This document discusses English for Specific Purposes and the process of needs analysis to identify performance requirements and gaps in what is required versus present abilities. It outlines the steps in needs analysis, including deciding the objects of analysis, selecting data collection methods/instruments, collecting and analyzing data, and using the results to design courses and syllabi. Some methods of needs analysis mentioned are entry tests, class observations, questionnaires, interviews, and learner diaries. The document also discusses pedagogical, sociological, linguistic, and psychological considerations in needs analysis. It concludes by asking students to bring information on the group they will work with to start designing a needs analysis instrument.

1. ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC
PURPOSES
PROFESSOR: DOUGLAS E.
LÓPEZ A.
ADI UNEFM

2.  What do student need to do with English?
 Which of the skills do they need to master and
how well?
 Which genres do they need to master, either
for comprehension or production purposes?
A needs analysis is the process of
identifying performance requirements and
the "gap" between what performance is
required and what presently exists.

3. 1. Target Situation Analysis
- What learners will have to do in English in the target
situation?
- What skills and language do they need?
2. Learning Situation Analysis
- What are the learners’ subjective perception of their
English?
3. Present Situation Analysis
- Investigation of learners’ weaknesses or lacks.

4. Means Analysis
- Analysis of the environment in which English is
taught versus that in which it is used.
Outline of Needs Analysis procedures
1. Deciding objects of analysis,
2. Selecting Method & instrument for data collection,
3. Data Collection,
4. Data Analysis
5. Results
6. Course / Syllabus Design

5. 1. Entry tests on arrival which can have a diagnostic value
and identify learners’ language weaknesses and lacks.
2. Observation of classes
3. Surveys based on questionnaires which have been
established as the most common method and help us draw a
profile of our learners’ needs.
4. Structured interview which consists of pre-planned
questions. The answers to which can either be recorded or
written down.
5. Learner diaries which can be used as supplementary to
end-of-course questionnaires offering retrospective,
qualitative information

6. Pedagogic:
 What skills are to be taught, in what order, and how
are the relationships between skills to be authentically
presented and practiced?
 Functional skills are required to accomplish particular
tasks.
 Abstracting technical articles.
 Taking an active part of oral seminars.
 Report writing based on experimental procedures.
 Irrelevant samples of language/low motivation.

7. Sociological:
 What are the characteristics of the learner?
 Age.
 Previous experience of the target language.
 What are the learners’ requirements for learning
the language?
 Learners’ exact needs.
 Learners’ possible language use according to the
area.

8. Linguistic:
 What kind of descriptive device is appropriate
to explain the language used by the learners’
specific area?
 Description of the language required by the
learner.
 Communicative features of language use.
 Code features of the language system (syntax,
vocabulary…)

9. Psychological:
 Orientation to: what theory of learning is appropriate to
reflect our concern with the teaching of communicative
as well as linguistic competence?
 Language learning as a communicative instrument.
 Problem solving’ role of the learner.
 Participation in the interpretation and composition of
discourse.

10. Next week, please bring the
information about the group you
will work with and we will start
working on your instrument to
collect the data.