NEEDS

ANALYSIS
 Whose
needs?

What?
A needs
analysis
What for?

What kind?

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Whose needs? Leaners Organizations
Whose
needs?

A needs Perceived Experts’ Ex: Course participants should

analysis needs view
(teachers,
be able to take part in
negotiations with foreign
sponsors, partners.
etc.)

Felt needs Learners’ Ex: I would like to improve my

perspective speaking and my
grammar.

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What?
A needs Focus on areas that RELEVANT of learners
or the organization

analysis
Unique to a specific training situation

Differentiate a general English course

from a course for special purposes

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 Target situation:
Where the Ls want to be

A needs
analysis
HOW TO FILL THE GAP
What for?

Current situation:
Where the Ls are
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 A needs
analysis Communication needs

Pedagogic needs

What kind? Business needs

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 Communication needs

 What does it mean by “communication needs (CN)”?

A needs
 the different AREAS and STYLES OF DISCOURSE that learners might engage in.
analysis
Ex: - use the telephone with English speaking clients, to travel to other countries in order to sell their
product.
 How can we know about CN?
 Instruments: questionnaires, interviews, and observation
What kind?

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 Communication needs
What went wrong?

Jason Smith works for a small private language school as a teacher - his school has been asked to help a small sales
A needs
department (five employees) improve its English language skills. His boss has had an interview with the sales
department head, and has gained permission for Jason to sit in the office for half a day in order to analyse the
analysis
communication needs of the employees.
This is a rare treat - most of his time is spent in the classroom. The first thing Jason finds is that the people in the sales
department are only speaking English for a tiny proportion of the time. Nobody really knows what to do with him, and
after his tenth cup of coffee he begins to get bored. The phone rings and one of the workers starts speaking English.
But all he hears is Hi ... Speaking ... um, yes ... Yes, OK ... Of course ... Bye.
He decides toWhat kind?
ask for some written examples and he is given four printouts of one- or-two-line emails, and a copy of a
three-year-old computer handbook, hardly used. There is, of course, more, but the person he asks does not have the
time right now to find copies of letters or contracts, and anyway, she is not sure if she can give Jason confidential
information. At that point the boss comes in, sees what Jason is doing, and asks if materials for the course are included
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in the overall price. Jason has no idea, because that sort of thing is handled by his boss back at the language school.
 Communication needs
Group discussion

A needs
Work in group and decide:
analysis
1. What information should a teacher need in doing a communication needs analysis?
(Note down your answers)
2. How can the information be collected?
 There are
Whatin general
kind? 2 ways of collecting data:
 Direct : when face-to-face meetings or observation are available
 Indirect: when direct observation or meetings is not feasible
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 Communication needs
Direct

Ask detail questions about the TARGET PERFORMANCE AREAS  analyse the skills needed.
A needs
Example: What should we ask to find out about communication needs of learners who usually attend meetings?

analysis
- what sort of things are discussed,
- how many people attend & their relationships,
 help the teacher to get a feel for that type of
- typical agendas, how long meetings last,
meeting and allow the creation of realistic
- whether any native English speakers are present, simulations, which will mirror some of the
language used.
- what other nationalities are present,
What kind?
- job types,
- whether the discourse is formal or informal

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 Communication needs
Indirect

QUESTIONNAIRE:
A needs
 Attendees (names, roles):


analysis
Type of discourse (e.g. formal, relaxed):
Location:
 Topics of conversations:
 Interlocutors' relationship (who holds the power?):
 Areas of conflict:
What kind?
 Was it a typical conversation, or rare?
 Did your learner get what she or he wanted?
 Intercultural aspects:
 Communication problems:
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 Communication needs

 What does it mean by “communication needs (CN)”?

A needs
 the different AREAS and STYLES OF DISCOURSE that learners might engage in.
analysis
Ex: - use the telephone with English speaking clients, to travel to other countries in order to sell their
product.
 How can we know about CN?
 Instruments: questionnaires, interviews, and observation.
What
 What is an kind?
analysis of CN for?
 give a better idea about the TARGET SITUATION, and a clearer understanding of what the learners
actually do with the language.
 used to design classroom activities, which can be used to further diagnose target language 13
 Communication needs

 How to find out the learners’ current communicative competence?

A needs
 One common tool for this is a placement test/ task-based assessment

 How is a goodanalysis
placement test ?
 Quick, and easy to administer.
 Valid (it should test what it is designed to test - if we give a grammar test to someone interested in improving presentations
skills, the prospective learner may start to question our judgment.
 Authentic (the test should reflect the target language, and the way it is used)
What kind?
 Reliable (if different testers do the same test, the result should be the same; likewise if the learner took the same test two days
later, they should get the same result)

 How is a task-based assessment/ diagnostic test?

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 This uses knowledge gained from the target needs analysis so that a task can be designed which reflects the real-life situation.
 Pedagogic needs

A result of the teaching context :

A needs - the teacher’s needs,
analysis - the learner’s (learning) needs,
- and the means to do the course.

What kind?

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 Pedagogic needs
Teachers’ need

Teachers’ style, experience, and needs

A needs
Ian
analysis
David
• How do I think people learn best?
• What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What experience do I have?
• What do I know about my own learning style?

What kind? • How much of what happens in the classroom is a result of

Melisa my personality?
• …

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 Pedagogic needs
Learning need

Learning Styles:
A needs
Visual (Learnersanalysis
 NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)
think in pictures and respond most readily to visual stimuli)
Auditory (Learners think in and respond most profoundly to Sounds)
Kinaesthetic (Learners think in terms of touch and smell and learn best when some kind of physical activity is taking
place)

Left-brainedWhat (Learners
kind?tend to analyse, and to be logical and objective. They may prefer traditional lectures,
reading, and clearly structured classroom activities)
Right-brained (Learners tend to be more impulsive and informal, and may appreciate the use of graphics and role-play
activities to enhance their learning. )

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 Pedagogic needs
Learning need

A needs
 Multiple intelligence (Howard Gardner )

•
analysis
Bodily-Kinaesthetic - control one’s body in order to do things or solve problems (coordination,
physical speed, balance etc).
• Intrapersonal - sensitivity to one’s own feelings, strengths and weaknesses, values.
• Interpersonal - sensitivity to others’ moods, ability to interact with others.
• Verbal-Linguistic - use oral and written language to express meaning and remember things.
• What kind? - deal with problems in a logical way, numerical skills, cause and effect,
Logical-Mathematical
concepts.
• Musical - sensitivity to rhythm, pitch, melody.
• Visual-Spatial - deal with forms, space, shapes, colour, and visually-based activities.
• Naturalist —recognize and classify things in the natural world. 18
 Pedagogic needs
Means need

A needs
analysis
 Means Analysis:

• What facilities are available (e.g. rooms, seating, location, refreshments)?

• What equipment is available (e.g. board, flipchart, cameras, projectors)?
• How much time is available to design the course and prepare materials?
What
• How much timekind?
is available for training?
• What is the availability of suitable materials?
• What time of the day will learners be available?
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 Business needs

- the sponsor’s needs,

A needs
analysis

What kind?

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 Business needs

A needs
Why do we need to know these?
 Know as much analysis
as possible about the company (general information: he company’s product, the
market, its size, and so on) before starting to meet people.  ????
 Understand the various business functions of those involved  ????
- the engineering department: interested in materials, technical specifications, and so on
- # the financial department: interested in the last auditors’ report, and next week’s balance sheet.
 Know the level of the person in the company hierarchy  ???
What
 Meet the kind?
various stakeholders  Who and why?
- the learners, the sponsors, the HR department, the head of departments whose employees the
trainer will be working with, and so on.
 Understanding the business situation where the learner will be using the language
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22

Design a questionnaire
to collect information
about your learners

Presentation Title 9/3/20XX