INTRODUCTION

According to Tom Hutchinson & Alan Waters Lancaster (1986), “English for Specific Purposes is
teaching which has specified objectives”. English Language world got a long well enough without it
for many years, so why has ESP became such an important part of English Language Teaching? In
ESP students hope by learning ESP can serve as a guide to all present and future and inhabitant of
ESP, revealing both the challenges and pleasures to be enjoyed there and the pitfalls to be avoided.
The writer make this book in order we will not only explain our reason for writing it but will also be
able to presents a plan of the itinerary we shall follow, the ESP is related to learning central approach
because in development ESP has paid scant attention to the questions of how people learn, focusing
instead on the question of what people learn. Besides, ESP divided into several focuses there are ESP
for Science and Technology (EST) divided into two English Academic Purposes (EAP) English for
Occupational Purposes (EAP). In English Academic Purposes (EAP) there is English for Medical
Studies, and English for Occupational Purposes (EAP) there is English for Technicians. English for
Business and Economics (EBE) divided into two are EAP there is English for Economics and EOP
English for Secretaries. In English for Social Sciences (ESS) divided into two EAP there is English
for Psychology and EOP (English for Teaching). However, in ESP will discuss into several chapters
such as the origin ESP, The Development of ESP, ESP: Approach not Product, Language Description,
Theories of Learning, Needs Analysis, Approaches to Course Design, The Syllabus, Materials
Evaluation, Materials Design, Methodology, Evaluation and Orientation.

Analysis for General English and English for Specific Purpose is the question will be the
same but the answer will be different. Nevertheless, for the time being the tradition persists of GE that
the learners cannot be specified and as a result no attempt is usually made to discover learner’s true
needs. Thus, if we had to state in practical terms the irreducible minimum of an ESP approach to
course, it would be need analysis, since it is the awareness of a target situation, that distinguish the
ESP learners from the learners of GE.

Target Need Analysis

       Target need is something of an umbrella term, which is practice, hides a number of important
distinctions. In other words, target need is what the learner needs to do in the target situation. Thus, it
is more useful to look at the target situation in terms of necessities, lacks and wants.

a)     Necessities
        Necessities are about what the learners has to know in order to function effectively in the target
situation. In other word, necessities also mean the need of someone to be success in his or her
business. Moreover, according to Allwright (1982, quoted in West, 1994) wants is the skills which a
student’s sees as being relevant to himself or herself. For, example, a businessman or -woman might
need to understand business letters, to communicate effectively as sales conferences, to get the
necessary information from sales catalogues and so on. He or she will presumably also need to know
the linguistic features- discoursal, functional, structural, lexical- which are commonly used in that
situation identified. Thus, observing the situation the learner will need to function and then analyzing
the constituent parts of them is important in order to now the necessities of the learners.

b)    Lacks
       Lack is the difference between the student’s present competence and the desire competence
(Allwright 1982, quoted in West, 1994). Moreover, based on English for Specific Purpose book lack
is about what the learner knows already, so that the teacher or the facilitator can decide which of the
necessities the learner’s lack (Hutchinson, Waters and Breen, 1979 page: 56).

c)     Wants
        According to Allwright 1982, quoted in West, 1994 wants is those needs on which students put a
higher priority in the available, limited time). Moreover, according to Hutchinson and Waters (1987)
definition of wants is perceived of subjective needs of learners. Wants also means that the students
need to know what they want to be learned. From that situation, students will do some efforts to
achieve their willing.

Gathering Information about Target Need

The analysis of target situation needs is in essence a matter of asking question about the target
situation and the attitude towards that situation of the various participants in the learning process.
There are some ways in which information can gathered about needs. The most frequently used:
·    Questioners
·    Interviews
·    Observation
·    Data Collection ( e.g: gathering text) target profile of language skills
·    ONGOING, e.g regular class discussions.
The simple framework below outlines the kind of information that the course designer needs to
gather from an analysis of target needs. 

A target situation analysis framework

Why is the language needed?

-               for study;
-              for work;
-              for training;
-              for a combination of these;
-              for some other purpose, e.g status, examination, promotion

How will the language be used?

-       Medium : speaking, writing, reading, etc
-       Channel : e.g. telephone, face to face
-   Type of text or discourse : e.g. academic texts, lectures, informal conversations, technical manuals,
catalogues.

What will the content areas be?

-       Subject :  e.g. medicine, biology, architecture, shipping, commerce, engineering ;
-       Level :  e.g technician, craftsman, postgraduate, secondary school

Who will the learner use the language with?

-       Native speakers or non-native
-       Level of knowledge of receiver : e.g. expert, layman, student;
-       Relationship: e.g colleague, teacher, customers, superior, subordinate.

Where will the language be used?

-       Physical setting : e.g. office, lecture theatre, hotel, workshop, library;
-       Human context : e.g alone, meetings, demonstration, on telephone;
-       Linguistic context : e.g. in own country, abroad

When will the language be used?

-       Concurrently with the ESP course or subsequently
-       Frequently, seldom, in small amounts, in large chunks

       It is clear that interpretations of needs can vary according to the point of view of the particular
respondent. ESP like another educational matter is concern with people such as to all the vagaries and
foibles of human behavior. For example: in analyzing the need of students, it would be normal
practice to ask both the lectures and the students about their English needs.

Learning Needs Analysis

            Learning need is what the students need to do in order to learn. Using our analogy of the ESP
course as a journey, what we have done so far is consider the starting point (lack) and the destination
(necessities) and where the destination should be (wants). Moreover, the whole ESP process is
concerned not with knowing or doing but with learning. We need to take into account the destination
or needs of a learning situation: A task is enjoyable, fulfilling, manageable, and generative. While, a
project in class can be guided in terms of its general orientation by the target situation, but it specific
content is a response to learning needs. The target situation alone is not a reliable indicator of what is
needed in the ESP course. It can determine the destination, but we must also choose our route: the
conditions of the learning situation, the learner’s knowledge, skills strategies, the learner’s motivation.
Moreover, for the example in a target situation students may need to read long, dull, complex texts,
but their motivation may be high because:
-         they like the subject in general
-         examination are looming
-         job or promotion prospect may be involved
-         they may be going on to do very interesting experiments or practical work based on the text
-         they may be like or respect the subject teacher or boss.

Analyzing learning needs

 To analyzed learning need, we can use a similar checklist to that used for target situation analysis.

A framework for analyzing learning process

Why are the learners taking the course?
-       - Compulsory or optional;
-       - Apparent need or not
-       -  Are statuses or money, promotion involved?
-       - What do learners think they will achieve?
-      - What is their attitude toward ESP course? Do they want to improve their English or do they resent
the time they have to spend on it?
      
How do the learners learn?
-       What is their learning background?
-       What is their concept of teaching and learning?
-       What methodology will appeal to them?
-       What sorts of techniques are likely to bore or alienate them?

What recourse are available?

-       Number and professional competence of teachers;
-       Attitude of teacher to ESP
-       Teacher’s knowledge of and attitude to the subject content;
-       Materials;
-       Aids;
-       Opportunity for out-of-class activities

Who are the learners?

-       Age/sex/nationality
-       What do they now already about English?
-       What subject knowledge do they have?
-       What are their interests?
-       What is their socio-cultural background?
-       What teaching style are they used to?
-       What is their attitude to English or to the cultures of the English- speaking world?

Where will the ESP course take a place?

-       Are the surrounding pleasant, dull, noisy, cold, etc?

When will the ESP course take a place?

-       Time of day?
-       Every day/one a week;
-       Full time or part-time;
-       Concurrent with need or pre-need.

Conclusion
Need analysis is a complex process, involving much more than simply looking at what the
learners will have to do in the target situation. Most of all, we have tried to stress that both target
situation needs and learning, need must be taken into account. Analysis of target situation needs and
learning need must be taken into account. Analysis of the target situation can tell us what people do
with language. What we also need to know is how people learn to do what they do with language. In
order words, a learning centered approach need analysis.

https://espeed2016.blogspot.com/2016/06/chapter-6-need-analysis.html

by Moh Hamdani