who found employee informants ‘‘to be the most useful sources’’ in his
NA research (2005, p. 191). Direct interviews were ruled out as it may have disrupted
working routines, not to mention the time constraints and organizational problems it
would cause. It was therefore decided an open-ended but structured questionnaire would
be compiled for the students of the general English courses to complete with a senior
 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442 433

employee from their department. The questionnaire was set up as a homework task for the
students of the general English course: they would need to interview one of their seniors
and then report their results in the form of a short report. In compiling the questionnaire
I was conscious that it should not be too time consuming to complete and should seek to
directly assess the language needs in terms of tasks that the seniors perceived to be neces-
sary for working in the target situation but avoiding directly asking about linguistic fea-
tures such as structures, notions and functions. The questionnaire can be found in
Appendix B.
The response to this task was good with approximately 60% of questionnaires returned.
The feedback was very useful and provided some interesting and at times unexpected
results. Many of the informants described cultural differences as a high priority as they
have had to overcome problems in situations such as meetings and negotiations that were
put down to cultural differences (one example being the decision making process speed in a
negotiation being much faster than the respondent had experienced in Japan). The respon-
dents outlined areas which they believed would be useful in a business English course,
some of which were predictable (negotiations, meetings, placing orders, telephone conver-
sations) and others which were not as expected (describing business trends: some respon-
dents reported that this was something they often had to describe in reports or
presentations and even in general business discussions and was a particularly troublesome
area). Finally, a lot of emphasis was placed on areas that would be useful for first time
business contacts with foreign business people: introductions and greetings, hosting busi-
ness visitors and general small talk situations (small talk being a particularly important
socio-pragmatic skill (Holmes, 2005)). It seemed many respondents were delving into their
past and describing difficult and embarrassing first time associations with foreign guests.
This seemed to tie up with the concerns of the students in their survey: they wanted a
grounding in initial contacts that would give them more confidence in a culturally
demanding situation.
It was also stated by the senior employees that past English courses, especially those
with a business slant, had been unhelpful in preparing them for certain business situations
as the language they studied was unrepresentative of what actually took place, as in busi-
ness meetings, for example (such a comparative research project was carried out by Wil-
liams, 1988 in which her research bore out that textbook models did not satisfactorily
relate to language used in real meetings). Respondents were indicating that authenticity
would make for a better business course.

6. The results and final syllabus

Through comparison of the sources and methods and triangulating the results it tran-
spired that the MHI intensive syllabus was required to do four things:

(a) Provide nine areas of study (one area for each intensive course) that would be helpful
to the students in their working lives.
(b) Provide a communicative course where students could adapt their current general
English knowledge into business situations.
(c) Provide a course that took into consideration cultural issues when communicating
with foreign businesspeople.
(d) Provide realistic (authentic) examples of language.
434 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442

Such considerations called for a content-based (Graves, 1996; Mohan, 1986) and
notional–functional syllabus (Wilkins, 1976). See Appendix C for the full syllabus.
The fact that there are two syllabus types reflects the differing needs of the target group.
The notional–functional syllabus would take into account of the following modules: (i)
business introductions; (ii) hosting business visitors; (iii) business telephoning; (iv) plac-
ing business orders; (v) describing business trends. This set up would allow for a topic
(such as ‘Business Telephoning’) under which more than one communicative function
could be grouped (‘Answering a call’, ‘Transferring a call’, ‘Taking messages’). The
materials would strive to reflect realistic language by the collocation of authentic mate-
rials, transcripts and so on. From these materials useful language could be highlighted
and taught with practice activities for students to build on (as in a PPP approach).
The content-based syllabus would cover the following modules: (i) describing products
and services; (ii) business presentations; (iii) business meetings; (iv) business negotiations.
Again, authentic materials would be the basis of these modules, but instead of a rigid
PPP approach the lessons would be based on content instruction and meaningful tasks
(such as those listed by Willis, 1997). Although the NA sources had not explicitly sug-
gested a task-based activities it was clear from the senior employees interviews that
authenticity should play a major role in the course and as such instigating lessons which
incorporated realistic tasks should provide for some authenticity. This would allow for
the ‘‘stimulation of the learners’ language’’ (Willis, 1997) and give the students the
chance to see how the language skills they already have could be adapted to different
business situations. For example, the Business Meetings module would involve students
completing a task in a meeting format and then the meeting would be evaluated and
compared to transcripts/recordings of actual meetings of native English speakers tack-
ling the same task. The syllabus (Appendix C) shows areas (possibly functions) of learn-
ing, however, these points would not be taught directly, rather brought out in the task
evaluation.
The areas of the notional–functional syllabus would come first in the overall course
package followed by the content-based syllabus areas. This would allow for more struc-
tured lessons in the first half of the course (an approach which the students are used to)
and move onto a more challenging content/task-based lesson format for the final half
of the course. Cultural aspects would be discussed during each lesson as the opportunity
arose (with pointers included in the teacher’s manual). Finally, the syllabus itself (as
shown in Appendix C) only contains the bare bones of the course specifications (a ‘con-
servative syllabus’ as advocated by Brumfit, 1984; Widdowson, 1990) as this would not
overly constrain the materials writers/teachers.

7. Conclusion and summary

The syllabus that resulted from this NA research was accepted by the client. Materials,
textbooks and teacher’s manuals were produced with emphasis on authenticity. Teachers
were encouraged to incorporate cultural aspects within their lessons and their manuals
included pointers and guidelines on cultural aspects of each lesson.
Each course was split into three proficiency levels based on students’ TOIEC scores:
elementary, lower intermediate and upper intermediate. The courses proved to be suc-
cessful with post course student and teacher questionnaires giving positive feedback,
 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442 435

especially in the areas of course content and language taught. The questionnaires also
provided very useful feedback in which areas of the course to update and/or retain.
The syllabus topic areas were considered to cover areas of future needs and the inclu-
sion of cultural aspects was highlighted as a useful and important part of the course.
Many of the elementary level students commented that the task-based sections of the
syllabus were often too difficult as their language skills were not competent enough
to deal with realistic tasks. Also, many students asked for a TOEIC element to be
included as they were all required to take the TOEIC test regularly. These points were
taken into account and revisions were made: the elementary level syllabus removed
many of the more demanding tasks and replaced them with more traditional activities
(such as role plays, info-gap exercises and plays and skits) and simplified other tasks so
that low-level speakers could cope better; and a TOEIC element was included on day 3
of each intensive course (the client asked to extend day 3 by two hours to incorporate
this).
Overall, the NA set out to fulfill the conditions laid out by the client as well as pro-
vide English training for the students that would be useful for their business workings.
The NA process was extremely revealing and useful in assessing the needs of the target
group. There were some instances which required careful attention. Firstly, the specific
needs of all the target students were not always clearly identifiable as they were yet to be
in a position to use English in their working lives. However, it was possible to identify
many needs of those who were working in positions in the company where English was
required which would become the future needs of the target group. Secondly, the
research needed careful planning and execution, taking into account various kinds of
issues including time constraints, cultural differences, students’ experience in the target
language and the use of informants other than the target students to provide essential
feedback.
The process of collecting NA data often appears reasonably straightforward as many
documented NA research projects conducted in the occupational sector have the luxury
of producing a course syllabus for a specific group of learners with clearly identifiable
language needs (see, e.g., Edwards, 2000; Jasso-Aguilar, 2005; Long, 2005). However,
it is often the case that the target students have varying needs or their needs are not
clearly identifiable and as such requires a carefully administered NA which utilizes var-
ious sources of informants in order to attain useful insights into the needs of the target
learners.

Appendix A. Student questionnaire

Discussion questions:

1. How many years have you been studying English? Have you ever studied any other
languages?
2. Have you ever talked to a foreigner other than your teacher? If yes, how did you feel?
Did you feel you could communicate effectively? What problems did you encounter?
What success do you feel you had in communicating?
3. Which section do you work in? What is your job?
4. Have you ever used English at work? If yes, give examples (even very short instances are
ok).
436 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442

5. Do you think you’ll need to use English in the future at work? Discuss the situations
you think you’ll need to use English for.
6. Imagine you are English textbook writers. Your job is to write a Business English text-
book for all 1st to 3rd year employees at MHI Takasago. What areas would you
include in the textbook that you think would be useful for the students in their working
lives at MHI.

Appendix B. Student/senior employee questionnaire

The following extract was translated into Japanese and given to each senior employee
interviewee prior to the interview:
I’m in the process of writing business English textbooks for an intensive course for 1st
to 3rd year employees at MHI Takasago. I would very much appreciate it if you could
take a few minutes to answer the questions asked by your colleague. Your answers would
help me gain an understanding of how you conduct your business and would therefore
greatly help me in my research. I would also like to hear your opinions of any English
courses you have taken at MHI and how useful they were in preparing you for communi-
cating with foreigners in your work situation.
Thank you very much for your cooperation.
The questionnaire:

1. Which section do you work in? What is your job?

2. Do you ever use English when working in Japan? In which situations do you need to use
English (in Japan)?
3. Have you ever visited another country on business for MHI in which you needed to use
English? Please describe your experiences. Which countries? What was the purpose of
your trip? In which situations did you use English? In which situations did you feel
you were able to communicate successfully in English? Which situations did you feel
were difficult for you when using English?
4. Have you ever taken an English course at MHI? How well do you feel it prepared you
for your working situation? Are there any topics or language areas you feel were par-
ticularly useful for your work? Are there any areas you feel should have been included
that would have been useful for you in your working situation?
5. If you were setting up a syllabus of topics areas for an intensive course for 1st to
3rd year employees, what areas would you feel would be useful for these students?
Why?

Appendix C. MHI Takasago Intensive Course Syllabus

Course/unit Discourse/language Main activities Cultural

Year 1: Spring, Business introductions
Greetings and – Useful expressions – Gestures
introductions and vocabulary – Listening tasks – Business cards
– Keys steps of an – Role plays – Names
introduction – Discussion – Levels of formality
 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442 437

Appendix C (continued)
Course/unit Discourse/language Main activities Cultural
Small talk – Topics of – Listening tasks – Taboo topics
conversation – Role plays – Sensitive topics
– Expressions of – Discussions
interest
Offering drinks – Offering, accepting, – Listening tasks – Manners and
rejecting – Video tasks etiquette
– Useful expressions – Role plays
and vocabulary – Discussion
Year 1: Summer, Hosting business visitors
Introducing others – Useful expressions – Listening tasks – Gestures
and vocabulary – Role plays – Business cards
– Keys steps of – Discussion – Names
introducing others – Levels of formality
Showing around – Sequencing – Video tasks – Workplace
vocabulary – Role plays Differences
– Prepositions of – Discussion
location
– Giving directions
– Explaining rules
Small talk – Topics of – Listening tasks – Taboo topics
conversation – Role plays – Sensitive topics
– Expressions of – Discussions
interest
Entertaining – Inviting – Listening tasks – Dining culture
– Asking preferences – Role plays – Differences in
– Explaining – Presentations entertaining
Japanese things – Discussions – Manners and
etiquette
Year 1: Winter, Business telephoning
Answering and – Useful expressions – Listening tasks – Levels of formality
transferring a Call and vocabulary – Role plays and politeness
– Hesitation tactics – Discussions
Taking messages – Useful expressions – Listening tasks – Levels of formality
and vocabulary – Role plays and politeness
– Numbers and – Discussions – Acceptable excuses
spelling – Group tasks
– Requests
(repeating, spelling)
– Pronunciation for
spelling
– Giving excuses
– Apologizing
– Confirming details
(continued on next page)
438 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442

Appendix C (continued)
Course/unit Discourse/language Main activities Cultural
Year 2: Spring, Placing business orders
Calling a client – Useful expressions – Listening tasks – Levels of formality
and vocabulary – Role plays and politeness
– Telephone – Discussions
introductions
– Asking to speak to
someone
– Leaving a message
Giving/taking – Useful expressions – Listening and
orders and vocabulary writing tasks
– Confirming details – Role plays
– Checking – Discussions
understanding
– Filling in forms
– Requesting
information
Year 2: Summer, Describing business trends
Describing trends – Useful expressions – Reading and – Variety of
and vocabulary writing tasks expressions used
– Group tasks
Presenting – Presentation – Presentation – Use of gestures
information expressions skills – Directness
– Sequencing – Presenting to – Voice (intonation)
– Summarizing and groups
concluding – Listening skills
– Conditional ‘‘if’’ – Use of
clause presentation
equipment
Asking about trends – Question formation – Pair and group – Interrupting
– Conditional ‘‘if’’ tasks
clause
– Asking for
clarification
Year 2: Winter, Describing products and services
Giving descriptions – Measures and – Group task – Directness
weights activities – Gestures
– Adjectives and – Senior staff
adverbs interviews
– Comparatives – Video tasks
Presenting selling – Superlatives – Group task – Directness
points – Engaging the activities – Gestures and voice
customer – Role plays
– Giving opinions – Presentations
 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442 439

Appendix C (continued)
Course/unit Discourse/language Main activities Cultural
Year 3: Spring, Business presentations
Stages of a – Self introductions – Listening tasks – Presentation styles
presentation – Giving – Video tasks – Introduction and
presentation outlines – Group task ending styles
– Sequencing activities
– Concluding and – Presentations
summarizing – Discussions
– Fielding questions
– Useful expressions
and vocabulary
Presentation – Video tasks – Directness
techniques – Group activities – Gestures and voice
– Presentations – Use of humor
– Using
presentation
equipment
Year 3: Summer, Business meetings
Participant roles – Participant – Group activity – Roles of
vocabulary tasks participants
– Formality
Stages of a meeting – Opening a meeting – Group activity – Meeting styles and
– Controlling a tasks differences
meeting – Listening tasks
Forming an – Explaining clearly – Group activity – Persuading
argument – Checking tasks
understanding – Listening tasks
– Giving examples
Reaching decisions – Agreeing and – Group activity – Differences in:
disagreeing tasks – Interrupting and
– Giving suggestions – Listening tasks Supporting
– Giving opinions – Discussions – Turn-taking
– Self-selecting
Year 3: Winter, Business negotiations
Stages of a – Opening and – Group activity – Differences in
negotiation closing a negotiation tasks negotiation styles
– Confirming – Listening tasks
– Useful expressions – Discussions
and vocabulary
Setting objectives – Types of – Group activity
negotiation tasks
Objectives
– Possibility models
(continued on next page)
440 J.D. Cowling / English for Specific Purposes 26 (2007) 426–442

Appendix C (continued)
Course/unit Discourse/language Main activities Cultural
Reaching – Giving suggestions – Group activity – Emotional
compromises – ‘‘if’’ clauses tasks responses
– Politely disagreeing – Listening tasks
– Giving concessions – Discussions
– Summarizing

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Jeremy David Cowling holds an RSA/Cambridge TEFLA Cert. and an MSc in TESOL. He has been teaching
ESL in Japan for over 10 years, and is currently teaching at Matsuyama Shinonome College, Japan.