4.3 Instruments for Needs Analysis
4. 3.1 Learners and their English Language Needs
In terms of the English language needs and wants, the
learners' questionnaire shows that 73.3% of the learners find English
very important in their business domain (Diagram 2). As a result, Business
English learners at INPED want more training to develop their language
performance. Some of them, that is 83.3% of the learners, have started their
learning as beginners in English , and Only 16.6% have declared starting their
learning with an intermediate level (Diagram 4). Thus, in terms of needs of the
skills, the learners have different learning goals and objectives. INPED
learners have argued that they need more training in the English language for
their specific purposes. In fact 100% of them claim the need of practicing more
the speaking skill as it is very important for their domain and 66.7% have
declared having the need to assimilate more listening as it is also essential.
Besides, More than 50% of the learners feel the necessity to acquire reading
and writing skills (Table 4). These results show that learners have
concentrated much more efforts on speaking and listening rather than reading
and writing. One can justify this difference by the fact that there has been
much demand on these two skills in their field. The results which are shown on
the learners' questionnaire and which represents the findings of the
current study, have confirmed the significant role of English in the
Business area as demonstrated by previous researchers such as Chen in 2006 and
Ekici in 2003.
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Discussion of the Findings
Regarding the INPED learners' English
language lacks, the findings on Table 3 reveal that they are unable to
effectively practice the four skills needed in order to master Business English
well. They have rated themselves in listening, speaking, reading as well as
writing. In fact 63.3 % of the learners reveal that their level in listening is
just average, and 36.3% of them have evaluated themselves as being good. For
the speaking skill, 16.7% of the learners have revealed their weakness, 66.7%
are almost average, and only 16.7% are good. On the other hand, 16.7% of the
learners have confirmed that their level in reading is weak and 56.7% have said
it has been average. Only 26.7% have evaluated themselves as being good.
Finally, 13.3% of the ESP learners consider their level in writing weak and 50%
of them consider it average. Only 36.7 are good (Table 3). In view of that and
relying on Chambers' work (1980), Robinson (1989) writes
«An important consideration is the degree of
proficiency expected in the target situation»
(P.402). That is to say, taking into consideration the
learners' weaknesses, needs and goals of learning ensures the degree of
proficiency needed. In other words, considering the learning needs
helps in achieving the learning goals and objectives.
4.3.2 The Instruments Used to Identify Learning Needs
In order to identify the needs of the learners, many
instruments have been used by the ESP teachers. The findings of the
teachers' questionnaire and the interview indicate that 100% of the
teachers use placement tests in order to identify the needs of the learners.
These tests are usually given to learners entering an educational institution
to determine specific knowledge or proficiency in various subjects for the
purpose of assignment to appropriate courses or classes. A great majority of
the teachers, which corresponds to 66.7% make interviews with their learners in
order to sort out their needs and wants through asking them different questions
about for example the language skill they want to improve, as well as finding
out their strengths and weaknesses so as to place them in the right level
and
60
Discussion of the Findings
design the appropriate courses for them (Diagram 24). Kval
(2009) argues that qualitative data are `most often' collected by
researchers through interviews and questionnaires. However, interviews
,compared to questionnaire, are more powerful in eliciting narrative data that
allows researchers to investigate people's views in greater depth.
As it is shown in the results of the teachers, a minority that
corresponds to 33.3% rely on questionnaires in order to identify the needs of
the learners (Diagram 24). The questionnaires are distributed to the learners
at the beginning of their training and are asked to answer some
important questions about their needs, wants, strengths,
weaknesses...etc. These questionnaires cover also language skills
area, out of class language experience, aspects of the language program and
opinions about their language teachers. In this view, Schutz and Derwing (1981)
use questionnaires to find out students' characteristics, previous English
language learning experience, motivations, attitudes and relevance of the
program to future job. According to the University of Surry (n.d.)
questionnaires help in collecting a large amounts of information from a large
number of people in a short period of time, and then the questions can be
analyzed more 'scientifically' and objectively than other forms of research.
100% of the teachers being asked argued that designing a
course always starts by identifying learners' needs, and this begins
each time by making placement tests, interviews or
questionnaires in order to know the learners' level in English. After this,
each learner is put in a classroom that suits his needs and each
course is designed according to these needs for each level of learning. This
result confirms the hypothesis which states that different instruments such as
placement tests, interviews and questionnaires are used by the ESP
teachers as instruments in order to identify learners' needs and wants.
Howell's (1995) study on students' needs and expectations of Chinese
language learning also reveals some interesting results. His study uses
questionnaire and interview techniques to find out what the students need
during the program, what aspects of the program that need improvements and
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Discussion of the Findings
views on how well the program prepares the students to enter
business or employment in general. He assumes that «learners'
views can provide valuable information for reviewing of
developing effective strategies for learning and teaching
..." (P.22).
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