Section Two : Needs Analysis and Course Design
1.6 Needs analysis ..11
1.6.1 Types of Needs 12
16.1.1 Target Needs 12
1.6.1.2 Learning Needs 12
1.6.2 Instruments for Needs Analysis 13
1.6.2QuestionnaireSurveys ....13
1.6.2.2Interview 14
1.6.2.3 Observations 14
1.6.2.4 Analyzing Authentic Texts . ..14
1.6.3 Sources of Needs Analysis 15
1.7 Course Design . ..17
1.7.1 Definition of a Course ..17
1.7.2 Course design in ESP 17
1.7.3 Types of ESP Course Design 18
1.7.3.1 Language-Centered Approach 18
1.7.3.2 The Skill Centered Approach 18
XI
1.7.3.3 Learning-Centered Approach ..19
1.7.4 Principles in Course Design 19
1.7.4.1 The Content 19
1.7.4.2 The Method 20
1.7.4.3 A Massive Exposure 20
1.7.4.4 The Syllabus . 20
Section Three : Theoretical Framework 20
1.8 The Use of Needs Analysis in Course Design
.21
1.9 How to Design a Course in Business English through
NA ....21
Conclusion . 22
Chapter Two: Research Design and Methodology
Intoduction 23
2.1 The Research Method ..23
2.2 Participants and Sample of Investigation .24
2.3 Procedures of Data Collection . 24
2.3.1 Learners' Questionnaire 24
2.3.2 Teachers' Questionnaire ...25
2.3.3 Teachers' Interview ...25
2.4 Procedures of Data Analysis 26
2.4.1 Description of the Quantitative Method 26
2.4.2 The Qualitative Content Analysis .26
Conclusion .26
Chapter Three: Presentation of the
Findings
Introduction 27
3.1 Presentation of the Results of the Learners'
Questionnaire .27
3.2 Presentation of the results of the Teachers'
Questionnaire .40
XII
3.3 Presentation of the Results of the Teachers'
Interview 49
Conclusion 52
Chapter Four: Discussion of the Findings
Introduction 54
4.1 The ESP Situation at the INPED 54
4.2 Needs Analysis in Business English Course Design
56
4.2.1 The Integration of Needs Analysis in Business English
course Design 56
4.2.2 Needs Analysis and Course Organization
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58
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4.3 Instruments for Needs Analysis
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60
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4.3.1 Learners' and their English Language Needs
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60
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4.3.2 The Instruments Used to Identify Learners' Needs
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61
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4.4 Learners' Satisfaction of Business English
Courses
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.63
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Conclusion
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64
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General Conclusion
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.....65
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Bibliography
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. 67
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Appendices
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77
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General Introduction
1
General Introduction
· Statement of The Problem
Nowadays, the English language has become of a wider
communication all over the world. It is the language of science, technology,
trade and commerce, as well as the language of business. The English language
is considered as an international language for almost all the fields. The
demands and requirements of this language have led to the emergence of one
aspect of English language learning that is called English for Specific
Purposes (ESP). ESP is defined as being an approach to language teaching, in
which all the decisions about the content and the method focus on the learners'
goals for learning. (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987).
Many reasons have led to the emergence of ESP. First, After
the World War Two there was an expansion of science and technology. Thus
English has become the language of technology, commerce and research. This has
created the need for a generation of learners who needed the language for
specific purposes. Hutchinson and waters (1987)state «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» (P.6).Second, ESP has developed thanks to the
increasing demand for the use English in different fields for different types.
In fact, the demand for English was growing and new ideas have begun to emerge
in the field of language teaching. Linguists have recognized that language use
differs from one context to another and from one situation to another. That is
to say, they have become aware that there is a difference between English for
commerce and English for engineering. This helped in determining the features
of specific situations and making them the basis of the learners' courses.
Third, The emergence of ESP is also due to the new development in the
educational psychology. Emphasis is put on the importance of the learners and
their attitudes towards learning. Besides, courses are designed in relation
to
2
General Introduction
learners' needs and interests .This has created a high
motivation which has led to a better and faster learning.
By considering the role of learners' needs and reasons for
learning and teaching a foreign language, it is suggested that any ESP course
should be based on Needs Analysis (NA) which aims to gather information about
what learners require the foreign language for. According to Dudley Evans and
St John (1998) «Needs Analysis is described as an attempt to
understand and gather as much information as possible about learners, their
working environment, and expectations about the course as well as their
learning preference» (P.121). Yet, NA establishes the `how' and
`what' that should be taught in an ESP course. Its data and ongoing evaluation
should be the basis of a course design or at least, a support to adopt the
pedagogical practice towards attending learners' needs. Moreover, the analysis
of the needs helps to determine what the learners have to achieve through the
learning of that language. In this account, many researchers, such as
Hutchinson and waters (1987) argue that identifying students' needs should be
the first in designing an ESP course, because needs analysis is the most
significant step in setting up an ESP program.
In Algeria, many works have been conducted in the field of
ESP and Needs Analysis. Some of them have focused attention on the learners'
needs as well as their perception of the English language skills such as
«An Analysis of ESP Learners' Needs» by Abdelouahab Kadi from Ouargla
University in 2003. Some others have put emphasize on analyzing the
situation of ESP and learners' needs in other specific fields such as
«Investigating language functions in English for Tourism», by Lydia
Ihaddadene and Lydia Irbouh from the University of Mouloud Mammer of Tizi-Ouzou
(UMMTO), in 2016. However these works lack concentration on the way courses are
designed through identifying learners' needs. Consequently, the main goal of
the present work is to explain how ESP courses, precisely
General Introduction
Business English (BE), courses are designed through
identifying learners' needs. Thus, stress is put on Needs Analysis as the main
step to design appropriate Business English courses.
· Aims and Significance of the Study
The present work examines «Needs Analysis» within
Business English courses. The main purpose of the study is to investigate the
design of Business English courses through Needs Analysis in the business
purpose institution INPED of Boumerdes and check whether it has been taken into
consideration by the course designers or not . Moreover, the research intends
to discuss what instruments are used by language institutions in order to
gather information from learners about their learning goals, needs and wants in
order to design the appropriate courses for them and to have a better
understanding of how Business English courses are designed. Likewise, this work
seeks to know whether business English learners are satisfied from the courses
designed to them as well as how language institutions work so as to meet
learners' needs.
· Research Questions
In order to reach the research objectives above, fundamental
questions are arisen and are as follows:
Q1: Has needs analysis been taken into consideration by the
course designers to design Business English courses at INPED ?
Q2: what are the instruments used by the course designers at
INPED in order to identify learners' needs?
3
Q3: Are the learners satisfied by the Business
English courses designed to them?
4
General Introduction
· Research Hypotheses
To conduct this research, the following hypotheses are
advanced as a prediction of possible results:
1 - Needs analysis has been taken into consideration by the
course designers in order to design business English courses at INPED.
2- Different instruments have been used by the course
designers in order to identify the needs of the learners.
3- Learners meet their real needs in the courses, thus they
are satisfied.
· Research Design and Methodology :
In order to conduct our research, we have opted for the mixed
method research that combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches as a
method of investigation. Two data collection instruments have been used in
order to gather the appropriate data. First, a written research questionnaire
that includes both close-ended questions and open-ended questions has been
distributed to a sample of learners (30 learners) at the INPED of Boumerdes in
order to identify their views about the ESP courses designed to them. In
addition, a semi-structured interview has been taken with 3 teachers at the
same institution and a questionnaire has been distributed for 6 of them so as
to collect information about the teaching process. Therefore, the tools of data
collection for our study are a questionnaire and an interview, for the purpose
of gathering both qualitative and quantitative data.
· Structure of the Dissertation
The present dissertation is organized following the
traditional complex model format. It is composed of a General Introduction and
four chapters. The Introduction presents the whole topic, its aim and
significance. It also introduces four different research questions and
hypotheses. The first chapter of the dissertation which is called The
Review of Literature
5
General Introduction
reviews the literature on ESP, Needs Analysis, course design
and introduces the theoretical framework of the study. It sheds light on some
different concepts related to the topic as viewed by different scholars from
different perspectives. The second chapter, Research Design and
Methodology, aims to describe the procedures of data collection tools and
data analysis tools. A mixed method research where we have used two
questionnaires and an interview has been used in order to gather both
qualitative and quantitative data .The third chapter which is The
Presentation of the Findings, demonstrates the results of the
investigation gathered from the data collection tools. The fourth chapter which
is The Discussion of the Findings, discusses the issue and
the final results of the study and interprets them. Finally, the General
Conclusion summarizes the whole work and states the main points of each
chapter.
Chapter One: The Review of
Literature
6
The Review of Literature
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