Metodologa 1 Need Analysis 1) Brief description of types.

Under the Foreign Language Teaching (FLT), needs analysis has become a useful tool inside CLT approach (Communicative Language Teaching). Although it is consider as a complex concept in language teaching, need analysis plays a fundamental role in designing and organizing any type of language course. It refers to the process of examining and collecting information that lead to identify the needs of a specific group of students. Need analysis also includes a set of actions conducted in a certain way to be able to stipulate the variables that stay constant in a specific course of study. Widdowson defines need analysis in two different directions: the goal oriented and the process oriented definition. While the first one refers to the type of needs that student go through after they have learnt the language, the second one is related to what learners need to do to actually learn the language. It was not until 1970s that need analysis received much recognition in language teaching. Some years later, West suggested that needs analysis can be classified in three types: Deficiency analysis Strategy analysis Means analysis. Deficiency analysis This type of analysis is sometimes also referred as Present Situational Analysis. While keeping the learners needs in mind, it identifies the gap between what the target students know at present and what they are supposed to know at the end of the course. Other aspects of deficiency analysis focus on the possible communicative acts students can be asked to perform in the foreign language when they are actually not able to do it in their own language. Deficiency analysis is used to prioritize learning and objectives within the course and at the same time, it can be considered as a central element when the syllabus is being designed. Strategy analysis This type of strategy is related to the strategies that learners use in order to learn a new language. It tries to recognize how learners would like to learn the contents rather than to identify how they actually learn it. It involves the learning strategies they use and their current awareness of the study process. Strategy analysis mainly focuses on methodology but it also studies learning habits, doing homework, correction preferences, etc. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) suggest a framework for analysing learners needs which consists of several questions that are further divided into more detailed questions (what, who, how, why). Their framework is the following:

1. Why are the learners taking the course? Compulsory or optional; Apparent need or not; Are status, money, promotion involved? What do learners think they will achieve? What is their attitude towards the ESP course? Do they want to improve their English or do they resent the time they have to spend on it? 2. How do the learners learn? What is their learning background? What is their concept of teaching and learning? What methodology will appeal to them? What sort of techniques bore/alienate them? 3. What sources are available? Number and professional competence of teachers; Attitude of teachers to ESP; Teachers' knowledge of and attitude to subject content; Materials; Aids; Opportunities for out-of-class activities. 4. Who are the learners? Age/sex/nationality; What do they know already about English? What subject knowledge do they have? What are their interests? What is their socio-cultural background? What teaching styles are they used to? What is their attitude to English or to the cultures of the English-speaking world? Means analysis This type of analysis tries to focus on the situational factor that will be part of the learning and teaching process so they can be taken into account when the course is being designed. At this point it is crucial to bear in mind that some aspects that will work well for a specific course in a given situation might not be the same aspects that will be positive in a different context or situation. In 1989 Swales listed five factors in relation to the learning environment that should be considered if the course is to be successful. These considerations are: Classroom culture EAP staff

 Pilot target situation analysis Status of service operations Study of change agents 2) The school context and facilities available to deal with need analysis. The school context and the facilities available play a major role within the whole teaching and learning process. There is a great variety of contextual factors related to the conditions under which teaching is conducted such as: Location: City town village School population Class size Curriculum organization Staffing: number and type of FL teachers Technical equipment Multimedia (audio, CD player, video) Access to computers in school or in class FL materials Library materials School activities: FL international projects and exchanges Socio economic background Students with other language background The nature of instruction All these factors will directly interfere with the purpose of learning and teaching a second language. Based on the school context its facilities and other background factors, Need Analysis is an excellent tool to find out what the learners situation is but also, what will be the best option to take into account for designing the course, especially after all factors are integrated forming a clear picture of what the real situation is. In particular, our center is a four-year public high school. There are over 3,000 students and the range of age is 14 to 18 years. The student population is served by over 120 teachers, one librarian, a school nurse and a school psychologist. In relation to technical equipment, there is access to computers, CD player and video in every class. For people with disabilities, there is an elevator available what offers them a comfortable access to different levels in any type of building. Keeping all these factors on mind, is one more sign of how helpful need analysis can be in order to design a course that will be appropriate according to its individual situation and its context.

3) How information about learner needs will be collected After it is decided what type of information the institution wants to collect about its community, it needs to determine how to collect that information. There is much information to obtain and many components that can be taken into account. For instance, Munbys most well know need analysis model can be very helpful for deciding what data can be important, it operates in two parts: Communicative needs processor. It implies information about nine different components which are: -Participant: this is information about the learner -Purposive domain: analyzing we the language is being learn -Setting: related to the atmosphere in which the learner will use the language -Interaction: the people that the learner will actually use the language with in oral interactions -Instrumentality: this refers to the medium of communication that is written or spoken language -Dialect: the variety of language that will be learnt (American, British, Canadian, etc.) -Target level: this is the level of the language that the learner must acquire in order to be successful in the course - Communicative event: what the learner is supposed to do in a given situation - Communicative key: attitudinal tone in consonance with the communicative activities to be carried out Syllabus specification: this analysis is conducted to discover the main skills that will be necessary to acquire among the course. At the initial part of data collection, factors such as the educational background, nationality, age, genre and language proficiency will be taken into account. This data will be very helpful in order to be able to choose the more appropriate methodology, what learning styles are present in the class and finally, the most relevant material that will be cover during the course. At the stage of collecting data, many different actors must be taken into account such as students, teachers, academics, parents, employers, pressure groups, policy makers or ministry of education officials. Data can be collected by: 1) Questionnaires and interviews Interviews are prepared by the teachers and its firs aim is to get to know students interests and preferences. They may be done one-on-one or in small groups, in their native language or in English. 2) Tests It provide information about learners skills such as reading or writing 3) Participatory need analysis

Discussion between the teacher and the learners so it is clear their expectations 4) Direct observation Observation of native speakers behavior 5) Case studies Shadowing and observing learners when using the language on a day-to-a-day basis. 6) Authentic data collection It is a collection of data from a given situation. Video or audio recording equipment is usually used

In the case of collecting data by questionnaires and tests the procedure is simple. Many questionnaires and tests are design to determine learners needs and goals. They usually consist of list of topics, skills or language uses. This is an excellent way to check what learners already know. For beginners who cannot read English, pictures are shown what make easier for them to select the right answer. The lists of questionnaire or test items are previously selected by the teacher or by the students through class discussion. Others aspects that will be also consider for collecting date are researching social indicators or consulting demographic information from public resources. The best option will be not just talking into account one of this method but to combine some of them so our information will be more reliable and professional. In our need analysis questionnaire, there are questions such as: -Name -Country -Age -Sex -Their experience about English -How often do you use English? -Who do they communicate in English with? -What expectations do you have about your teacher? -How confident are you using your English when you are: Introducing yourself Meetings and discussions Writing a postcard Ordering food in a restaurant Writing an email Asking for directions Writing a composition -What are the main reasons why you want to study and learn English? - Have you ever been to a English spiking country? - How do you think reading and pronunciation should be evaluated?

- What do you find the most difficult part of English? (Speaking/writing/reading or listening) Need analysis and all its forms of collecting relevant data do not only take place at the early beginning of the course because, far from being a static process, it is a continuous process. Its evolution will take place from prior to, during and after language programs are being taught and its result help the course design in many different ways. Bibliography: - Hutchinson, T., and Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: A learningcentered approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Evaluation: When students were asked by questionnaires in our need analysis about how will they ideally evaluate pronunciation while doing readings in class, they clearly showed their disposition to be evaluated about their speaking abilities but not directly when reading out loud in front of the class. Most of the reasons that were given were letting us know that many students had a difficult time when they were forced to read. Especially very shy students complained that under this pressure they were not able to use their capabilities so they asked evaluation to be omitted in this special case. The reason why need analysis is so relevant is because we can encounter special cases like this. We personally are very sensitive to our students needs and we access to some of their suggestions. In this case, we decided that pronunciation while reading was not going to be evaluated but we also develop a student program to help them and teach them how to relax and be more risk taking in front of the class. We actually feel that this move was very successful.