The document discusses the importance of assessing students' needs before teaching English as a foreign language. It explains that there are subjective needs, which refer to students' cognitive and affective factors, and objective needs, which can be determined through facts about students' language proficiency, difficulties, background, culture and abilities. Conducting a needs assessment involves understanding students' attitudes toward learning, the target language/culture, themselves as learners and their expectations. Assessing needs helps teachers address what students require to best facilitate their English language learning.