An Analysis of English for Specific Purposes

Students ' Language Needs: a case of Fourth

Year Faculty of Law at University of
Khartoum

By:

Sana AltiganiFadlalla

Date of graduation: 1996/ Honors of Russian language and

General English language
Qualifying in English language 2003

A Thesis Submitted to the University of Khartoum in Partial

Fulfillment for the Requirements of the Degree of M.A. in English
Language

Supervised By:

Dr. Amna Mohammed Bedri

Faculty of Arts
English Department
University of Khartoum
-

October2014
 Dedication
This dissertation is dedicated to mywonderful parents: my motherFatima
and my fatherAltigani. To my brothers and sisters.To my husband and my
children.

I
 Acknowledgement

Above all and for eternity, I am grateful to the Almighty Allah for His
mercy and compassion. I wish to express my respect and deepest
appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Amna Mohammed Bedri, Ahfad
University for Women, who supervised this research, and helped me out
in writing it, for her supervision and guidance during the period of
research .I also wish to convey my thanks to Dr. Ajban for his dedicated
help by encouraging me and simplifying the research work . I also would
like to thank Dr. Nashed and the teachers: Mohamed, Ahmed, Ali and
Mahmmoud for their great help by supporting me with some references.
Iam also thankful to the law students who greatly helped me by
completing the questionnaire.

II
 Abstract

Research title: An Analysis of ESP Students’ Language Needs: A Case

of Fourth Year Faculty of Law University of Khartoum .
Student’s name: SanaAltiganiFadlallah
Degree: M.A. (English Language)
Needs analysis is considered as an essential part in developing English for
specific purposes curriculum.The study is an investigation of the general,
academic and job needs of the fourth year of the Law students at the University
of Khartoum in the use of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). They were
taking GE and ESP as a compulsory courses as a university requirement in
their first year at the University of Khartoum. The study aims at identifying the
importance of English language for Law students, their ability in performing
the four major language skills and sub-skills in general, academic and job
situations, the time allocated for both GE and ESP, and finally to identify their
English language proficiency.The study applied the qualitative method which
describedand analyzed the data that were collected through questionnaire and
the sample of the study consists of 80 students (35 males and 45 females). The
study has come out with a number of facts the most important of these facts are
that: Although the English language is an important language, students are
unable to practice effectively the fourmajor skills because the curriculum does
not have sufficient exercises to practice each skill individually particularly, the
listening skill, which is completely ignored.The study also finds out that one
semester alone is not enough for both the General English (GE) and English for
Specific Purposes (ESP) courses to help the students to become professional in
their specialization and future workplace situations.And finally, students have a
lower level of English language proficiency than is needed for their studies and
future career. The studyrecommendsthatmore attention should be given to the
English language to help students to master it becausethey need to improve
their English language proficiency and its four major skills. Also it
recommends thatthe number and duration of GE and ESP courses should be
increased and be rendered into basic courses at the Department of Law Studies.

III
 ‫مستخلص‬
‫عُٕاٌ انبحث ‪ :‬تحليل احتياجات اللغة لطالب اللغة االنجليزية لألهذاف الخاصة‪:‬‬
‫دراسة حالة طالب السنة الرابعة بكلية القانون – جامعة الخرطوم‬
‫اسى انطانبت ‪ :‬سناء التجاني فضل هللا‬
‫انذسجت‪ :‬ماجستير (لغة إنجليزية)‬
‫‪ٚ‬عخبش ححه‪ٛ‬م االحخ‪ٛ‬اجاث جضءاًأساس‪ٛ‬ا ً فٗ حطٕ‪ٚ‬ش يُٓج انهغّ اإلَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ ّٚ‬نألْذاف‬
‫انخاصت‪ .‬انٓذف يٍ ِ رِ انذساسّ ْٕ حقصٗ االحخ‪ٛ‬اجاث انعايت ٔاألكاد‪ٔ ًّٛٚ‬انٕظ‪ٛ‬ف‪ٛ‬ت‬
‫نطالب انسُت انشابعت فٗ كه‪ٛ‬ت انقإٌَ بجايعت انخشطٕو السخخذايٓى نهغّ اإلَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬ت‬
‫نالْذاف انخاصت ٔانز‪ٚ ٍٚ‬ذسسٌٕ انهغت االَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬ت انعايت ٔ انهغت اإلَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬ت نألْذاف‬
‫انخاصت اجباس‪ٚ‬ا ً فٗ انسُت األٔنٗ كًطهٕب نهجايعت فٗ كه‪ٛ‬ت انقإٌَ بجايعت‬
‫انخشطٕو‪.‬حٓذف انذساسّ نهخعشف عهٗ أًْ‪ٛ‬ت انهغت اإلَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬ت نطالب كه‪ٛ‬ت انقإٌَ‬
‫ٔيقذساحٓى عهٗ أداء يٓاساث انهغت انشئ‪ٛ‬س‪ٛ‬ت األسبعت ٔانًٓاساث انفشع‪ٛ‬ت فٗ‬
‫انًجاالث انعايت ٔاالكاد‪ًٛٚ‬ت ٔانٕظ‪ٛ‬ف‪ٛ‬ت‪ٔ ،‬انضيٍ انًخصص نخذس‪ٚ‬س انهغّ االَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ّٚ‬‬
‫انعايت ٔاالَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬ت نالْذاف انخاصت‪ .‬كًا حٓذف نهخعشف عهٗ انكفاءِ انهغٕ‪ ّٚ‬نذٖ‬
‫طالب انصف انشابع بكه‪ٛ‬ت انقإٌَ‪.‬طبقج انذساست انًُٓج انُٕعٗ انز٘ ٔصف ٔحهم‬
‫انًعهٕياث انخٗ جًعج عٍ طش‪ٚ‬ق االسخب‪ٛ‬اٌ‪ٔ ،‬حكَٕج ع‪ُٛ‬ت انذساسّ يٍ ‪ 80‬طانبا ً‬
‫ٔطانبت ( ‪35‬طانبا ً ٔ ‪ 45‬طانبّ)‪.‬خهصج انذساسّ انٗ عذد يٍ انُخائج ٔآًْا‪ :‬عهٗ‬
‫انشغى يٍ أٌ انهغت االَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬ت نغّ نٓا اًْ‪ٛ‬خٓا إال أٌ انطالب غ‪ٛ‬ش قادس‪ ٍٚ‬عهٗ‬
‫يًاسست انًٓاساث انشئ‪ٛ‬س‪ ّٛ‬األسبعت ف‪ٓٛ‬ا بصٕسة فعانت ألٌ انًُٓج ال ‪ٚ‬شخًم عهٗ‬
‫حًاس‪ ٍٚ‬كاف‪ ّٛ‬نًًاسست كم يٓاسة عهٗ حذاْا‪ٔ ،‬خاصّ يٓاسة انسًع انخٗ حعخبش‬
‫يجٕٓنت حًايا‪ٔ .‬حٕصهج انذساست ا‪ٚ‬ضا انٗ اٌ فخشة دساس‪ٔ ّٛ‬احذِ نخذس‪ٚ‬س‬
‫اإلَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬ت انعايت أ نالْذاف انخاصتغ‪ٛ‬ش كاف‪ٛ‬ت نكٗ حساعذ انطالب عهٗ انخًكٍ يٍ‬
‫انهغت فٗ انًجال االكاد‪ ًٗٚ‬أ انٕظ‪ٛ‬فٗ‪ٔ ،‬أٌ كفاءة ْؤالء انطالب انهغٕ‪ٚ‬ت ادَٗ يًا‬
‫حخطهبّ انذساست ٔانًجال انٕظ‪ٛ‬فٗ يسخقبال‪.‬حٕصٗ انذساست ببزل يض‪ٚ‬ذ يٍ انجٓذ فٗ‬
‫حذس‪ٚ‬س انهغت االَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬ت نكٗ حساعذ انطالب ف‪ ٙ‬انخًكٍ يُٓا ألَٓى بحاجّ انٗ حطٕ‪ٚ‬ش‬
‫كفاءحٓى انهغٕ‪ٚ‬ت صائذا يٓاساحٓا انشئ‪ٛ‬س‪ ّٛ‬االسبعت‪ .‬كًا حٕصٗ بض‪ٚ‬ادة فخشة حذس‪ٚ‬س‬
‫انهغت االَجه‪ٛ‬ض‪ٚ‬ت انعايت ٔانخاصت حخٗ ‪ٚ‬كَٕا يادح‪ ٍٛ‬اساس‪ٛ‬خ‪ ٍٛ‬فٗ قسى انذساساث‬
‫انقإََ‪ٛ‬ت‪.‬‬

‫‪IV‬‬
 Table of Contents
Titles Page
Dedication ……………………………………………………………. …I

Acknowledgement ………………………………………………………II

Abstract. ………………………………………………………………...III

Abstract (Arabic) …..…………………………………………………...IV

Tables of Contents………………………………………………………V

List of Tables …………………………………………………………...IX

List of Figuers…….. …………………………………………………….X

List of Abbreviations ……………………………………………...…...XI

Chapter One:
1.0 Background …………………………………………………………..1
1.1.The Statement of The Problem ………………………………………2

1.2.The Objectives of The Study …………………………………….......2

1.3.The Research Questions ..………………………………………........3

1.4.The Significance of The Study …………………………………........3

1.5.Limits of The Study ……………………………………………….....4

1.6.Methodology of The Study ………………………………………….4

1.7.TheOrganizationof The Study ……………………………….... …..4

Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.0. Introduction ……………………………………………………........6

2.1. An Overview to ESP ………………………………………………..6

V
 2.1.1.Reasons of The Emergence of ESP ……………………………...7

2.1.1.1.The Demands of a brave new world ………………………...7

2.1.1.2.A revolution in linguistics …………………………………..7

2.1.1.3.Focus on the learner …………………………………………8

2.1.2. The Development of ESP ………………………………………9

2.1.2.1.Special language :register analysis …………………………9

2.1.2.2. Beyond the sentence: rhetorical or discourse analysis ……10

2.1.2.3. Target situation analysis …………………………………..10

2.1.2.4. Skills and strategies ……………………………………….11

2.1.2.5. A learning centered approach ..…………………………….11

2.1.3.Characteristics of ESP …………………………………………12

2.1.4Classification of ESP……………….……………………………20

2.1.5.Types of ESP……………………………………………………20

2.1.6. The word Special in ESP……………………………………….22

2.2.The situation of ESP in the Sudan………………………………….22

2.3.English for Legal Purposes (ELP) …………………………………23

2.4. Needs Analysis (historical background) ………………………......24

2.4.1. Significance of Needs Analysis ……………………………....25

2.4.2. Definitions of Needs Analysis ………………………………..27

2.4.3. Types of Needs Analysis …………………………………… ..33

2.4.4. Importanceof Conducting Needs Analysis …………………...35

2.4.5. Steps of Conducting Needs Analysis …………………………37

2.4.6. Approaches to Needs Analysis… …………………………….38

VI
 2.4.6.1.Target Situation Analysis .…………………………………38

2.4.6.2.Present Situation Analysis .…………………………….......39

2.4.6.3. Pedagogic Needs Analysis ……………………………......39

2.4.6.4. Deficiency Analysis(lacks) ……………………………......40

2.4.6.5.Strategy Analysis (learning Needs Analysis) ……………...40

2.4.6.6. Means Analysis (or constraint analysis) …………………..41

2.4.6.7.Register Analysis ………………………………………….41

2.4.6.8. Discourse Analysis …………………………………….....42

2.4.6.9. Genre Analysis …………………………………………...42

2.5. Needs for English at Workplace …………………………………...43

2.6. Previous studies ……………………………………………………46

2.7. conclusion ……………………………………………………….....59

Chapter three : Methodology

3.0.Introduction ………………………………………………………...62

3.1.Participants ……………………………………………………........62

3.2.Data Collection Instrument ………………………………………...63

3.2.1. Students' Needs Analysis Questionnaire …………………........63

3.3. The Data Collection Procedure ..………………………………..…65

3.4. The methods of Data Analysis ….………………………………….65

VII
Chapter Four: Interpretation of the Results and Discussion
4.0. Introduction ...……………………………………………………...67

4.1 Analysis of the Questionnaire………………………………………67

4.1.1Part one (Personal Background)…………………………………...67

4.1.2Part two the items (1,2)………………...……………………….67

4.1.3 Part three the items from (3to7)…………………………..…….67

4.2. Discussion …………………………………………………….........79

Chapter Five: Findings and Recommendations

5.0. Introduction ……………………………………………….………90
5.1. The Findings of the Study ………………………………………....90

5.2. The Recommendations …………………………………………….91

5.3 Suggestion for further research……………………………………..92

References ...........................................................................................94
Appendix (A)...……………..………………………………..102

VIII
 List of tables

Table(4.1):The importance of English …………….................................67

Table(4.2):Ranking for Important Skills ……………………………….68

Table(4.3): Reading English for Pleasure ………………………………69

Table(4.4):English for Contact with English friends…………………...70

Table(4.5): Listening and Understanding R/TV Programs …………….70

Table(4.6): Needs for English for Following Lectures …………..……71

Table(4.7):English forPracticing Speaking Skill …………..…………...71

Table(4.8):English forReading Related Materials …………..………….72

Table(4.9): English for Taking Note from Lectures ………….………...72

Table(4.10): English for Classroom Discussion ………………………..73

Table(4.11): English for Writing Topics ……………………………….73

Table(4.12): English for Writing in Exam ……………………………..74

Table(4.13): Reading Materials Connected with Job …………………..74

Table(4.14): Conveying Information from English to Arabic and vise

versa …………………………………………………………………….75

Table(4.15):Practicing Reading and Writing Skills in Job……………...75

Table(4.16): Attitude Towards Classroom Materials …………………..76

Table(4.17): Attitude Towards ESP Class ……………………………...77

Table(4.18): Satisfaction of Time of E/ESP Course ……………………78

Table(4.19):Students' own Assessment of English Proficiency ………..78

IX
 List of Figures

Figure (2.1) ELT Tree ………………………………………...19

Figure (2.2) Types of ESP …………………………………...21

X
 List of Abbreviation

ESP : English for Specific Purposes

ELT :English Language Teaching
EMT:English as a Mother Tongue
ESL : English as a Second Language
EFL :English as a Foreign Language
GE :General English
EGP : English for General Purposes
EOP :English for Occupational Purposes
EAP :English for Academic Purposes
EALP: English for Academic Legal Purposes
ELAP: English for Legal Academic Purposes
TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
NA : Needs Analysis
TSA:Target Situation Analysis
LSA: Learning Situation Analysis
PSA : Present Situation Analysis
CNP : Communication Needs Processer
EGAP: English for General Academic Purposes
EST: English for Science and Technology
TENOR: Teaching English for No Obvious Reason
MPOs :Metropolitan Police Officers
IIUM : International Islamic University Malaysia
IATEFL: International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign
Language

XI
Chapter One
 Chapter One

Introduction

1.0Background

The students of Law should be equipped with the necessary language

skills and sub-skills from their undergraduate years to enable them to
cope well with the complex legal language.So, needs analysis should be
conducted for evaluating the existing curriculum or designing a new one
that will match their needs. Needs analysis also explores what will
motivate learners to acquire the language in the most efficient way.Needs
analysis plays a particularly crucial role in English for Specific Purposes
curriculum development.
In the twentieth century the international relations led to different aspects
of communication, sharing information through science and technology,
communication through commercial activities and also travelling in the
world for different reasons. English language gained its popularity among
different languages by heading science, technology and commerce.
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:6) state that:
" the expansion of scientific , technical and academic
activities in international scale after the end of the
second world war shed a light on the importance of the
English language as a result of the economic power in
United States ".
In addition to,they note that "As English became the accepted
international language of technology and commerce; it created a new
generation of learners who knew specifically why they were learning a
language”. Accordingly, the aim of educational institutions was to

1
develop thepeople who wanted to learn English for specific purposes in
order to achieve a particular role in their academic and future job.

1.1The Statement of the problem

It has been noticed that the methods of teaching English as a foreign or
second language in the most Sudanese universities are not affective to
enable students to become more qualified and fluent.Thus there are many
difficulties facing students after graduation, when they come and seek to
job. Teachers are left to prepare their own materials. No up-to-date
libraries and teaching aids available,…the only positive thing is that 99%
of the students know when they graduate they will not find a job or
cannot continue their education unless they know English.Thus, the
problems of the study it can be summarized as follows:
1-Lack of students' English language proficiency.
2-Lack of continuity of ESP courses, and lack of ESP references.
3-Students unable to practice the main four language skills.
The importance of needs analysis lies on the facts that it defines the
aspects of language that are essential for a specific area of teaching. Also
it is emphasized that the purposes of the needs analysis are to know
learners as people, as language users and as language learners. To know
how language and skills learning can be maximized for a given learner
group. And moreover,to know the target situations and learning
environment, so the data can appropriately be interpreted.

1.2 The objectives of the study

The study aims to identify the importance of English language for Law
students, the frequency of the English language skills used, their ability in
performing the skills and sub-skills in general, academic and job
situations, their attitude towards English for specific purposes (ESP)
2
instructional materials and courses, the time allocated for both general
English and English for specific purposes, and finally to identify their
English language proficiency.

1.3The Research Questions

The study will attempt to answer the following research questions:

1-What are the students' perceptions of the importance of the English

language and necessity of knowing the four major language skills in their
studies?

2-What are the students' perceptions regarding their English language

sub-skills needs in terms of general, academic and future situations, their
attitude towards English for specific purposes materials, and courses, the
time allocated for General English(GE) and English for Specific
Purposes(ESP) and their English language proficiency ?

1.4 The significance of the study

The findings of this thesis will have their own impact on Law faculty at
University of Khartoum to find solutions to their students‟ language
problems to meet their needs and to facilitate teaching-learning process
efficiently.
It also helps material writers and course designers to adapt, adopt, and
develop or prepare materials, depending on the gap between the
students‟ present situation and their target needs. By the same token, the
study can also be fundamental in determining the central role of English
for Specific Purposes (ESP) for discipline specific studies across the
country.

3
1.5 Limits of the Study

This study is limited in terms of its scale and situation-unique conditions.

The areas under discussion in this study are restricted to a small number
of Law students and one department (English Department) in one selected
university (University of Khartoum). Therefore, its findings may not be
generalized to other populations with different backgrounds in other
educational settings. The findings are still tentative and subject to further
confirmation and modification through more analysis and
experimentation.

1.6Methodology of the research

The study will use the descriptive and analytic methods for testing the
hypotheses for accurate findings and conclusions.The questionnaire will
be used as a tool of data collection in ESP classes.

1.7 The organization of the research

The present study consists of five chapters. The first chapter

presents a general introduction,the second one reviews the related
literature on ESP and needs analysis, theoretical framework and previous
studies. The thirdchapter presents research design and methodology, the
population and instruments used for collecting data and data analysis is
described. The fourth chapter presents the results of the study and
discusses them. Finally, the fifth chapter presents the research conclusion,
the findings and some of the recommendations.

4
Chapter Two

5
 Chapter Two

Literature Review

2.0 Introduction

This chapter includes three sections; the first one is a theoretical

framework and literature review on different aspects of English for
Specific Purposes (ESP) and needs assessment. An overview to ESP
courses, its reasons of emergence , stages of ESP development, the
characteristics and classification of ESP, its types, the meaning of the
word special and the Situation of English in the Sudan, English for Legal
Purposes(ELP) or English for Academic Legal Purposes (EALP) are
presented, in addition to, historical background of needs analysis, its
significance, definitions, types, importance of conducting needs analysis,
steps of needs analysis and approaches to needs analysis. The second
section reviews the needs for English at workplace. And the final section
presents some studies in the needs for English for Specific Purposes.
2.1 An overview to ESP

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is defined as:

“a language course or program of instruction in which the

content and aims of the course are fixed by the specific
needs of a particular group of learners"(Richards and
Schmidt, 2010, 198).
English has become an international accepted languageof almost all the
fields of knowledge. Depending on their specific needs and requirements,
new group of learners who knew specifically why they need English are
created (Hutchinson&Waters1987:6).In some cases people with
inadequate proficiency in English need to be taught to handle specific

6
jobs. To fulfill the needs of these new learners' new specific courses were
designed and introduced,ESP is one of these specific courses.Since the
early 1960s, ESP has emerged as one of the major areas of English as a
Foreign Language (EFL) teaching today.Rodgers (1969, as cited in
Hutchinson and Waters 1987:8) expresses that "development in
educational psychology also contributed to the emerge of English for
Specific Purposes, by emphasizing on the learners and their attitude to
learning".There are three reasons for its emergence, the demands of a
brave new world, a revolution in linguistics and a new focus on the
learner (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987:6,7,8), they are as follows:
2.1.1Reasons of the emergence of ESP
2.1.1.1The Demands of a brave new world
The end of the Second World War in 1945 heralded an age of enormous
and unprecedented expansion in scientific, technical and economic
activity on an international scale. This expansion created a world unified
and dominated by two forces – technology and commerce – which in
their relentless progress soon generated a demand for international
language. The effect was to create a whole new mass of people wanting
to learn English, not for the pleasure or prestige of knowing the language,
but because English was the key to the international currencies of
technology and commerce. The general effect of all this development was
to exert pressure on the language teaching profession to deliver the
required goods.
2.1.1.2 A Revolution in Linguistics
At the same time as the demand was growing for English courses tailored
to specific needs; influential new ideas began to emerge in the study of
language. Traditionally the aim of linguistic had been to describe the rule
of English usage that is the grammar. However, the new

7
studies shifted attention away from defining the formal features of
language usage to discovering the ways in which language is actually
used in real communication (Widdowson, 1978). One finding of this
research was that the language we speak and write varies considerably,
and in a number of different ways, from one context to another. The idea
was simple if language varies from one situation of use to another; it
should be possible to determine the features of specific situation and then
make these features the basis of the learners' course.
In short, the view gained ground that the English needed by a particular
group of learners could be identified by analyzing the linguistic
characteristics of their specialist area of a work or study.

2.1.1.3 Focus on the Learner

Learners were seen to have different needs and interests which would
have an important influent on their motivation to learn and therefore on
the effectiveness of their learn. The clean relevance of the English course
to their needs would improve the learners‟ motivation and thereby make
learning better and faster.
Presently, various universities across the globe are offering a number of
ESP courses nowadays. For examples: English for Chemists, English for
Educationists, English for Advertisements, English for Media, English for
Engineering ,English for Law, English for Medical professional, Business
English, Technical English, Scientific English, English for waiters,
English for tourism, English for Art Purposes, etc. Aviation English as
ESP is taught to pilots, air traffic controllers and civil aviation cadets who
are going to use it in radio communications.ESP can also be considered to
an avatar of language for specific purposes.
Moreover, many professional associations of teachers of English
(TESOL, IATEFL) have ESP sections. Much attention is devoted to ESP

8
course design. According to the tree diagram of Hutchinson and Waters
(1987:18) ESP is one branch of English as a foreign language and English
as a second language.Furthermore,English for specific purposes (ESP)
has emerged as a significant field in Applied Linguistics. It is mostly
concerned with the learners‟ needs for English for a specific field of
academics or occupation. Restricted skills of words and expressions,
purpose of learning the language are the areas to be considered in
ESP.ESP content selection has beendefined by Kennedy and Bolitho
(1990:10):
“It is based on a functional analysis of the language a
learner need and the development of related
communicativeabilities (reading, writing, listening,
and speaking inanappropriate balance and in
suitablecontexts)”.
What follows the reasons of the emergence of ESP is the important stages
that led to the growth of the movement of ESP.
2.1.2The Development of ESP

The development of ESP as Hutchinson and Waters (1987:9-14) report it

has passed through five stages, and they state that"ESP has developed at
different speeds in different countries, and example of all the approaches
we shall describe can be found operating somewhere in the world at the
present time". The five stages are presented as follows:

2.1.2.1 Special language: register analysis

This stage took place mainly in the 1960s and early 1970s and was
associated in particular with the work of Peter Strevens
(HallidayMelcintosh and Stevens, 1964), Jack Ewer ( Ewer and Lattore,
1969) and John Swales (1971).

9
Operating on the basic principle that the English of, say, electrical
engineering constituted as specific register different from that of, say,
biology or of general English, the aim of the analysis was to identify the
grammatical and lexical future of these registers. Teaching materials then
took these linguistic features as their syllabus. A good example of such a
syllabus is that of A Course in Basic Scientific English by Ewer and
Latorre (1969).The aim was to produce a syllabus which gave high
priority to the language forms students would need in their Sciences
studies and in turn would give low priority to forms they would not
meet,Ewerand Hughes-Davies (1971).

2.1.2.2 Beyond the sentence: rhetorical or discourse analysis

ESP had focused on language at the sentence level, the second phase of
development shifted attention to the level about the sentence, as ESP
become closely involved with the emerging field of discourse or
rhetorical analysis.
2.1.2.3 Target Situation Analysis

The stage that we come to consider now did not really add anything new
to the range of knowledge about ESP. What it aimed to do was to take the
existing knowledge and set it on a more scientific basis, by establishing
procedures for relating language analyzing more closely to learners‟
reasons for learning. Given that the purpose of an ESP course is to enable
learners to function adequately in a target situation, that is, the situation in
which learners will use the language they are learning, then the ESP
course design process should proceed by first identifying the target
situation and then carrying out a rigorous analysis of the linguistic
features of that situation. The identified features will form the syllabus of

10
the ESP course. This process is usually known as need analysis.
However, we prefer to take Chambers‟ (1980) term of target situation
analysis, since it is a more accurate description of the process concerned.
The most thought explanation of target situation analysis is the system set
out by John Munby in communicative Syllabus Design (1978). The
Munby model produces a detailed profile of the learners needs in terms of
communication purposes, communicative setting, the means of
communication, language skills, functions, structures etc.

2.1.2.4 Skills and Strategies

The fourth stage of ESP has seen an attempt to look below the surface
and to consider not the language itself but the thinking processes that
underlie language use. There is no dominant figure in this movement,
although we might mention the work of Francoise Grellent (1981).
The principal idea behind the skills centered approach is that underlying
all language use there are common reasoning interpreting processes,
which, regardless of surface forms, enable us to extract meaning form
discourse. There is, therefore, no need to focus closely to the surface
forms of the language. The focus should rather be on the underlying
interpretive strategies, which enable the learner to cope with the surface
forms, for example guessing the meaning of words from context, using
visual lay out to determine the type of text, exploiting cognates (i.e.
words which are similar in the mother tongue and the target language)
etc. A focus on specific subject registers in unnecessary in this approach,
because the underlying processes are not specific to any subject registers.
2.1.2.5 A learning-centered approach

Our concern is with language learning. We cannot simply assume that

describing and exemplifying what people do with language will enable

11
someone to learn it. A truly valid approach to ESP must be based on an
understanding of the processes of language learning. The importance and
the implications of the distinction that we have made between language
use and language learning.

The following point is identifying what is ESP as defined by some

scholars and its characteristics.

2.1.3 Characteristics of ESP

There are four groups of thought in ESP. The first group as
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19) say that ESP is"an approach to
language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are
based on the learner‟s reason of learning", i.e. in a simple words the
syllabus which can be taught and methods of teaching depend on learners'
needs. The second one byStrevens (1988 cited in Johns and Dudley-
Evans, 1991:298, and in Dudley.Evans&St.John, 1998:3) provides a list
of characteristics of ESP. He stated that in order to define ESP there is a
need to distinguish between four 'absolute' and two 'variable'
characteristics
According to absolute characteristics ESP consists of English Language
teaching which is;
• designed to meet specified needs of the learner;
• related in content (that is in its themes and topics) to particular
disciplines, occupations and activities;
• centered on language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis,
discourse, semantics and so on, and of the analysis of discourse;
• in contrast with 'General English'.
According to the variable characteristics ESP;
• may be restricted as to the learning skills to be learned (for example
reading only);

12
• may not be taught according to any pre-ordained methodology.

The third group is the definition of Robinson (1991) as Dudley –Evan &
St John (1998:3)state "Robinson (1991) accepts the primacy of needs
analysis in defining ESP. Her definition is based on two key defining
criteria and a number of characteristics that are generally found to be true
of ESP. The key criteria are that ESP is “normally-goal directed”, and
that ESP courses develop from a needs analysis, which aims to specify as
closely as possible what exactly it is that students have to do through the
medium of English" (Robinson, 1991:3).Her characteristics are that ESP
courses are generally constrained by a limited time period, in which their
objectives have to be achieved, and are taught to adults in homogeneous
classes in terms of the work or specialist studies that the students are
involved in".
Finally the fourth group what is presented by Dudley-Evan and St
John(1998,3) in term of a criticism ofStrevens' definition by stating that:

“Strevens’ definition is the most comprehensive...,but

,can lead to certain confusion. By referring to content
in the second absolute characteristic it may confirm
the false impression held by many teachers that ESP
is always and necessarily related directly to subject
content"

Furthermore, they-Dudley Evans& St John- (1998:4,5) clarify the

meaning of ESP by using also 'absolute' and 'variable' characteristics
terms which are influenced by Strevens(1988): these two broad
characteristics exemplify what ESP comprises and what does not.

13
1-Absolute characteristics:-
- ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the learner;
- ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the
disciplines it serves;
- ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in
terms of grammar,lexis, register, study skills, discourse and genre.
2-Variable characteristics:-
1- ESP may be related to or designed for specific disciplines;
2- ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology
from that of general English;
3- ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level
institution or in a professional work situation. It could, however, be
used for learners at secondary school level;
4- ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced students.
Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system,
but it can be used with beginners (Dudley-Evans and St John:4,5).
They modified Strevens original definition of ESP to form their own, and
have removed the absolute characteristic that ESP is in contrast with
General English (GE) and added more variable characteristics. They
assert that ESP is not necessarily related to a specific discipline.
Furthermore, ESP is likely to be used with adult learners although it
could be used with young adults in a secondary school
setting.Accordingly, to sum up what is mentioned above ESP is an
approach to teaching (Hutchinson&Waters, 1987:19). ESP is an" attitude
of mind",
"ESP is concerned with turning learners into users" as described by
(Dudley.Evans&StJohn1998:126).In similar manner Johns and Dudley-
Evans (1991) also explain that ESP requires the careful research and

14
design of pedagogical materials and activities for a particular group of
learners within a specific learning context.
Therefore, all these groups, however, unanimously accept the
essentiality of needs analysis to material writing, curriculum design
and course evaluation of students learning. Though there is no scholar can
say that ESP is a model (like EFL, ESL, and so), the researcher of the
recent study will go to support this idea.
What follows, aims to explore the classification of'ESP' and its branches,
within which it has flourished and demands reference to itsapplications in
language teaching.
2.1.4 Classification of ESP
There have been a number of attempts to draw up a classification for the
different branches of ESP. According to the tree diagram ofHutchinson
and Waters (1987:16), there are three main branches of English Language
Teaching (ELT); English as a Mother Tongue (EMT), English as a
Second language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL). (EFL)
is also divided into two other branches: English for Specific Purposes
(ESP), and English for General Purposes (EGP or GE), is also known as
TENOR(Teaching English for No Obvious Reason)-which is different in
many respects from ESP in the type of learners, materials, purposes and
learning,is more like a typical secondaryschool English language course.
Its syllabus is based on a conceptionof the kind of reality that the students
have to deal with in English(Holme, 1996).On the other hand, the theme
of (ESP) courses are different from that of (GE),in that (ESP) courses are
basically designed to meet the needs of a particular group of students who
want to study English to use it in their specializations. Another difference
lies on the learners themselves. (ESP) learners are usually adults who
already have some knowledge with English and are learning the language
in order to communicate properlyand using a set of other professional
15
skills. Furthermore, Dudley-Evans and St.John(1998:2) believe that ESP
has different methodology from that of GE “This openness to the insights
of other disciplines is a key distinguishing feature of ESP”.As well as
Widdowson (1983:6) proposes that "ESP not only analysis learners‟
needs and aims but also designs objectives and methodology to fulfill
them".Furthermore, ESP is also different from General English (GE) in
the role of the teacher which has been changed as Dudley-Evans and St
John(1998:13) state that:
“we will already be clear that we regard ESP teaching as extremely
varied,and for this reason we use the term „practitioner‟ rather than
„teacher‟ toemphasize that ESP work involves much more than teaching
we see the ESP practitioner as having five key roles :

- Teacher
- Course designer and materials provider
- Collaborator
- Researcher
- Evaluator". (Dudley – Evans & St John 1998:13)

However, Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 53) propose that ESP

methodology is not necessarily different from general English teaching,
and they mentioned that there is nodifference in theory between (ESP)
and (GE), but thedifference in practice is a great deal when they say that:
“What then, in the terms of our definition, is thedifference
betweenESP and General English? The answer to this
very reasonable question is in theory nothing, in practice
a great deal"(Hutchinson& Waters,1987:53).

16
Accordingly, there is no difference in theory between (ESP) and (GE) as
mentioned above by Hutchinson and Waters (1987:53) because of
teaching roots .However, ESP basically comes from a particular language
needs. Therefore, there is no doubt about the importance of needs
analysis process in (ESP) rather than (GE). So what distinguishes
(ESP)courses from (GE) is the influence of needs analysis
process.Furthermore, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is also stated to
have two main branches which are English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
and English for Occupational Purpose (EOP)(Dudley-Evans &St.John:
1998; Hutchinson and Waters: 1987; Munby: 1978; Robinson:1991;
Robinson:2001:3).Hutchinson and Waters (1987:16) believe that EOP is
an extension to EAP and they note that:
"…in many cases the language learnt for immediate
usein a studyenvironment will be used later when the
studenttake up or returns to, a job"
Therefore, according to Hutchinson and Waters(1987) and Dudley-Evans
and St.John(1998) EAP refers to any English teaching that relates to a
study purpose (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998).In other words EAP is
basically made to meet specific academic needs of English to equip a
particular group of learners to communicate efficiently in their target
situations, and EOP is concerned with “the preparation for the
professional occupations students are likely to go into when they
graduate” (Flowerdew and Peacock,2001:11). EOP involves work-related
needs and training, it is not for academic purposes. According to Dudley-
Evans and St. John (1998:7), it includes “professional purposes in
administration, medicine, law and business, and vocational purposes for
non-professional in work or pre-work situations”. Since, this study is
going to look at EGP, EAP and EOP for law students, so the discussion
will focus on them in more details.Overall, ESP may seem to be more

17
motivating than general English, using the time and effort of learners with
specific purposes efficiently, designing matching materials and
methodology, and also focusing on the language features that address the
learners‟ needs in the target situation.

The following diagram is quoted from Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 17):

18
Figure (2-1) ELT tree quoted from (Hutchinson & Waters 1987 p.17)

19
2.1.5 Types of ESP

Carter (1983) identifies three types of ESP as follows: The first type is
English as a restricted language,the language used by air traffic
controllers or by waiters are examples of English as a restricted language.
Mackay and Mountford (1978:4,5) clearly illustrate the difference
between restricted language and language as: the language of
international air-traffic control could be regarded as 'special', that the
repertoire required by controller is limited and can be accurately
determined situationally, as might be the linguistic needs of a dining-
room waiter or air-hostess. However, such restricted repertoires are not
languages, just as a tourist phrase book is not grammar. Knowing a
restricted 'language' would not allow the speaker to communicate
effectively in novel situation, or in contexts outside the vocational
environment. The second one is English for Academic and Occupational
Purposes. English forAcademic Purposes (EAP), e.g. English for medical
studies, English for Occupational Purpose (EOP), e.g. English for
Technicians as mentioned above in the faces about ESP.The third and
final type of ESP identified by Carter (1983) is English with specific
topics. Carter notes that it is only here where emphasis shifts from
purpose to topic. This type of ESP is uniquely concerned with anticipated
future English needs of, for example, scientists requiring English for
postgraduate reading studies, attending conferences or working in foreign
institutions.

20
 Figure (2.2)

http://image.slidesharecdn.com

2.1.6 The Word SPECIAL in ESP

One simple clarification will be made here: special language and
specialized aim are two entirely different notions. It was Perren (1974)

21
who noted that confusion arises over these two notions. If we revisit
Mackay and Mountford's restricted repertoire, we can better understand
the idea of a special language. Mackay and Mountford (1978:4) state:

"The only practical way in which we can understand the notion of special
language is as a restricted repertoire of words and expressions selected
from the whole language because that restricted repertoire covers every
requirement within a well-defined context, task or vocation".On the other
hand, a specialized aim refers to the purpose for which learners learn a
language, not the nature of the language they learn (Mackay &Mountford,
1978). Consequently, the focus of the word 'special' in ESP ought to be
on the purpose for which learners learn and not on the specific jargon or
registers they learn.

2.2 The situation of ESP in the Sudan

It has been noticed that the Arabicization policy had very negative
drawback on the standards of English of students entering the university.
During 1970s and 1980s research has been done on the Arabicization
process and the implication of it in the standards of English both in Sudan
and Arab world in general. Most of the findings of these studies
supported the Arabicization process in Arab Universities. In 1983, The
National Council for Higher Education in Sudan issued an official
directive in favor of the use of Arabia as a medium of instruction at the
higher educational level (Briama,2004:37).The council called for
different institution to take decision and formulate a clear program with
regard to the process of implementation. The council of University of
Khartoum adopted the policy of Arabicization in the same year
(1983).Initially; approval was given to the implementation in the faculties
of law, Arts, and Education. The council also decided that other faculties
should follow suit as from 1984-5 academic year (Taha,1991). The

22
greatest change in the government's policies towards the use of Arabic as
a medium of instruction in place of English in Higher Education came in
1990.It has been decided that the medium of instruction in all universities
and for all disciplines should change from English to Arabic
.Immediately the academic year 1990/91 witnessed the implementation of
that mass Arabicization in University of Khartoum. In1996, the
University introduced what is known as University Requirements
subjects, which include English, Arabic and Islamic studies. These
subjects were administered by a body called the Arabicization
Administration to which the English language Servicing Unit was
attached (Briama:37,38).

2.2 English for Legal Purposes (ELP)

ELAP is already „an established‟ sub-section of EAP (Dudley-Evans and

St John, 1998:48). A research done by Howe (1993, as cited in Dudley-
Evans and St John, 1998:51) on international students following
undergraduate Law courses in Britain has shown that English for
Academic and Legal Purposes (EALP) courses are “of great help to these
students”.English for Legal Purposes (ELP) is also known asEnglish for
LegalAcademic Purposes (ELAP) or English for Academic Legal
Purposes (EALP). Garner (2001) describes ELAP as "having its own
mindbogglingjargon, rife with bloated expressions that displace
everydaywords”. One of the reasons it is not so popular is because of its
"obscureexpressions and circumlocutions, long-winded involved
instructions and tortuous syntax, apparently meaningless repetitions and
archaism" (Bhatia, 1993:101). However, for the specialist community,
theseare “indispensable linguistic devices which bring precision,
clarityand unambiguity and all-inclusiveness”(Bhatia,1993:102). Hence,
with the complexity of legal language, it is evident that law

23
undergraduates should be given training in a specific language course
(ELAP) to prepare and enable them to understand the law „language‟
before they are ready to handle actual law courses. Bhatia (1993:2) has
done extensive work on ELAP. He divides legal writing into three main
areas: academic legal writing (textbooks and legal journals); judicial
writing(court judgments, case book and law reports); and legislative
writing(Acts of Parliament, statutory instrument contracts, agreement and
all of which serve to legislate).He stresses on the importance of academic
(legal) writing in studying and practicing law. However, this study hope
to shed light on the perception of law students on some of language
aspects.

2.4 Needs Analysis; historical background

ESP deals with preparing the learners to beable to use English in
academic (students of different fields e.g. Medicine, Engineering, Law,
etc), professional (people of differentprofessions such as doctors,
engineers, and nurses), or workplace (technicians for example) settings.
As it is about specific students, therefore, it must be tailored to the needs
of these students. This coordination is accomplished through what is
known as Needs Analysis (NA), or Needs Assessment.Need analysis
considered as an instrument to find the deficit of students
forbetter ma te ri al adap tati on , adopt ion o r d ev elop me nt in th e
t each ing l e a rning pro cess .Basturkmen (1998) states that "needs
analysis is finding difficulties and standard f ra me wo rks usin g
obs erv ation; int e rvi e ws and que sti onnai res f ro m a
pa rti cula r g roup o f pa rtic ipan ts performing in a target situation.
Needs analysis is appeared firstly in India in 1920s, (by Micheal West)
but it was established formally during 1970s by the Council of Europe in
the field of ESP (Brindley,1984,White,1988, Richards,2001) .According

24
to Hutchinson and Waters (1987:5) the history of ESPindicates that
Munby(1978) is the first specialist who enounces “a highly detailed set of
procedures for discovering target situation needs…”that is
"Communication Needs Processor" or "CNP first most thorough and
widely known model on needsanalysis. For Hutchinson and Waters
(1987:54):
“The CNP consists of a range of questions about key
communicationvariables(topic, participants, medium, etc.)
which can be used toidentify the target language needs of
anygroup of learners".
By the 1980s, in many parts of the world a “needs-based philosophy”
emerged in language teaching, particularly in relation to ESP and
vocationally oriented program design (Brindley, 1984 cited in Richards,
2001).
2.4.1 The significance of Needs Analysis
The significance of NA is emphasized in English for Specific Purpose
(Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) and English for Academic Purposes
(Jordan, 1997), and also in general language courses espousing learner-
centered curricula (Nunan, 1988; Tudor, 1996), task-based curricula
(Long & Crookes, 1992), as well as performance-assessment (Norris,
Brown, Hudson, & Yoshioka, 1988).Long (2005:6) pointed out that "In
an era of globalization and shrinking resources, however, language audits
and NAs for whole societies are likely to become increasingly
important".The significance of needs analysis is also suggested by
Strevens (1977) that "needs analysis is a necessary first step for specific
purposes language teaching; it is more connected with the nature of
scientific discourse". Likewise,Dudley-Evan and St John (1998:122) note
that needs analysis "is the corner stone of ESP and leads to a very focused
course".Furthermore,Long (2005:1) notes that "no language teaching
25
program should be designed without through needs analysis". Munby
(1978:2) as well state that "ESP courses are those where the syllabus and
materials are determined … by prior analysis of the communication needs
of learners". In addition, Hutchinson and Waters (1987:53) note that "any
course should be based on an analysis of learner's need" .The same idea is
presented by Dudley –Evan and St John (1998:121) " needs analysis is
the process of establishing the' what' and' how' of course" . Moreover, the
significance of needs assessment as noted by King (1999, as cited in
Martinez-Pons, 2001) who believes that the problem of a particular group
must be identified and their needs must be assessed in order to
successfully develop and designinstructional materialsthat enhance their
performance. He goes on to say that the instructors who are aware of the
educational needs for their institution are in a better position to prepare
for the teaching-learning enterprise than one who lacks this awareness
(King,1999,cited in Martinez-Pons, 2010).Needs analysis may serve three
basic purposes:
1-it can be used as a means of getting wider input into the content,
design, and implementation of a language programme;
2-it can Be used in defining goals, objectives, and content;
3-and its data can be used to review and evaluate a current programme
(Richards, 1984, cited in Nunan, 1988b).
Thus, a huge number of scholars and ESP analysts agree that 'needs
analysis' is the basic element which constitutes the syllabus and materials
of English as a second /foreign language either for general
English(GE)or English for specific purposes (ESP). Accordingly, the
concept of analyzing the language needs of the learners is an important
stage to design and develop both (GE) and (ESP) courses. Thus, the study
will go to review some of the literature of needs analysis and the focus
will be on ESP students' needs at University of Khartoum in the Faculty

26
of Law. Clearly, the role of needs analysis in any ESP course is
indisputable.
2.4.2 Definitions of Needs Analysis
The definitions of needs analysis indicate that the choice of language is
eminently left to the learning and language needs of the students.
Accordingly, to identifying learners' needs for learning language and their
current level requires gathering information about those learners and to
analyze this information in order to improve their current level, to solve
the problems that faced them during the language learning processand to
help course designers and materials providers to create appropriate
courses to meet the needs of those students .Thus, these procedures can
be made through what is known conventionally as 'needs analysis'.
Looking through the literature, one can find differentdefinitions of NA by
some scholars with varying degrees of similarities and/or deviation.The
concept of needs analysis has been adopted by several scholars and
authors such as(Munby, 1978; Richterich and Chancerel, 1987;
Hutchinson and Waters, 1987; Berwick, 1989; Brindley, 1989; Tarone
and Yule, 1989; Robinson, 1991; Johns, 1991; West, 1994; Allison et al.
(1994); Seedhouse, 1995; Jordan, 1997; Dudley-Evans and St. John,
1998; Iwai et al. 1999; Hamp Lyons 2001, Finney,2002,Long,2005).
Also, the importance of carrying out a needs analysis for developing EAP
tests is emphasized by Fulcher (1999), McDonough (1984), and Carrol
(1980, cited in Fulcher, 1999).
For instanceBrown (1995:36) defines NA as:
“the systematic collection and analysis of allsubjective
and objective information necessary to define and evaluate
defensible curriculum purposes that satisfy the language
learning requirements of students within the context of
particular institution that influence the learning and
27
teaching situation".
Similarly, Richards, Platt and Weber (1985, cited in Brown, 1995:35)
defineneeds analysis as:
“the process of identifying the requirements for which
alearneror group of learners necessitates a language
and arranging the needs according to priorities”.
In a similar manner, Dudley-Evans and St Johns (1998:121) state
That:
“Needs analysis is the process of establishing the
what and howof a course” .
The preceding definition focuses on the content and methodology.
Moreover, Nunan (1988a:13) states that:
“…techniques and procedures for collecting infor-
mationto be used in syllabus design are referred to
as needsanalysis”.
In another definition of needs assessment, Stufflebeam, McCormick,
Brinkerhoff and Nelson(1985:16) point out that it is:
“the process of determining the things that are necessary
or useful for the fulfillment of a defensible purpose”.
The more specific definition was given by Richard‟s (1990), as cited in
Elklic‟, Bayrak‟ and Parlac‟ (2003:61) who states that needs analysis
focuses on:
“A specific language needs, such as the special kind
of read ing co mpreh ension training that
for eignstu dents ne ed in order to study engin-
eering, biology,or veterinary medicine”.
Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 126) stress three aspects of needs
analysis:

28
 "First, needs analysis aims to know learners as people,
as language users and as language lea-
rners. Second, needs analysis study also aims to know
how language learning and skills learning can be
maximized for a given learner group. Third, needs
analysis study aims to know the target situations and
learning environment so that data can appropriately be

interpreted".

Moreover,Nunan (1988)continuously states that for needs analysis:-

Information will need to be collected, not only on why
learners want to learn the target language, but also
aboutsuchthings as societal expectations and constraint
and resources available for implementing the syllabus ".
According to Iwai et al. (1999), the term needs analysis is generally
definedasthe activities that are included in gathering information that will
be considered as the basis for developinga curriculum to meet the needs
of a particular group of learners.
Needs analysis is also described by Richards & Rodgers (1986:156)as
being:

" concerned with identifying general and Specific

languageneeds that can be addressed in developing

goals, objectives,and contents in a language program".

Richards(2001:54,cited in Procher,1977) offersa different perspectives of

needs analysis:

"Need is not a thing that exists and might beencount-

29
eredencountered ready- made on the street. It isa thing

that is constructed ,the center ofconceptual network

and the product ofa number of epistemological choices

( which are not innocent themselves ,of course)"

And also states that needs analysis is:

" a procedures used to collect information about
learners' needs ( Richards, 2001:51).
Further definition is provided also by Nunan (1993) as:needs analysis is
one of the elements which distinguishes conventionalvisionof language
learning and teaching from the communicative view towards the issues.
Richerich(1983,cited in Johnson and Johnson,1998:228) defines the idea
of needs analysis as:-

"a procedure which consists primarily of compiling

information both on the individuals or group of individuals

who are to learn a language and on the use which they

are expected to make of it ".

For Johns (1991), needs analysis isthe first step in designing a course and
it provides validity and relevancy for the activities.
As Palacios Martinez (1993: 44) states:

“a needs analysis is a model of learning from learners.

It is assumed that a particular syllabus for a particular
groupof learners should not be designed in a vacuum;
rather,it should match students' needs as closely as
possible”.
York (1982) as cited in (Reviere, 1996:6), states simply that

30
 “needs assessment is a measure of how much of
what is needed"

And also defines needs analysis as “the ordering and prioritization of

community needs” (York,1982,as cited in Reviere,1996).

Needs assessment is also defined as:

“a systematic process of collection and analysis as inputs

into resource allocation decisions with a view to
discoveringand identifying goods and services the
community is lacking in relation to the generally
accepted standards, and for which there exists some
consensus as tothe community’s responsibility for their
provision" (United Way of America as cited inReviere,1986:6).
McCawley(2009:1) has supported the idea of needs analysis by noting
that:-

" A needs analysis is a systematic approach to studying

the state of knowledge, ability, interest ,or attitude of a

defined audience or group involving a particular subject".

Hyland(2006:73, as cited in Flowerdew,2013:325) provides an integrated

definition to needs analysis as :

"Needs analysis refers to techniques for collecting and

assessing information relevant to course design : it the

means of establishing the how and what of a course.

It is a continuous process, since we modify our teaching

as we come to learn more about our students,"
31
Hyland (2006:73, also as cited in Flowerdew,2013:325)) adds thatneeds
is an umbrella term that embraces many aspects incorporating learners'
objectives and backgrounds, their language proficiencies, their reasons
for taking the course, their teaching and learning preferences, and the
situations theywill need to communicate in. Needs can include what
learners know, and can be gathered and analyzed in a different ways.

Furthermore, Hyland (2006:73, as cited in Flowerdew,2013:325 ) also

says thatneeds analysis, conducted to establish the "what "and the "how"
of a course, is the first stage in ESP Course development,followed by
curriculum design, Materials selection, Methodology assessment , and
Evaluation. However, these stagesshould not be seen as separate,
proceeding in a linear fashion, rather, as noted by Dudley-Evans and
St.John (1998:121), they areinterdependent overlapping activities in a
cyclical process.

According to Iwai et al. (1999), needs analysis has two sources formal
and informal; the formal needs analysis is relatively new to the field of
language teaching. However, the informal needs analyses have been
conducted by teachers in order to assess what language points their
students need to master.As Richards (1984, cited in Nunan, 1988)
maintains that analyzingstudents‟ needs enables teaching practitioners to
gain insight into the content, designand implementation of a language
program, to develop goals and objectives,materials, and content, and to
provide data for evaluating the existing program.Though the above
definitions are from different writers and linguists in the field of language
teaching, their main focus is on leveling: the areas of study, the data
collection methods, and the language items (contents) in ESP. All
the above definitions can be categorized, in one way or another, under
Nunan‟s general description, for every needs analysis is made to design

32
better syllabus that meets the students‟ subjective and objective
needs.Accordingly, it is possible to conclude that needs assessment
enables the researchers, teachers or whoever does this procedure for any
purpose toobtain valid and reliable information about the goals,
objectives and content of a curriculum which will fulfill these identified
needs that help them to better target their servicesand efforts.
Furthermore, needs analysis is acyclical and ongoing process that can
take place before, during and after the courses,considering the fact that
the needs may vary from time to time(Nunan;1988),and it is a continuing
process(Hutchinson&Waters;1987). And the final point is that if a needs
assessment is done well, it should lead to actions that willdirectly benefit
those-teachers & students- with the needs.

2.4.3 Types of Needs Analysis

There are many different types of Needs Analysis, they do seem to
overlap somewhat and sometimes the needs may be contradictory; it is
the part of the role of the teacher to balance various
needs.Richertrich(1975) is the father of the conception of distinction
between "objective" and "subjective" needs and then adopted by other
needs analysts as: Nunan(1988), Brindley (1989), and Berwick (1989).
The "objective" data refers to the personal information of the learner such
as: age, nationality, address, previous studies about language…etc, while
"subjective"needs are derived from the learner themselves that are about
the purposes and perceptions of the learners.

Similarly, Berwick (1989) categorized needs according to their

provenance, contrasting felt (subjective) needs and perceived (objective)
needs. He defines needs as “a gap or measurable discrepancy between a
current state of affairs and a desired future state”. Felt needs refer to the
“wants” or “desires”, which are derived from insiders and the “perceived

33
needs”, are derived from outsiders, from facts, from what is known and
can be “verified”.Needs are also classified as(Hutchinson and Waters
1987:55 cited in Dudley-Evans &St John 1998:123):

"objective and subjective (Brindley,1989:65),perceived

and felt (Berwick, 1989: 55,), target situation goals
orientedand learning, process-oriented and produced -
oriented(Brindley, 1989: 63); in addition, there are
necessities, wants and lacks (Hutchinson and Waters,
1987:55)".
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:54) conceptualize goal-oriented needs as
language use needs and process-oriented needs as learning needs (Krohn,
2008). They used the term “target needs” to refer to the “language use
needs” and categorize them into three sub categories, namely as
mentioned above 'necessities', 'lacks' and 'wants'. 'Necessities' are 'what
the learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target
situation'.'Lacks' are 'the gap between what is required in the target
situation and the existing proficiency of the learner'. 'Wants' are seen as
what the learner wants or feels is needed. These definitions can also be
summarized into three concepts;target situation analysis (TSA), learning
situation analysis (LSA), and present situation analysis (PSA) as Dudley-
Evans and St.John(1998:124) state. (PSA) has an important role, in that it
helps to determine the learners‟ need. Dudley - Evans and St John
(1998:125) see needs analysis in a rather comprehensive way: they think
that needs analysis can even provide us with information about the
learners and their knowledge of English language, and moreover about
their purpose of using English. Target situation analysis can provide us
with activities in English that will be used, while present situation
analysis allows us to assess the skills that learners must acquire, learning

34
situation analysis enlights us about the learners lacks. Needs analysis
alsogives us information about the effective ways of learning the required
skills. In addition, linguistic analysis, discourse analysis, genre analysis
provide us with professional communication information. Thus, needs
analysis is considered a very important step in determining what the
students' actual needs are (Dudley-Evans &St.John:1998:123-
125).Finally, all these types of needs analysis can be interrelated to each
other. As a general comparison of the types of needs confronted with
throughout the literature, Brindley‟s „objective needs‟, Hutchinson and
Water‟s „necessities‟ and Berwick's 'perceived needs' refer to roughly the
same category of learner language requirements. In this study, therefore,
the target needs(TSA), present situation needs(PSA) and
learningneeds(LSA) of the students were all investigated as they were
seen as closely related toeach other and all important for the curriculum
renewal.
2.4.4 Importance of Conducting Needs Analysis

Teachers, as their role as course designer or materials providers (Dudley

– Evans & St John 1998:13),have realized that it is too difficult to teach
the whole of a foreign language, which will waste their time and effort .
Accordingly, focusing on the reasons why learners need to learn the
foreign language will enable language teaching professionals to cater for
their learners' specific needs and save a lot of time and energy (Maley,
1983, cited in Ounis, 2005). On the other hand, since ESL learners have
different needs due to differences in cultural backgrounds, purposes,
learning styles, age, and previous education, teachers have to be aware of
the problems involved in teaching students if their social and academic
needs are not taken into account (Peck, 1991).

35
Richards (2001:52) states that needs assessment in language teaching can
be used for different purposes, for example:
-To find out what language skills a learner needs in order to perform a
particular role, such as sales manager, tour guide or university student
- To help determine if an existing course adequately addresses the needs
of potential students
- To determine which students from a group are most in need of training
in particular language skills
- To identify a change of direction that people in a reference group feel
is important
- To identify a gap between what students are able to do and what they
need to be able to do
- To collect information about a particular problem learners are
experiencing.

Accordingly,every language course should be viewed as a course of

specific purposes which just varies in the precision with which learner
needs can be specified. Therefore, it is recommended that a needs
analysis should becarried out continuously because "as students become
more involved with the course, theirattitudes and approach may change"
(Robinson, 1991: 15), similarlyHutchinson and Waters (1987) regard
needs analysis as not a once and for all activitybut a continuing process.
Nunan (1988) recommends as mentioned above that need analysis
proceduresshould occur continuously in manystages such as at the
beginning, during and the end of the courses.
Moreover, to conduct the procedure of needs analysis there are many
ways through which the information can be gathered from learners or
informed sources such as tests, questionnaires, interviews, observations,

36
meetings and soon, interpreting the results and then acting on these
interpretations when makingcourse decisions(Brown,1995).

2.4.5 Steps of Conducting Needs Analysis

There are certain kinds of models with different steps suggested for
needsassessment. To begin with, steps in needs assessment are stated as
the followingby McKillip (1987 as cited in Ekici, 2003:26):
1. Identify users and the uses of the needs assessment
2. Describe the target population and the service environment
3. Identify needs
- Describe problems
- Describe solutions
4. Assess the importance of the needs
5. Communicate results
There are certain kinds of models with different steps suggested forneeds
analysis. To begin with, models in NA are stated as the following.
Richards (2001:64) proposes that "decisions on the practical procedures
involved in collecting, organizing, analyzing and reporting the
informationcollected should be made. He states that there needs to be a
clear reason forcollecting different kinds of information and so as to
ensure that only information thatwill actually be used is collected".
Gravatt, Richards, and Lewis (1997, ascited in Richards, 2001:64) state
"the following procedures which have been used in an investigating the
language needs of non-English-background students at New
ZealandUniversity:
1. Literature survey.
2. Analysis of wide range of survey questionnaires.
3. Contact with others who had conducted similar surveys.
4. Interviews with teachers to determine goals.

37
5. Identification of participating departments.

6. Presentation of project proposal to participating departments and

identificationof liaison person in each department.
7. Development of a pilot student and staff questionnaire.
8. Review of the questionnaires by colleagues.
9. Piloting of the questionnaires.
10. Selection of staff and student subjects.
12. Administration of questionnaires.
13. Follow-up interviews with selected participants.
14. Tabulation of responses.
15. Analysis of responses.
16. Writing up of report and recommendations.
The above sixteen mentioned procedures apply to this particular study
except the(3,4,5, 6, 7,10 and13).
2.4.6 Approaches to Needs Analysis
The approaches to needs analysis are commonly"TargetSituation
Analysis",which is firstly introduced by Chambers(1980) and other
approaches have also been introduced such as:
Present Situation Analysis, Pedagogic Needs Analysis,
Deficiency Analysis, Strategy Analysis or Learning Needs Analysis,
Means Analysis, Register analysis, Discourse analysis, and Genre
Analysis.
2.4.6.1 Target Situation Analysis
The term Target Situation Analysis (TSA) was, first used by Chambers
(1980) in his article in which he tried to clarify the confusion of
terminology. Chambers (1980:29) defines (TSA) as “communication in
the target situation”. In his work Munby (1978) introduces
Communicative Needs Processor (CNP), as Hutchinson and Waters

38
(1987: 54) say thatMunby presents a highly detailed set of procedures for
discovering target situation needs he calls:
"this set… Communication Needs Processor(CNP),…
consists of a range of questions about key commun-
icationvariables… which can be used to identify the
target needsof any group of learners.With the devel-
opment of the CNP…ESP had come of age. Themach-
inery for identifying theneeds of any group of learners
had beenprovided: all thecourse designers had to do
was to operate It”.
2.4.6.2 Present Situation Analysis
The term PSA (Present Situation Analysis) was first proposed
byRichterich and Chancerel (1980). In this approach the sources
ofinformation are the students themselves, the teaching establishment,
and the user-institution, e.g. place of work (Jordan, 1997). As Dudley-
Evans and St. John (1998: 125) state "a PSA estimates strengths and
weaknesses in language, skills, learning experiences."
2.4.6.3 Pedagogic Needs Analysis
The term “pedagogic needs analysis” was proposed by West (1998)as an
umbrella term to describe the following three elements of needsanalysis
(deficiency analysis, strategy analysis or learning needs analysis and
means analysiswhich are respectively followed this approach. West
(1998) states the fact that shortcomings of target needs analysisshould be
compensated for by collecting data about the learner and thelearning
environment.
2.4.6.4Deficiency Analysis (lacks Analysis)
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) note that lacks can be matched

39
with deficiency analysis. Also, according to Allwright (1982, quoted
inWest,1994:1-19),the approaches to needs analysis that have been
developedto consider learners‟present needs may be called analysis of
learners‟deficiencies or lacks,this means students are evaluated to see
what language they lack. Commonly, a diagnostic test is used in this
analysis.As it has been noticed deficiency analysis implies the points of
present situation and target situation. Therefore, deficiency analysis can
form the basis of the language syllabus(Jordan, 1997) because it should
provide data about both the gap between present and target
knowledge,mastery of general English, language skills, and learning
strategies.
2.4.6.5Strategy Analysis (learning Needs Analysis)
Allwright who was a pioneer in the field of strategy analysis (West,1994)
is started from the students‟ perceptions of their needs in their ownterms
(Jordan, 1997). Allwright makes a distinction between needs(the skills
which a student sees as being relevant to himself or herself),wants (those
needs on which students put a high priority in the available,limited time),
and lacks (the difference between the student‟s presentcompetence and
the desired competence) and then his ideas were adopted later by
Hutchinson and Waters (1987), who advocate a learning -centered
approach in which learners‟ learning needs play a vital role. If the analyst,
by means of target situation analysis, tries to find out whatlearners do
with language (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987:54)learningneeds analysis
will tell us "what the learner needs to do in order to learn". Obviously,
they advocate a process-oriented approach, not a product- orgoal-oriented
one. For them ESP is not "a product but an approach language teaching
which is directed by specific and apparent reason for learning"
(Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 16).

40
Thus,this type of needs analysis has to do with the strategies that learners
employ in order to learn another language. This tries to establish how the
learners wish to learn rather than what they need to learn (West, 1998).
2.4.6.6Means Analysis (or constraint analysis)
Means analysis is concerned with “acknowledgement that
what works well in one situation may not work inanother” (Dudley-Evans
and St. John, 1998: 124),e.g. what is taught to the case of recent study of
Law students cannot be taught to Medicine or Business students, and
they suggest that means analysis provides us “information about the
environment in which the course will be run” and thus attempts to adapt
the ESP course to the cultural environment in which it will be run
(Dudley-Evans&St.John:125) i.e.the limitations in the actual teaching
context are identified.
The terms Register Analysis, Discourse Analysis, and Genre analysis are
concerned with the description of languagein ESPwill be respectively
discussed.
2.4.6.7 Register Analysis
The main motive behind register analysis was the pedagogic oneof
making the ESP course more relevant to learners‟ needs (Hutchinsonand
Waters, 1987).Register analysis, also called “lexicostatistics” by Swales
(1988: 1, quoted in Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998) and “frequency
analysis” byRobinson (1991: 23) focused on the grammar and “structural
and nonstructural” vocabulary (Ewer and Latorre, 1967: 223, quoted in
West,1998). The assumption behind register analysis was that, while
thegrammar of scientific and technical writing does not differ from that
ofgeneral English, certain grammatical and lexical forms are used
muchmore frequently (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998).As it has been
noticed register analysis operates only at word and sentence level and

41
does not go beyond these levels.Thus, the register analysis is criticized
and its criticism can besummarized as the following:
•it restricts the analysis of texts to the word and sentence level (West,
1998);
•it is only descriptive, not explanatory (Robinson, 1991);
•most materials produced under the banner of register analysis follow
a similar pattern, beginning with a long specialist reading passagewhich
lacks authenticity (Dudley-Evans and St. John, 1998).
2.4.6.8 Discourse Analysis

Since genre analysis operated only at word and sentence level the second
stage of development paid attention to the level above sentence and tried
to find out how sentences were combined into discourse (Hutchinson and
Waters,1987).Also, West (1998) explains that the reaction against register
theory in the early 1970s had the communicative values of discourse
more than the lexical and grammatical properties of register.

2.4.6.9 Genre Analysis

Discourse analysis may overlap with genre analysis. Dudley

Evans and St. John (1998: 87) give a clear distinction between the two
terms:
"Any study of language or, more specifically, text at
alevelabove that of sentence is a discourse study.
Thismay involve the study of cohesive links between
sentences,of paragraphs, orthe structure of the whole
text. Theresults of this type of analysismake statements
abouthow texts -any text-work. This is applied discourse
analysis.Where, however, the focus of text analysis is
on regularitiesof structures that distinguish one type

42
of text from another,this is genre analysis and the results
focus on the differences between text types, or genre".

The term „genre‟was first used by Swales(1981, quoted in Robison, 1991)

that he defines the genre as acommunicative event with an objective
commonly understood by the participants in that event and occurring
within a functional rather than an individual or group settings.
Accordingly, 'register analysis, discourse analysis and genre analysis are
played a major role in giving birth to ESP. Yet, they have also been
responsible for much of the argument andconfusion that has surrounded
it. Therefore, all these different approaches to needs analysis tried to meet
the needs of the learners in the process of learning a second or a foreign
language.

2.5 Needs for English Language at the workplace

English is the most widely used language in a large number of

workplaces and this type of ESP is known as EOP which involves work-
related needs and training; it is not for academic purposes.According to
Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998:7), it includes “professional purposes in
administration, medicine, law and business, and vocational purposes for
nonprofessional in work or pre-work situations". Dudley-
Evans&St.John (1998:126) has also seen that "ESP is concerned with
turning learners into users". On the other hand Hutchinson
&Waters(1987:6) say that "The effect was to create a whole new mass
of people wanting to learn English, not for the pleasure or prestige of
knowing the language, but because English was the key to the
international currencies of technology and commerce" .Therefore, the

43
growth of employment, organizations and companies, create
demands for efficient employees, hence, the increasing numbers of
workers who need English at their new jobs, there will be
undoubtedly much more need for specific English ,specific genre
and specific register at such new situations at workplaces for
communication purposes either written , spoken or
both.Accordingly, needs analysis as it is noticed is indispensible
stage, what is taught to those students e.g. at universities or
institutions will be used again in a target situation at workplaces in
their future life. Thus, there are a number of studies at this field
such as:

Winberg, at Cape Peninsula University of Technology in his

study(Communication Practices in Workplaces and Higher
Education) in the fields of architecture, mechanical engineering, and
radiographmakes a comparison in communication practice between
the workplace and related higher education, and ,therefore, he
reports the main differences as :
1- There are various communication practices at workplaces, each with
specific purposes, people and situations; a more limited range of
communication practices was found in higher education departments,
with less clarity to the intended purpose, people and context of the
communication.
2- The study showed that architects, engineers, and radiographers do
not normally write for other architects, engineers or radiographers, but for
related professionals; architects prepare a variety of different drawings
and documents for different engineering specialists, consultants, and
technicians; mechanical engineers prepare layout diagrams and

44
instructions for different engineering specialists and technicians; radio-
therapists prepare images and write reports for different health specialists,
the clear sense of purpose, audience, and context apparent in workplace
writing is related to the inter-professional, inter-disciplinary focus of
professional communication.
3- In contrast, there is a limited range of communication practices in
terms of mode, register, channel, and genre in undergraduate higher
education programmes, and less clarity on the purpose, learner and
situation of the communication,Workplace communication practices have
a wider range in terms of mode (inter-professional, extra-professional),
register (technical, informal, shorthand), channel (email, Excel, SMS,
dictaphone) and genre (minutes, brief reports). Genres that are common
in workplaces.

As well as Raman(2006), in his study at (Birla Institute of Technology

and Science, reports the significant of communication at workplaces
by noting that: Communication is the life-line of any workplace
irrespective of whether it belongs to industrial sector such as
engineering, financial, information technology, pharmaceutical, medical,
etc. or education sector or government sector.Both spoken and
writtencommunications play an important role in functioning and
improvement of almost all workplaces, among the different forms of
workplace communication, meetings and letters are the ones that are most
commonly used by many Indian organizations, whether they lie in the
government sector or in the private sector. In his study, there are different
steps involved in business meetings and different types of formal letters
with particular useful expressions, words and phrases in English that can
be used in these forms of communication with special emphasis on Indian
workplaces.
45
Furthermore, in her study Ramos(2000)at University of São Paulo in
Brazil, also reports the importance of communication at workplaces, and
she states one of the new challenges ESP practitioners in Brazil have to
deal with which is the shortage of proficient English speaking
professionals to meet the needs of the Information Technology (IT)
outsourcing market. Brazilian ESP practitioners have concentrated on
teaching reading and/or academic skills more than the other
communication skills, and sherecommends "it is clearly crucial for
workplace success that Brazilian IT professionals develop, as quickly as
possible, adequate English language competence that will enable them to
perform their daily tasks as efficient as expected. Such a development
will, without a doubt, have an impact on the Brazilian job market".

2.6 Previous studies

There are a number of studies that have been done in other

universities round the world .

Ounis(2005,Unpublished M.A. thesis) at the University of

HadjLackhdarBatna, Algeria, shows that the studentsurgently need
English courses designed on their language needs. Based on the
findings,Ounis has recommended practitioners to consider the
curriculum to deliver an urgenttraining in teaching ESP in Algeria ,
the four major skills were greatly needed. Reading skills were
considered as the most important.

Then, Dakhmouche(2008, Unpublished M.A thesis), his study concerns

with the teaching of English as a foreign language at theDepartment of
Computer Science, Mentouri University of Constantine. The findingsof
this study show that the application of some strategies of predetermined

46
objectiveswould enhance better the students‟ achievements in learning
English for specificpurposes.

Elkılıç (1994,Unpublished M.A. thesis)carries out a needs assessment

study in order to determinethe English language needs of the students in
the Faculty of Veterinary Medicineat Selçuk University. Students, subject
specialists and English instructors weregiven questionnaires. The results
revealed that students considered reading skill asthe most important.
Listening came up to be the second important skill for thestudents of
Veterinary Medicine. The students, subject specialists and
Englishlanguage instructors stated that reading was important in order to
be able tounderstand scholarly journals, magazines and reports as well as
to translatematerials from English into Turkish. Based on these results,
recommendationswere put forward by the researcher aiming at improving
the existing Englishlanguage curriculum at Selçuk University.

Alagözlü (1994Unpublished M.A.thesis),in his study, he reveals the

English language skill needs offourth year Medical students at the Faculty
of Medicine in Cumhuriyet University.Students, teachers and
administrators were data collection sources. Theirperceptions regarding
students‟ learning needs were identified. Questionnaire andinterview
were data collection instruments. According to the study, reading
andtranslation comes up to be the most required language skills for that
group ofstudents due to the fact that they need to deal with a great
number of medicinerelatedreadings which are available only in English.
The results show thatthere are differences among the perceptions of
teachers, students andadministrators with respect to students‟ needs. The
already existing curriculumdoes not fulfill the needs of the students.

47
Recommendations for the improvement of the curriculum are put
forward.

Isık (2002,Unpublished M.A. thesis) conducts a needs assessment study

at Baskent University withInternational Relations and Political Science
students in order to find out theirneeds with respect to writing skill.
Students, English instructors, departmentalinstructors, professionals and
administrators take part in the study. The datacollection tools are
questionnaire for students, structured interview withdepartmental
instructors, English instructors, professionals and administrators.Written
productions of students in different tasks in the English course and
theirdepartmental courses are analyzed as well. Some recommendations
are putforward with respect to syllabus development and methodology in
order to fulfillthe needs of the students with respect to their writing skill.

Enginarlar (1982,Unpublished M.A. thesis),conducts a needsassessment

study at Middle EastTechnical University in order to identify the
academic needs and lacks of thefreshman students studying at social
science based departments. Their needs inwriting is tried to be revealed.
Freshmen students and instructors of differentsocial science based
departments participated in the study. Students are givencomprehensive
questionnaires, whereas the instructors are interviewed.Students‟ written
productions and exam papers are examined as well. The typesof activities
are required in writing and the difficulties students encountered related
towriting skill are revealed. The effectiveness of the program at the
PreparatorySchool is evaluated and an important degree of discrepancy
between thestudents‟ needs when writing and the writing instruction
provided in thepreparatory school is identified. Recommendations for

48
syllabus design of the writing componentof the instruction at the
Preparatory School were made.

In their study at IIUM,Jalil&Kamarudin(2009,M.A.thesis) of the

language needs of law students report that the law undergraduates at
IIUM realize the importance of Englishnot only for their academic
success, but also for their future career aslegal officers, lawyers, law
maker etc. as a means of communication.Also their findings show that
both students and lecturers had identified the importance of the
integration of the four language skills.

Similar needs analysis studies have been conducted at IIUM onstudents

from theKulliyyah of IRKHS. Mohamed (1999,M.A.thesis)conducts a
needs analysis study on psychology students. The studywhich aims at
identifying the language needs and language abilitiesof first year students
of psychology in IIUM finds the following:
1. Knowledge of English is a decisive factor for in-classroom and out
-classroom interaction.
2. The students are in need of the teaching of the four skills(reading,
writing, listening and speaking) integratively,but with emphasis on the
productive skills (writing andspeaking).
3. Certain sub-skills such as „ability to skim and scan a text‟,„ability to
explain‟, „ability to speak intelligibly and clearly‟et cetera. received
higher rating for their usefulness and should be included in any ESP
programme for students ofpsychology.
4. Psychology as a content area together with a few varieties of other
content areas is needed for designing an ESPcourse for psychology
students.

49
5. Certain tasks such as role-play, writing reports, listen toand complete
an outline received lower rating representingstudents‟ „lacks‟. Therefore,
it is necessary to include themin any ESP course for students of
psychology. However,the communicative and interactive tasks were
preferredmore than other tasks and thus, needed more emphasis in
the course design.The findings were then transformed into a suggested
frameworkand module of ESP course design for students of psychology
at theuniversity level.

In a similar study by Saud (2001, M.A. thesis), the language needs of

students of history at IIUM are identified. The study clearly specifiesthe
English language needs of students of History and the findingsare used to
provide a framework from which the History languagecourse could be
produced. The findings are as follows:
1. A vast majority of the students has positive attitudes andhigh
motivation on learning English as they are aware ofthe potential value of
English to their studies and careers.
2. There is a need to integrate the four skills: Reading, Writing,
Listening and Speaking with greater emphasis on writingand speaking,
followed by reading and listening.
3. Grammar should be incorporated into the four skills andtaught in
context and in a meaningful way.
4. The content of this ESP course should be mainly subjectspecific
as it is derived from the students‟ area of studybut should involve
varieties of other types of texts to avoid„boredom‟.
5. The communicative approach is the preferred method ofteaching as it
allows the integration of various language–content elements such as
thematic content, lexis, andnotional and functional meaning.

50
Abiy (1990,Unpublished M.A thesis,Addis Ababa University) also
explores the communicative Needs of the High Schoolsin Addis
Ababacity. The result shows that the macro-skills are found
fundamentaland are ordered as follows: listening - reading-
writing and speaking. Besides, the students have selected most
important macro-skills in each of the four skills. Abiy finallyrecommends
the forthcoming studies on the language needs of the learners.

Ephreme (2004 Unpublished M.A. thesis, Addis Ababa University)

conducts a need analysis in Minelik II andAsella government nursing
schools. He finds that the students prefer to learn English for nurses
(EMP) rather than the GPE. He notes that oral skills show
precedence over theneeds for written in EAP, where as these skills
are reversed in EOP. From his researchresults, he recommends the
preparation of English courses which satisfy the students‟ne eds

A study conducted by Hadri (2010,Unpublished M.A. thesis) at South

East European University, fromthe Business Department attempts to
identify and analyze the BusinessAdministration students‟ needs at SEEU
for ESP courses and their needs inregard to the English language skills,
through the perceptions of the students,the course instructors, the
departmental instructors, a graduate of the courseand a professional
practicing in the field of Business Administration. The resultsobtain from
the three study instruments are concerned with the perceivedimportance
of the students needs in particular language skill(s). Each of thefour
language skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing, are perceived to
beimportant in different frequencies. Even though each unit of the course

51
bookstarts with a reading passage, it is not the skill that is more
emphasized than theothers.

Suthee,(2009,M.A.thesis) conducts a study about Needs and Problems in

English Listening and SpeakingSkills: A Case Study of the Metropolitan
Police Officers at Counter Service atChanaSongkram Police Station,
SrinakharinwirotUniversity.Her study explores the needs and problems
in English listening and speaking skillsof the Metropolitan Police
Officers (MPOs) working at counter service at ChanaSongkramPolice
Station. The instruments used in this study are the questionnaire and the
interviewquestions. The participants are 30 metropolitan police officers.
The findings revealed that:
1-The MPOs need to improve their English listening and speaking skills
in mainfunctions as follows: 1) greeting and offering help, 2) asking
personal details and problemsand wants, 3) giving information about
accommodation, tourist information, transportation ,and emergency calls,
4) giving directions, and 5) giving advice and instruction in safety ,
travel, and shopping. As for English training course, most MPOs needed
to have a goodcommand of English listening and speaking skills,
especially basic English conversation .The MPOs needed to learn via
English textbooks and dialogue practice.The MPOssuggested that English
training course should be conducted on Saturday and Sunday ,lasting 1.30
hours per day, for 3 months. The trainers should be both Thai teachers
andnative English speakers .
2-Regarding listening and speaking problems of MPOs, the main
listeningproblems were a variety of English accents, being unable to
catch the main idea, and listening basic expressions. The main speaking
problems were saying basic expressions ,speaking in complete sentences,
and pronouncing English vowel sounds.

52
Ketkaew (1997,M.A.thesis) conducts a survey of cabin attendants‟ needs
of English at Kasetsart University.The study investigates the needs for
English, the important functions of the language ,the problems in using
the language and the needs to improve the English skills of
cabinattendants. The results reveal that English was highly important to
air stewards, airstewardesses, air pursers and flight managers in Thai
Airways International. Listeningand speaking skills are the most needed.
Problems of using the four skills are moderatefor all of them. Air
stewards and air stewardesses needed to improve their listening
andspeaking skills most, while air pursers and flight managers need to
improve all four skillsfrom moderate to high levels.

Boonyawattana (1999,M.A.thesis) studies needs analysis of English in

tourism business at Chiangmai University .Theresults find that listening
and speaking skills are greatly important in tourism businesscareers more
than reading and writing skills. Speaking is needed the most, followed
bylistening, reading and writing. People who work in tourism business
also encounter the most problems of using English in listening skills,
followed by speaking, writing and readingskills.

Pornpetcharat (2001,M.A.thesis) investigates the welfare needs and

problems of tourist policeofficers at Thammasart University. It also finds
that tourists police strongly need foreign language training.

Meemark, (2002,M.A.thesis)carries out a survey to investigate the needs

and problems ofEnglish for Tourist Police at Mahidol University. The
study attempts to survey English language use in routinejobs, the
problems are faced by the tourist police and the degree of English training
needs aredefined by tourist police. The results indicate that the tourist

53
police of all sections stronglyneed all four English language skills.
Listening is considered the most important .The English training courses
should emphasize listening and speaking skills, together with vocabulary.

Aunreun (2005M.A.thesis) explores the present English language needs

of travel agents inChiang Mai and the problems that travel agents
encountered in using English in their jobs at Kasetsart University the
results show that all four English skills are needed especially speaking
which is used by theparticipants mostly in their daily routines. The
participants also feel that speaking isthe most serious problem .

Tangniam (2006,M.A.thesis) explores the English language needs of Thai

Airways ground staff at Kasetsart University.The majority of them
consider that an English training course helps them to improveEnglish
skills to communicate with passengers more fluently. As for English
skills needs ,listening and speaking are rated extremely needed skills.
Based on the findings, English training courses are recommended mainly
to have emphasized on listening and speakingskills.

Ekici(2003,M.A.thesis) examines the English language needs of tour

guidance students of Faculty of Applied Sciences at Baskent University
byreferring to the perceptions of students, English instructors and
curriculumcoordinators. His study aims to see whether there is a
relationship between students‟attitude towards English language and their
self ratings of learning and targetneeds.The data collection instruments
used for the study are the questionnaire administered to forty-five
students,ESP Identification Form administered to two curriculum
coordinators andEnglish Instructor Questionnaire administered to both of
the curriculumcoordinators and the three English instructors.The results

54
reveal that there are bothsimilarities and differences among the
perceptions of students, English instructorsand curriculum coordinators
with respect to the learning needs and target needs of students. The
results of the study, suggest that speaking, listening and specialist
vocabulary be emphasized more in order to fulfill the ESPneeds of Tour
Guidance students. Applying skill based syllabus as primary
andsituational and content approaches to syllabus design as subordinate is
suggestedto be effective as well. Using instructional materials appealing
to thesub-dimensions of attitude is another suggestion presented.

Dafa-Alla in his thesis (2012,M.A.thesis) at some Sudanese Universities,

his study shows that the most needed language skill in the medical field
is listening to lectures, medicine students‟ regardless of their different
academic level do not have the same English needs. The needs for the
academic English is more important than the needs for occupational
English, general English, and he recommends thatlearnersmust be
considered because they are the main resource of data in the needs
analysis and the failure of most ESP programs in the Sudan is attributed
directly to the absence of needs analysis practice.

Another study is made by AL-Amin (1999, Unpublished M.A.

thesis,University of Khartoum), to evaluate an (EAP) textbook. He tries
to investigate the language skills needed by the first year science students.
He depends on a questionnaire made for the students in question and he
has come out with the following findings:
1.the textbook he evaluated does not meet the students general, academic
or future needs.

55
2. It seems that the textbook, to a large extent, concentrates on what
would be regarded as academic needs and pays little or no attention to
general and future needs of the students.

3. The textbook does not cover all the language skills required by the
students and subject teachers. For example, listening is absolutely
neglected.

4. Among the language skills covered, the textbook does not offer an
equal and adequate practice for each language skill.

Hashim (2003,M.A. thesis) in his study also at Khartoum University

School of Management shows that the research starts by investigating the
students'actual needs from their view point and their attitude towards the
textbook"English II" , and his findings can be summarized as follows:
1- the textbook "English II" is considered useful to the students because
it provides them with terminologies related to their specialization.

2- speaking is neglected because the students need of English is centered

on their need to know terminologies related to business field rather
than developing the students‟ speaking skill especially at this level.
3- the majority of the students think that the vocabulary is helpful to
them because it provides them with the appropriate terminologies.
And consequently , they have positive attitudes towards the textbook
"English II"
4- the opinion of both the teachers of specialization and the students is
not taken in consideration when the textbook "English II" is chosen.
5- the students' productive skills (speaking and writing) are not needed in
the students' academic year.
6- the themes and topics in the textbook are related to the students' field

56
and thus, only reading skill is paid attention to
7- according to the English language teachers , the objective of
readymade textbooks is to teach the students the appropriate
terminologies and , that 70% of the objectives are achieved by the end of
the students' academic year.
8- the problem of teaching the textbook is that the textbook is not
available for the students and another problem is that the time is
insufficient.
9- according to the teachers of specialization , the students' need English
to be ready for their future specialization.
10- needs analysis is very important in the process of designing
textbooks.
And he has come out with the following recommendations:
11- EAP textbooks should be chosen on the base of needs analysis.
12- subject teachers should be involved in the process of designing EAP
course because they will, certainly, provide course designers with
appropriate terminologies, texts and literature.
13- collaboration between subject teachers and the English language
teachers at University Requirement Administration should be made to
maximize the students' benefit.
14- University Requirement Administration should make the textbook
available for the students.

El Hag(2008,M.A.thesis) conducts a needs analysis study at Sudan

University of Science and Technology.He attempts to assess English
language needs amongthe staff of petroleum producing companies in
Sudan. Research data have been collected through a questionnaire.
Results of the study as follows:

57
 1. subjects rank knowledge and use English language as necessary
requirements of success of business;
2. It has also been found that the desired areas of needs are to
communicate with foreign authorities, setting up anew division and
to win contracts; and
3.finally, it has been found out that there has been no difference in the
ranking of skills in order of difficulty.

Ali (2011,Ph.D thesis) conducts a needs analysis of the Sudan Naval

Academy (SNA) cadets to design an ESP syllabus at Al Neelain
University, he uses the descriptive method and chooses (74 students) to
his study. He uses the questionnaire and interview to collect dada, and
(SPSS) for data analysis and processing.

His study comes up with the following findings:

1- Designing an ESP syllabus for cadets based on their actual needs.

2- The SNA students need English for their current academic study as
well as future career as naval officers.

3- The cadets need to study all the language skills with emphasis on the
skills of reading and writing.

Then he points out the following recommendations:

1- The adoption of the proposed ESP syllabus.

2- Training of teachers to properly handle the task of teaching ESP.

3- Conducing on- going needs analysis in order to constantly adapt the

syllabus.

58
4- Conducting an evaluative study of the proposed maritime English
syllabus.

AL-Busairi (1990,Ph.D.thesis) conducts a study at Lancaster University

aims to investigate the role of needs, attitudes and motivation in
developing achievement in English as a foreign language for specific
purposes a case study of Kuwait University students, the total of
population is(346),(212) from the college of commerce and (134) from
the college of Engineering. The questionnaire and interview are used as
tools of the dadacollection. The results reveal that Kuwait University
students perceive the needs of English for general, academic and job
purposes. Engineering students have more perceived general, academic
and job needs and moreover, need a mastery of the main four language
skills. Both Commerce and Engineering students have a composite
orientation reflecting both instrumental and integrative orientation
(integra-instrumental) rather than either one by itself. However, both
groups of students are more instrumentally than integra-instrumentally
oriented. Also both groups have better self-esteem, haven‟t classroom
anxiety and high motivation to learn English.

2.7 Conclusion

59
It is important to notice that ESP is a strong movement which has
imposed its influence all over the world. Therefore, all these studies
confirmed the importance of identifying learners' needs and showed the
dangers of ignoring NA in designing ESP courses. Thus, literature reveals
that systematic needs assessments are necessary in order to examine the
skills which are needed by a group of learners through different data
collection instruments from different sources. The results of such studies
lead to useful decisions regarding the improvement of basic curricular
elements. In addition to, most of these studies indicated that there are two
common fundamental outcomes: students perceive receptive skills as
more important than the productive skills and they felt that their needs
were not fully being met by their existing curriculum and the methods of
instruction. The studies also revealed that although students perceive
receptive skills as important, they have difficulties with them.

60
Chapter Three

Chapter Three
Methodology
61
3.0 Introduction
In this chapter, the study will presents theparticipants of the study and the
tool of the data collection. Also data collection procedure and data
analysis methods are presented.
3.1Participants

The subjects who participate in the present study are 80 university

students (35 males and 45 females) in the academic year 2013 2014 in the
Faculty of Law at University of Khartoum. They take ESP as a
compulsory course in their first year as a university requirement in the
Faculty of Law at University of Khartoum.The questionnaire is planned
to be given out to fourth year students only, for many reasons:

1-They are ESP students who are usually studying English in order to
carry out a particular role, ………"(Richards, 2001).
2- Because they are victims of many systems as: a)a system of a country
policy of Arabicization ,in this account, Kennedy and Bolitho(1984:11)
write that "ESP programmes are often the indirect result of
politicaldecisions made at governmental level about the role of English
within thecountry in which the learner is studying. These decisions may
restrict or widen the role, and hence the use, of English within the
community"; b) they are victims ofa system of college policy which is
directly responsible of the current situation, because it can make remedial
classes. 3- Students are considered as graduators, they are already
bachelor holder,so, they lost their opportunity of manipulation of their
situation,and therefore, there is no way to compensate what they lack
orneed.

62
4- Because they would have had at least 3 years experience of studying
law, and had also taken theELAP or (EALP) and EGP courses during
their first year of studies,therefore, theywould be the best subjects to
provide opinions on the language aspects relevant to Law undergraduate
students.

3.2 Data Collection Instruments

Dudley-Evans and St.John(1998:125)"TSA generally uses questionnaire

as theInstrument". The most common instruments used are
questionnaires,because they are relatively easy to prepare, they obtain
information that is relativelyeasy to tabulate and analyze; they can also be
used to elicit information about manykinds of issues, such as language
use, attitudes and beliefs (Richards, 2001:60).
In this study, a questionnaire was used as the only data collection
instruments.
3.2.1 Students' Needs Analysis Questionnaire
This questionnaire (See Appendix )was designed to investigate the fourth
students' needs of the Faculty of Law University of Khartoum .Is
selected and adopted from AL.Busairi's questionnaire(1993:13), with
some modifications.
The students' needs analysis questionnaire contained three parts as
follows:

 The first part aimed at collecting general background information

from the students.
 The second part of the tool addressed the students' perceptions of
the importance of the English language and necessity of knowing
the four major language skills in the order of importance (Q 1&2).

63
  The third and the final part was designed to identify the students'
perceptions regarding their English language needs and consisted
of five questions and three-scale formats as :
Question 3 is of the 3 point Likert scale (1=very important and 3=not
important) aimed at finding out the perceptions of the students regarding
the use of English sub-skills related to the four skills, in students general
needs (items 1 to 3) as:' reading newspaper, magazines and books for
pleasure', 'writing private letters to English-speaking friends' and
'listening to the radio, understanding T.V programs or English speaking
people', academic needs (items 4-10) includes questions in :
'understanding lectures', asking, answering and talking with visiting
professors', reading course textbooks, journals and references', 'taking
notes from lectures', 'taking part in class discussion', 'writing term papers,
essays or reports', 'writing answers to examination questions', and job
needs (items 11-13) the questions as: 'reading written or printed materials
connected with job' , 'conveying information or instruction from English
language to Arabic speaking workers in Arabic or vise versa',' reading or
writing letters, memos or reports in English' .As well other questions
(Q.4,5) students were asked to describe their attitude towards teaching
materials and ESP course as a whole using (1=strongly agree and
3=disagree) . The sixth question was developed to assess whether the
time allocated for GE or ESP enough to use the language effectively ( yes
,no), and finally the respondents were requested to rate their proficiency
using (1= very good and 3=bad) in the seventh question.

3.3The Data Collection Procedures

The data of the study was collected through the distribution of
questionnaire. The students‟ questionnaire is administered to the

64
undergraduate students fourth year in the Faculty of LawatUniversity of
Khartoum.

3.4The methods of Data Analysis

The descriptive and analytical methods will be used in this study because
it is the case study of particular group- fourth year law students- and there
are no two variables (independent and dependent) to compare between
them. It analyses theanswers of participants to the questions suggested in
the questionnaire.The most detailed tool was the students' needs analysis
questionnaire.Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS ) was used to
produce descriptivestatistics for the frequencies, and the relative
percentages. Frequencies andpercentages for each item reflecting target
needs were calculated so as to explain the students' perceptions.

65
 Chapter Four

Chapter Four
Interpretation of Result and Discussion

4.0 Introduction

66
In this chapter, the interpretations and discussions of results gained from
thedata collection instruments are presented. Then, descriptive and
inferential statistics are used to answer the research questions.The
analysis of responses is organized according to the topics of the
importance of English language andcurrent students‟ proficiency of the
most important skill besides general, present and future domains of
language use, students‟ attitude towards thecurrent ESP textbook and
instructional materials and towards the ESP class, suitability of the time
allocated to the ESP course.
4.1Analysis of the Questionnaire
4.1.1 Part One (Personal Background)

This section intends to collect personal information from the

students.(35%) of the respondents are males, while (45%) arefemales, all
students are in the fourth year.
4.1.2 Part two the Questionnaire items (1,2)
The item one:
Doyou consider English important for your studies?
Table (4.1): The importance of English

Options Frequency Percentage

Yes 70 87.5
No 10 12.5
Total 80 100%
The table shows (87.5%) of the respondents said (yes),(12.5%) said
(No).So, it is clear that the majority of the students feel that English is
important for them.
The item two:

67
What are the most important skill areas you needed in your study?

Table (4.2) Ranking of important skill

Options. Very Important Not

important important
Skills.
Reading. Freq. 60 16 4
Perc. 75.% 20% 5.%
Writing. Freq. 50 22 8
Perc. 62.5% 27.5% 10%
Listening. Freq. 40 22 18
Perc. 50% 27.5% 22.5%
Speaking. Freq. 45 Freq. 20 15
Perc. 56.3% Perc. 25% 18.7%

The table (4.2) shows how the respondents ranked the most needed skill
in this order; reading skill (95%) of students said it is important, and only
(5.%) said it is not important. Writing was rated as the second skill as
(90%) said is important, (10%) said not important. The third and fourth
ranksare given to listening and speaking skills respectively , (77.5%) said
listening is important, (22.5%) said it is not important , speaking was
rated (81.3%) as important , (18.7%) as not important .

4.1.3 Part three items from 3 to 7

The item three:
What are the most important sub-skills and language-based tasks for you
in these three fields : general , academic and in future job ?

68
Students’ general needs:
Section (A) in the students‟ questionnaire is designed to generate a
general idea about the need for English sub-skills in the students' daily
life. It consists of threequestions. Questions 1, asks about the students‟
needs for reading, question 2 asks about writing skill, and question 3 asks
about listening skill .

Tables (4.3,4.4,4.5) show students’ assessment of their general needs.

Table(4.3): Reading English for pleasure

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 28 35.0
Important 34 42.5
Not important 18 22.5
Total 80 100%

The respondents concerning the question whether students need English

for reading newspaper, magazines and books for pleasure are: (77.5%)
said it is important, (22.5%) said it is not important.

Table(4.4): English for contact with English friends

Options Frequency Percentage

69
 Very important 32 40.0
Important 33 41.3
Not important 15 18.7
Total 80 100

This table shows the responses to the question whether students need
English for writing private letters to English speaking friends as: the
majority of the students (81.3%) said is important, while only (18.7%)
said it is not important.

Table(4.5 ):listening&understanding Radio/T.V programs

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 46 57.5
Important 23 28.8
Not important 11 13.7
Total 80 100%

Also the students were asked whether they need English for listening to
the radio or understanding T.V. programs or English speaking people.
The students' responses in this table have shown that (86.3%) of the
students said English is important for understanding programs that
arerelated to their legal studies, while (13.7%) of the students said that it
is not important.
The Academic Needs:
This section(B) shows the students‟ responses as to whether they need

70
English during their studies, and to rate the sub-skills needed in their
specialization. It consists of seven questions. It covers various academic
areas in which the students may need certain English skills and sub-skills.

Tables (4.6-4.11) show the summary of the Needs for English for
Academic Sub-Skills as Perceived by the Students.
Table(4.6):Needsfor English for following lectures

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 48 60.0
Important 17 21.3
Not important 15 18.7
Total 80 100

With reference to item 4 in the students‟ questionnaire,the responses to

the question whether studentsneed English for understanding
lecturesare:(81.3%) of them agreed totally that the knowledge of English
is an important factor to understand lectures.However,(18.7)of the
respondentssaid it is not important.
Table (4.7) : English for practicing speaking skill

Options frequency Percentage

Very important 49 61.2
Important 18 22.5
Not important 13 16.3
Total 80 100%

71
The responses of the students to the question whether they need English
for asking, answering and talking with their visiting professors are as:
the majority of students(83.8%) said that English is important for
communicating with visiting professors , while (16.3%) said that it is
not important .

Table (4.8): English for reading related materials

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 46 57.5
Important 21 26.3
Not important 13 16.3
Total 80 100%

The responses to the question whether they need English for reading
course textbooks, journals and references as:(83.8)of the students said it
is important, (16.3%) said not important .

Table(4.9): English for taking note from lectures

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 46 57.5
Important 26 32.5
Not important 8 10
Total 80 100%

The table (4.9) shows thatthe students‟ answers to the question as

72
to whether they use English for taking notes when they have lectures that
taught in English in their specialization. The answers are as follows:
the majority of respondents (90.%) said that it is important , (10.0) said it
is not important .

Table(4.10): English for classroom discussion

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 43 53.8
Important 23 28.8
Not important 14 17.5
Total 80 100

Therespondents to the question whether they need English for taking a

part in class discussion are :(82.6%) said it is important, (17.5%) said it is
not important.

Table(4.11) English for writing topics

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 37 46.3
Important 28 35.0
Not important 15 18.7
Total 80 100%

In fact, table (4.11) reflects the students‟ responses to the question related
to their need to write term paper , essays or reports in English in their

73
studies as following: (81.3%) of the students said that it is important ,
(18.7) said it is not important .

Table(4.12) English for writing in the exam

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 52 65.0
Important 20 25.0
Not important 8 10.0
Total 80 100%

The responses of the students to the question that whether they need
English for writing answers to examination questions, the majority of the
respondents (90.%) said it is important, fortunately only (10.%) said it is
not important .

English for Job Needs:

Tables (4.13,4.14,4.15) show the students' assessment of their
academic needs.
Table(4.13):Reading materials connected with job

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 48 60.0
Important 21 26.3
Not important 11 13.8
Total 80 100%

74
The respondents to the question whether students need English for
reading written or printed materials connected with job are: most of them
(86.3%) said it is important, (12.5%) said English is not important at
workplace in the future.

Table(4.14): Conveying information from English to Arabic

orvise versa

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 46 57.5
Important 28 35.0
Not important 6 7.6
Total 80 100%

This table reflects the students' responses to the question whether they
need English for conveying information or instruction from English
language to Arabic speaking workers or vise versa are: the majority of the
respondents (92.5%) said it is important, while (7.6%) said it is not
important.
Table(4.15): practicing reading and writing skills

Options Frequency Percentage

Very important 41 57.5
Important 28 35.0
Not important 11 13.8
Total 80 100%

75
The respondents to the question whether students need English for
reading or writing letters, memos or reports in English are: (86.3%) said it
is important, (13.8%) said it is not important.
The item four:
How would you describe your attitudestowards current ESP textbooks or
instructional materials? Four of the statements in the study were designed
to examine the students‟ attitudes towards theircourse materials.
Table (4.16 ) Attitudes towards class materials

Options Strongly Agree Disagree

agree
Statement
1-The course book Freq. 55 15 10
has an interesting
Perc. 68.8% 18.8% 12.5%
content
2-The course book Freq. 52 17 11
takes into account
the needs and
interests of students Perc. 65.% 21.3% 13.8%
3-The course Freq. 39 28 13
materials include
new specialist
articles and texts perc. 48.8% 35% 16.3%
4- The book has Freq. 45 18 17
various activities
and exercises at the
end of each unit to
facilitate learning Perc. 56.3% 22.5% 21.3%

76
Statement 1: The course book has an interesting content. Students
show their agreement as (87.6%) , while disagreement as (12.5%) .
Statement 2: The Course book takes into account the needs and interests.
The respondents as (86.3%) were agreed,but (13.8) disagreed with this
statement.
Statement 3: The course materials include new specialist articles and
texts. The students' responsesto this statement as (83.8%) agreed,but
(16.3.%) disagreed.
Statement 4: The book has various activities and exercises at the end of
each unit to facilitatelearning. (78.8%) were expressed their agreement
with this statement, but (21.3%) were disagreed.
The itemFive:
What are your attitudes towards ESP courses?
Table (4.17) Attitudes towards ESP class

Options Frequency Percentage

Strongly agree 50 62.5
Agree 30 37.5
Disagree 0 0
Total 80 100.

The table(4.17) shows the responses of students' attitude towards ESP

class as (100.0%) agree with this statement, it is clearly all the students
have a positive attitude towards ESP class.

77
The item six:
Is the time allocated to the English language or ESP courses enough to
you to use the language effectively?
Table (4.18): Satisfaction with the time of English&ESP
courses.

Options Frequency Percentage

Yes 10 12.5%
No 70 87.5%
Total 80 100%

Table (4.18) reflects the respondents' opinion to the question

whether the time allocated to the English and ESP courses
enough to you to use the language effectively.(87.5%) of
students said (No), (12.5%) said (Yes).
The item Seven:
How do you rate your English proficiency?
Table(4.19): Students' own assessment of present English
proficiency.
Options Frequency Percentage
Very good 5 6.3
Good 15 18.7
Bad 6o 75.
Total 80 100%
The respondents' answers to the question how do you rate your English
proficiency? are: only (25.0%) said it is good, unfortunately, most of the
students (75%) said it is bad .

78
4.2 Discussion
In order to answer the first research question,"Do you consider English
important for your studies?The result reflects that the majority of the
students need English in order to succeed in their specific field. Thus, this
is considered one of the purposes whichare indicated by some scholars as
Kennedy and Bolitho (1984:6) point out "Much of the demand for ESP
has come from scientists and technologists who need to learn English for
a number of purposes connected with their specialism".Also the result
completely comes in agreement with Hutchinson and Waters (1987:6) as
they state that "the expansion of scientific, technical and academic
activities in international scale after the end of the second world war shed
a light on the importance of the English language as a result of the
economic power in United States ".

The second question (What skill areas are needed by Law students in the
order of importance?), the subjects arerequiredto rank the four major
language skills in order of importance for success in Law studies.
Table(4.2 ) shows the percentage of rankings by the sample.Based on the
result the students saw language skills as equally important for success in
their current academic studies and their future jobs. They ranked reading
as the most important skill for success in their legal studies followed by
writing skill, which due to the fact that the focus of ESP materials in the
faculty is often on these two skills.Students believed that good writing
skills are vital in order topass their university exams. In addition,
Bhatia(1993) notes that "writing in legal studies involvescomplex
structures to cater to the need for conciseness". Additionally, this result
exactly agrees with Ounis' (2005) findings that the four major skills were
greatly needed. Readingskill isconsidered as the most important.

79
In contrasts, speaking and listening were not regarded as essential skills
this due to the fact that as it has been noticedthe students' pass or fail in
ESP course is not dependent on these two skills". This implies the
necessity of making the ESP students conscious of that speaking and
listening may play an important role in their career achievements.
Furthermore, being able to communicate either in oral or in written forms
are absolutely necessary for success in their future job, if related to their
fields of study.Moreover, speaking is considered as the important skill for
Law students to be effective in class discussion and mock trial sessions.
While developing reading skill is the key to their success during their
university studies,developing speaking skill is more needed also in the
academic and in the future fields. Accordingly, reading and speaking
skills should be given more priority in the curriculum. This finding agrees
with what was said by Hashim (2003:52) " English language teachers'
point of view when asked about the main language skills that the students
need, they agreed that the main language skill that the textbook mainly
concentrates on is reading….., they added that there is no listening due to
the fact that the textbook is not provided with cassettes consequently, the
students' listening skill it remains poor".Students' disability of
performance of the four language skills due to the fact that they lack of
them.

General needs: Tables (from 4.3-4.5)

As shown in the above tables (4.3,4.4,4.5) the students rated the
mostimportantskill in general needs as listening to the radio,
understanding T.V programs of English speaking people totally as
(86.3).Dafa-Alla(2012) in his study notice that in the presence of TV
satellite revolution there are specialize TV channels which offer
differentprograms,this reinforces the role of TV as a learning audiovisual
80
tool.The result shows the students' awareness of this positive role of TV
which supports the listening skill.This finding brings to the fact that the
majority of the students attempt to improve their English language
proficiency and skills particularly listening skill which is neededto equip
themselves with the literature related to their specialization and to be
benefit for them in their academic field since general needs overlaps with
the academic one.Furthermore, this result agrees with the findings
presented by Dafa-Alla(2012) and Hashim(2003) who are noticed that
"listening is important skill but is neglected in the Sudanese ESP
syllabuses".
The second priority of students' skill in general needs is writing private
letters to English-speaking friends(81.3%),so this skill is also needed by
students to communicate with their English friends,this indicate that
students like to use English in order to develop their English proficiency.
The last priority in general needs isgiven to reading for pleasure which is
ranked (77.5%) as an important as mentioned above.This result is
revealed that the students do not appreciate their needs for English as a
mean of reading for pleasure, which indicates a very low motivation in
the language and reading material written in English in particular. This
indicates that students are also not motivated to use English for general
purposes and explains the lack of the appropriate materials that encourage
them for reading for general purpose in English.

Academic Needs: Tables( from 4.6 to 4.12)

Depending on data in table (4.6) the respondents who agreed to the
question intended to rate the needs for English to understand lectures
were (81.3%) said is important, although this sub-skill is considered
unfortunately as a fourth and last priority in academic needs, the result

81
reflects the importance of listening skill which is neglected in Sudanese
universities as mentioned above in general needs by Dafa-Alla (2012) and
Hashim(2003) . Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) recommend that the
ability of listening to lecturemonologue is essentially important in EAP
situation. In addition, (Alamin, 1999:35) adds "many students find a great
difficulty in understanding such lectures" . As well, Kennedy and Bolitho
(1983:107) state that " a lecture is particularly difficult since listener,
unlike reader, cannot control the flow of information and hence his
processing of it. A reader can vary his reading speed, can stop, reflect or
re-read, but a listener is at the mercy of speaker". Therefore, students who
rated a high degree for listening skill and English knowledge which
enable them to understand their subjects on their field were aware of the
importance of this sub-skill and English language in legal studies.
Accordingly the English language proficiencycorrespondsa high degree
of importance, so,it cannot be ignored. Robinson(1989:402) writes “An
important consideration is the degree of proficiency expected inthe target
situation”.
The table (4.7) shows that the majority of the students' (83.8%) needsfor
English for asking, answering and talking with visiting professors which
ranked as a third priority. This result reflects the importance of
communicative skill, and the learners' actual needs to this speaking skill
which is essential in ESP. Munby(1978) has strongly asserted that
"syllabuses and materials in ESP are determined by
thecommunicative needs of the learners" .
Followed by the question to the students to rate their needs for English
for reading textbook , journals and references in table (4.8) which has
ranked (83.8%) as a third priority as the same rank of the previous sub-
skill.So, this result reflects that this reading skill is important and most of
the materials related to the field of specialization were written in English.

82
McDonough(1984:70) regards reading as the most significant skill in
ESP and he states that"this is due in large part to the fact that
proportionally the number of learners who need English outside the
context of their own countries , is fairly small and, in those majority
situation where English is the language of textbooks and journals" . In
addition to Coffey (1980) states that "the core objective of an EAP course
is always reading proficiency".

Table (4.9) reflects students' responses to the question related to their

needs for taking notes from lectures taught in English in their
specialization, which is also perceived as second priority of listening and
writing skills. As mentioned above (90%) of the students saw it is
important. Thus, the study reach to the same result of Dafa-
Alla's(2012)findings which said that " the most needed language skill in
the medical field is listening to lectures". Therefore, the listening skill is
the important skill in the field of the academic needs to every ESP student
either in medicine, engineering, law or any other discipline taught ESP as
a requirement of a university. The result also reflects the students' needs
to develop the writing skill.

In table (4.10) the respondents of the question to the needs for English for
taking part in class discussion, inspite of, this question is a fifth one it
ranked as a firstpriority. This result alsoshowsthe importance of oral or
conversation sub-skills. Theneeds for English in class discussions appears
to be very important ,and students seemto have a desire to develop these
skills-speaking & listening-, even they are difficult as Kennedy and
Bolitho(1984:114) point out that " there is evidence to suggest that
overseas students in particular do have problems in discussion".
Therefore, it is obvious that the majority of the students do not speak
83
English during their English lessons. This could be attributed to the fact
that the students‟ oral skill is not one of the objectives of the curriculum
under the study.

Table (4.11) shows the respondentsof the question totheir needs for sub-
skill to write term paper, essays or reports which are ranked as a fourth
and lastpriority as the same rank of the first question in academic needs
of understanding lectures. (81.3%) of students said it isimportant. Thus,
this result indicates again the importance of the writing skill which has
also played a significant role in EAP.

The last question in academic needs was requested from students to rate
their needs for English for writing answers to examination questions in
table (4.12), it is prioritized as the a second rank by the majority of
students(90%) who said it is important as mentioned above .Thus this
result reflects again the importance of the writing skill in EAP.

The general overview of the data concerning the academic needs showed
on one hand, the needs for English language for taking a part in class
discussion as highly requested sub-skills. On the other hand, taking note
from lectures and writing answers to examination questions rated below
class discussion. Based on data mentioned above, the academic needs
results showed a significant importance of these skills in academicneeds.
These findings indicate that the students are aware to some extent of their
own needs.

Job Needs: Tables (from 4.13-4.15)

84
This sectionis investigated about students' job needs .The students do not
experience this kind of needs. In this part of the questionnaire the
students were asked to speculate what they may need English forin their
future job through three situations.

The first situation in table(4.13) which reflects the students' responses to

rate their needs for English for reading written or printed materials
connected with job in the future, which is rated (86.3%) as important as
mentioned before . The result again reflects the importance of reading
sub-skills in the future job, so, this result shows that reading skill is not
only needed in current academic field but also in the future job.

Secondly,students were asked to rate their needs for English for

conveying information or instruction from English language to Arabic
speaking workers in Arabic or vise versa in table (4.14).The result as
mentioned that the majority of students(92.5%) said it is important, and
also shows the importance of the combination of listening and translation
sub-skills. The later sub-skill-translation-requires a high proficiency of
English language.

The final question in job needs in table (4.15) students were asked to rate
their needs for English to read or write letters, memos or reports in
English. The majority of the respondents(86.3%) said it is important.The
result shows the needs of these skills reading and writing in the future
job.Therefore, the most important sub-skills needed in future jobare
firstly, conveying information or instruction from English language to
Arabic speaking workers in Arabic or vise versa, secondly, reading
written or printed materials connected with job and reading or writing
letters , memos or reports in English have the same rank. As Richards&

85
Rodgers(1986:156) state needs analysis is "concerned with identifying
general and specific language needs that can be addressed in developing
goals, objectives and contents in language program". Moreover,Mackay
and Mountford (1978)" divide needs of students studying ESP into
twocategories which are academic needs and job needs".Accordingly, the
recent study is agreed with what is said by these scholars and moreover,
reassure that one can see how the needsfor English language in three
fields, general, academic and job needs are overlapped and interrelated
with each other.

According to the result recorded on the table(4.16) students were

requested to express their attitude towards their course materials.The
majority (87.6%) of the students held positive attitude. This can
indicatethat they see the course book has an interesting content and their
class materialsin accordance with their needs and interests. The content
and materials ofthe course offered to these students seem to meet their
present needs in the desired degree this fact comes up with what
Hutchinson and Waters (1987:19) state "ESP is an approach to language
teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the
learner's reason of learning ". In addition to, Dudley Evans and St.John
(198 8:4) note that "ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the
learners'; makes use of underlying methodology and activities of the
discipline it serves". Moreover, the specific needs are going to shape the
selection, organization and the presentation of the language
material in thesyllabus (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Johns & Evans,
1991; Robinson, 1991).

On the whole students held positive attitude towards their materials.

86
This can be accounted for by the fact that to these students the course
books has new specialist articles and texts and also involved various
activities and exercises at the end of each unit to facilitate learning
process.

Students were asked to rate their attitude towards ESP course in table
(4.17).All students' responses (100%) were agreed. Thus, the result
reflects that all studentsheld a positive attitude towards their ESPcourse.
Kennedy and Bolitho (1984:16) state that "A student's previous learning
of English may influence the attitude to an ESP course".The students felt
a need for ESP courses; they considered the ESP course as a bridge to
success in present and future specialized studies.This cancall attention to
the needs for an ESP course, but a well designed, effective, and
efficientcourse based on needs and interests of students.

On the basis of the results shown in table( 4 .1 8 ) the majority of students'

answers represent (87.5%). Thus, the result reflects the fact that most of
the studentsstated that they were unsatisfied withthe time assigned to the
English language or ESP courses and it was not adequate to achieve the
required competence either in the General English language or English
for Specific Purposes (ESP).Robinson (1989:398) considers that time is
an essential factor which must be taken into account when conducting an
ESP course and she wrote that “ … ESP coursesare normally constrained
by a shortage of time”.

The last question in table (4.19) was asked to involve the students in self
evaluation of theirperformance in the English language. Unfortunately,
the result reflects that the majority of students (75.0 %) assessed their

87
English language proficiency as bad. This is an indication to the students'
lack of English proficiency, and there is a greatneeds for developing
it.This reflects what Robinson (1989:96) mentions here
"Many students all over the world are studying technical
or academic subjects wholly or partly through the medium
of English: their command of the English language must
be such that they can reach a satisfactory level in their
specialist subject studies".
The result obviously reflects the decline of the English language among
university's students;one can see the students‟ reluctance with their poor
proficiency which they testifiedwhen assessed their present language
proficiency. As mentioned above in discussing the academic needs
Robinson(1989:402) writes “An important consideration is the degree of
proficiency expected inthe target situation”.

88
Chapter Five

Chapter five

89
 Findings and Recommendations

5.0Introduction
This study aims to identify the importance of English language to the
students studying law, the frequency of the English language skills used,
their ability in performing the skills and sub-skills in general, academic
and job situations, their attitude towards English for specific purposes
(ESP) instructional materials and courses, the time allocated for both
general English and English for specific purposes and their English
language proficiency.The target populations of this study are 80 students
who studied in the academic year 2013-2014 in the Faculty of Law at
University of Khartoum. Theyare the primary source of data.The
questionnaire is planned to be given out to fourth year students only.
5.1 The findings of the study
The study has come up with following findings:
1-English language is considered to be an important language by
university students of Law.
2-Students consider the four major skills as an important. They are unable
to practice effectively thesefour skillsbecause the curriculum does not
have sufficient exercises to practice each skill individually particularly
the listening one which is completely ignored.
3- ESP course materialsare basedonly on the students‟ academic needs
and interests, so, all students perceive it to be very important because it
provides them with topics and terminologies related to their field.
4- No attention paid to general and future job needs.
5- The study found out thatonly one semester is not enough for boththe
General English (GE) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) coursesto

90
help themto become professional in their specialist and future workplace
situations.
6- It is obviously seen that students have a lower level of English
language proficiency than is needed for their studies and future career.

5.2 Recommendations
The results of the study may be an aid to further development of
ESPprogram based on the English language needs of students and
improvement of the current program to better meet the needs of the
students of theFaculty of Law at University of Khartoum. Thus, the study
is recommended that:
1-More attention should be given tothe English language to help students
to master it.
2-Each of the skills which may be required, reading, writing, listening
and speaking may be of different value in terms of their use in that
specific field in order to enable students to function effectively in their
workplaces and academic environment,this should be taken into account
when the materials are principally designed.
3-ESP course should give the priority to speaking and listening skills
among the other language skills, because a good law students, need to be
equipped with a strong foundation of speaking skill as they would need
that in the manydiscussions, arguments and negotiations they practice.
4-Since most activities in ESP books are reading-based, the teachers
should provide the students with extra tasks or activities with the aim of
developing other skills too, using audio and video equipments in ESP
classes may not only increase their motivation to learn English but also
foster their learning and achievements
5-The number and duration of English and ESP courses should be

increased so that the Englishlanguage becomes as an essential course at

91
the Department ofLaw Studies, and moreover,law undergraduatesshould
be given training in a specific language course (ELAP) to prepare and
enable them to understand the law „language‟ before theyare ready to
handle actual law courses.
6- More attention should be given to the English for General Purposes
and the English for Occupational Purposes.
7- The students' basic English needs should be given due attention. Thus,
proficiency in English does need to be treated urgently, that is to say
students need help based on their needs and wants. It was emphasized
that if the students' general proficiency was improved, they would have
less difficulty in dealing with specialized English too.
5.3 Suggestions for further research

The study has suggested some researches can be done on the following
areas:

1)Problems faced ESP students:Acase of Law Faculty at University of

Khartoum.

2)An evaluation ofexistent curriculum ofLaw students' in relation to their

needs for communicative skills at University Khartoum.

3)Methodology of teaching ESP students of Faculty of Law at University

Khartoum.

92
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 Appendixes

Appendix(A)

Needs Analysis Students' Questionnaire

101
I will be grateful to you if you answer this questionnaire as accurate as
possible. The information you provide will be confidential and used for
research purpose only.These questions are adopted from Al-Busairi's
questionnaire with some modifications.

(Part1)-Personal Information:

Name:

Sex: Male [ ] Female [ ]

School: Private [ ] Governmental [ ]

Private school: English [ ] Arabic [ ]

(Part2) Q.1.Doyou consider English important for your studies?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

Indicate your answer by circling one of the numbers

1 = very important

2 = important

3 = not important

Q.2. What are the most important skill areas you are needed in your
study?

1 2 3

(Part 3) Q.3. What are the most important sub-skills and language-based
tasks for you in these three fields :a) general; b) academic and c) job
needs?
1 2 3

A) General Needs
1-Reading newspaper, magazines and books for pleasure.

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 1 2 3

2- Writing private letters to English-speaking friends.

1 2 3

3- Listening to the radio, understanding T.V programs or English

speaking people.

1 2 3

B) Academic Needs
In your field of specialization, you need English for:

4- Understanding lectures.

1 2 3

5-Asking, answering and talking with your visiting professors.

1 2 3

6- Reading course textbooks, journals and references.

1 2 3

7-Taking notes from lectures.

1 2 3

8- Taking part in class discussion.

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 1 2 3

9-Writing term papers essays or reports.

1 2 3

10- Writing answers to examination questions.

12 3

C. Job Needs

11- Reading written or printed materials connected with job in the future.

1 2 3

12- Conveying information or instruction from English language to

Arabic speaking workers in Arabic or vise versa.

1 2 3

13- Reading or writing letters , memos or reports in English.

1 2 3

Q.4.How do you describe your attitudes towards current ESP textbooks

or instructional materials?

Strongly agree [ ] Agree [ ] Disagree [ ]

Q.5.How do you describe your attitudes towards ESP courses?

Strongly agree [ ] Agree [ ] Disagree [ ]

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Q.6.Is the time allocated to the English language or ESP courses enough
to you to use the language effectively?
Yes [ ] No [ ]

Q.7.How do you rate your English language proficiency?

Very good [ ] Good [ ] Bad [ ]

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