This document discusses the importance and process of conducting a needs analysis for curriculum development. It explains that needs analysis originated in the 1960s-1970s for language teaching and identifies several purposes, including determining student needs, evaluating existing curriculums, and identifying gaps. The document outlines procedures for administering a needs analysis, such as determining the target population, collecting information through questionnaires and interviews, and designing the analysis. Overall, needs analysis is presented as a crucial first step to ensure curriculum validity and relevance for students.

1. NEEDS ANALYSIS FOR
CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
Muhamamd Haikal – TBI Unida Gontor 2022

2. TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED
 Origins of Needs Analysis
 The Purposes of Needs Analysis
 What are Needs?
 The Users of Needs Analysis

3. CONT…
 The Target Population
 Administering the needs analysis
 Procedures for conducting needs analysis
 Designing the needs analysis
 Conclusion

4. ORIGINS OF NEEDS ANALYSIS
 Needs analysis was introduced into language teaching through the ESP
movement from the 1960s to the 1970s.
 Though this needs analysis was not advocated only for ESP, but also for
second/foreign language students in general. In fact, needs analysis has
been conducted informally for years by teachers who wanted to assess
what language points their students needed to learn.

5.  In fact, needs analysis has been conducted informally for years by teachers who
wanted to assess what language points their students needed to learn. Indeed, the
various activities usually called “approaches” are different expressions of this
desire to figure out what students needto learn.
 It is the first step in course design to provide validity and relevancy for all
subsequent course design activities and to include the desired outcomes or
expectations of a high-quality program, the role of assessment, the current status
of student achievement, and actual program content (Johns, 1991).

6.  This is also to consider the concerns and attitudes of teachers, administrators,
parents, and learners. The data should include samples of assessments, lessons
from teachers, assignments, scores on state standardized tests, textbooks
currently used, student perception, and feedback from parents.
 This chapter will provide a depth understanding of the needs analysis in terms of
approaches to needs analysis and consider the purposes of needs analysis, the
nature of needs, who needs analysis is intended for, who the target population is,
who collects information, what procedures can be used, and how the information
collected can be used.

7. THE PURPOSES OF NEEDS ANALYSIS
 The first step in conducting a needs analysis is to decide exactly what its
purpose or purposes are (Richards, 2002)
– 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 existingcourse adequately addressesthe needs of
potential students
– To determine which students from a group are most in need of training in
particular language skills

8. – To identifya changeof directionthat peoplein a reference group feelis
important
– To identifya gap between what studentsare able to do and what theyneedsto
beable to do
– To collect informationabout a particularproblemlearnersare experiencing

9. WHAT ARE NEEDS ?
 Allwright (1982) divided Needsinto three,namely Needs,Wants, and Lacks.
 Needs:Theskills students see as being relevant to themselves
 Wants: Those needs on which students put a high priority in the available, limited
time.
 Lacks: The difference between the students present competence and the
desiredcompetence

10. THE USER OF NEED ANALYSIS
• Needanalysismay beconductedfor a priorityof different users(Richards,2002)
Curriculum
Officers
who may wish to use the information to evaluate the adequacy of
existingsyllabus, curriculum, and materials competence
Teachers who will teach from the new curriculum
Learners who will be taught from the curriculum
Writer who are preparingnew textbook
Testingpersonnel who are involvedin developing end-of-school assessment
Staffof the who are interested in knowing what the expected levelwill be of

11. THE TARGET POPULATION
 The target population in a needsanalysisrefers to the people about whom
information will be collected:
Policy makers Vocational training specialists
Ministryof education officials Parents
Teachers Influential individuals
Students Academic specialists
Academics Community agencies
Employers

12.  In determining the target population, samplingis an important issue.
 Sampling involves asking a portion of the potential population instead of the
population and seeks to create a sample that is representative of the total
population.
 There are some factors influenced in determining the approach of sampling, such as
the homogeneity of the population in terms of kinds of skills, attitudes, or knowledge
being sought or the need to study subgroups within the sample (based on sex,
language groups, or other factors) (Elley,1984).

13. ADMINISTERING THE NEEDS ANALYSIS
 Planning a needs analysis involves deciding who will administer the needs analysis and
collect and analyzethe results.
 Needs analysis will be vary in their scope and demands, from a survey of a whole school
population in a county to a study of a group of thirty learnersin a single institution.
 Sometimes a team of personnel is assembled specifically for the purpose of doing the
analysis;at other times two or three interested teachers maybe the only ones involved.

14. PROCEDURES FOR CONDUCTING NEEDS
ANALYSIS
 Information can be obtained from the following sources
 Samples of students’ writing
 Test data on student performance
 Reports by teachers on typical problems students
 Opinions of experts
 Information from students via interviews and questionnaires

15. PROCEDURES FOR COLLECTING
INFORMATION DURING A NEEDS ANALYSIS
Questionnaires Collecting learner language samples
Self-ratings Taskanalysis
Interviews Case studies
Observations Analysis of availableinformation

16. DESIGNING THE NEEDS ANALYSIS
 Designing a needs analysis involves choosing from among various procedures
above and selecting those that are likely to give a comprehensive view of learners’
needs and that represent the interests of the different stakeholders involved.
 It is important to make sure that needs analysis does not produce information-
overloaded,so the only information that will actually be used is collected.

17.  In smaller-scale needs such as a teacher or group of teachers in a
language program, the procedures might consist of:
 initial questionnaire
 follow-up individual and groups interview
 meetingswith students
 meetingswith other teachers
 ongoing classroom observation
 tests

18. CONCLUSION
 This discussion indicates that needs analysis has a vital role in the process of
designing and carrying out any language course and considered as a crucial
component of systematiccurriculum development.
 However, learners as the main sources in needs analysis often find difficult to define
what language needsthey have.
 Therefore, as the teacher or even institution should be aware of their impetus on
successful teaching by conducting this needs analysisthrough some procedures.

19. ADVANTAGES OBTAINED BY CONDUCTING
NEEDS ANALYSIS, SUCH AS:
 In a learner-centered curriculum, teachers’ reconciliation in content selection
though extensive consultation with the students about their learning needs and
interest is critical. Therefore needs analysis helps teachers create in-class
activities in which the students can utilize learned skills and knowledge as tools to
meet their real-life needs in meaningful ways.
 Needs analysis can helps teachers understand “local needs” of students or the
needs of a particular group of students and make practical decision in pedagogy and
assessment for improvement, and also for the selection of appropriate teaching
methods in a program.

20.  In proficiency-oriented instruction/curricula, needs analysis helps teachers
understand the potential difference in learning expectations between themselves
and their students.
 Obtaining input from the students about a planned or existing program through a
needs analysis is fundamental to the design, implementation, evaluation and
revision of the program.
 Needs analysis may provide the basis for planning goals and objectives for a future
program, and also for developing syllabus design and teaching materials for the
course.

21.  A program that attempts to meet students’ perceived needs for the students will be
more motivating andsuccessful.

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