Introduction

Suppose you are sitting down to write objectives for your course. How do you know where to start? How do you get more specific? You cannot work on everything at the same time. What should your priorities be?

One way to work out your priorities is to do a needs analysis for the group of students you are teaching, in which you analyze their own language learning needs.

Needs Analysis is the process of determining the needs of which learners require a language and arranging the needs according to priorities.

Needs Analysis makes use of both objective and subjective information (e.g. data from questionnaires, tests, interviews, observation) and seeks to obtain information on:

1.   The situation in which a language will be used including who it would be used with.

2.   The objectives and purposes for which the language is needed.  

3.   The type of communication that will be used (e.g. written/spoken; formal/informal).

4.   The level of proficiency that will be required (e.g. TOEFL, Cambridge exams, etc.) [see presentation]

Categories of Needs

1.   Needs for communicative skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) à Language

2.   Familiarity with the culture, way of life, and more specifically the literature of another nation.

à Culture 

3. Needs which are not, or at best indirectly, linked to skills in the foreign language, such as learning to think logically and acquiring a certain intellectual discipline. à Mind