Needs Analysis and ESP

Needs Analysis and ESP: 

Needs Analysis and ESP Hutchinson and Waters (English for Specific Purposes: A learning-centered approach. CUP 1987) "ESP is an approach to language teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner's reason for learning"

The Beginnings of ESP: 

The Beginnings of ESP 1960s – 1970s : recognition of different varieties of English, interest in how language is used differently in different contexts. Early courses concerned mainly with English for Science and Technology 1978 Munby – Communicative Syllabus Design

Munby – Communicative Syllabus Design: 

Munby – Communicative Syllabus Design “The first step was to define : who will be using English, for what purpose, where and with whom, in which media, using which dialects, at what level, to perform what activities, to convey which tones. The second step was to define the skills, notions, functions (and possibly forms) which were required to satisfy the user’s requirements.” Hawkey, Needs analysis and syllabus design for specific purposes. In H.B.Actman and C.V.James (eds). Foreign language teaching: meeting individual needs. Oxford 1979

Types of ESP: 

Types of ESP English for Business English for Occupational Purposes English for Academic Purposes … and others But : overlap and sub-categories

What is ESP ?: 

What is ESP ? Dudley-Evans (Japan Conference on ESP 1997) ESP is defined to meet specific needs of the learners ESP makes use of underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves ESP is centered on the language appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse and genre.

Needs Analysis usually involves …: 

Needs Analysis usually involves … Questionnaire /Interview Language Audit

Needs Analysis Interviews: 

Needs Analysis Interviews Who should you ask ? What should you ask ? When should you ask ? How should you ask ? What are the problems?

Are interviews enough ? : 

Are interviews enough ? Needs Analysis can also involve … Job shadowing Text analysis Research

What do you want to know?: 

What do you want to know? What specific tasks must the learner perform in English? How? Speech or writing? Phone or F2F? What will the content areas be? Who will the learners use the language with, and where? When will the tasks be performed and how often? How well can they already perform them ? What are the priorities ?

Task Analysis: 

Task Analysis Tasks must be analyzed to determine what skills and language abilities they require : - genre type and register - key functions /notions and their linguistic realisation (structures / lexis) - skills and microskills

The ESP Textbook : a contradiction in terms?: 

The ESP Textbook : a contradiction in terms? If it’s general enough to sell, it’s not ESP. ESG? "ESP teachers find themselves in a situation where they are expected to produce a course that exactly matches the needs of a group of learners, but are expected to do so with no, or very limited, preparation time" (Jones, ESP textbooks: Do they really exist? English for Specific Purposes, 9, 1990,).

Authentic texts – central to ESP ?: 

Authentic texts – central to ESP ? Motivation : learners see clear relationship between the course and their needs Language input : texts contain specialist vocabulary, language appropriate to genre. Can be used for language improvement work Models : Are actual examples of the texts they need to be able to understand or produce

Problems with Authentic Texts: 

Problems with Authentic Texts Not always easy to obtain – solutions? Sometimes highly technical and very difficult for teacher to understand Need work to make them didactically useful, ie exercises need to be devised

The GP-ESP continuum …: 

The GP-ESP continuum … General Purpose – learners grouped by level only, coursebook chosen depending on level General Purpose – but NA conducted and Cbk chosen or adapted depending on the results “General” ESP – eg textbook based English for business “Real” ESP – course 100% tailor made

Is Needs Analysis Relevant to GP Teaching?: 

Is Needs Analysis Relevant to GP Teaching? First lesson : questionnaire /group discussion to find out … reasons for learning English : job related, study related, travel, family reasons, entertainment etc priorities for improvement – L / S / R / W, G / L / P learning styles and preferences etc

And then … ?: 

And then … ? If learner needs/wants are conflicting, what do you do? If your coursebook doesn’t cover them, what do you do?