needs analysis on non-english major students’ english language needs

Needs Analysis on Non-English Major Students’

English Language Needs

--An analysis based on Hutchinson and Waters’ categorization of needs

Group members: Tao Tao, Wu Qiong, Hu Xiaohui, Liu Zhiping

Presenter: Tao TaoOct. 14, 2008

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Target group

Two classes of freshmen in college

Major in geophysics & geographic information system (GIS)

China University of Geosciences , Beijing (CUGB)

Background

English is widely taught in universities in China as a foreign language.

The curriculum is aimed to develop students’ strong reading competence, listening ability, and preliminary writing and speaking skills, so that they can use English as a tool to get information concerning their own major.

(National Education Department, 2005,) College English Test, Band 4 (CET-4) is a

basic requirement for non-English-major students. It tests students’ general ability of language skills, as well as their mastery of grammatical structure and uses of vocabulary.

(Committee of CET-4 & CET 6, 2006) Students’ levels of English vary greatly by

the time they finish English courses. Some even fail in CET-4.

Hutchinson and Waters’ categorization of needs

target needs learning needs (route)

necessities lacks wants psychological motivational material

Purpose

What are the necessities? What do they lack?What do this particular group of

students want/desire? What are the issues?

Method

Student questionnaire (adapted from Li & Richards, 1995)

50 questionnaires distributed, with 41 of them collected back.

Informal interview with teacher

Necessities—CET-4 outline

VocabularyGrammarListeningSpeakingReadingWritingTranslating

Problems are encountered in every specification of language skills/area, i.e. vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, writing, translating

Teachers reported the fact that there are major pronunciation problems for the majority of students.

Results--Vocabulary

词汇

0. 00% 10. 00% 20. 00% 30. 00% 40. 00% 50. 00%

总是

经常

有时

偶尔

从不

词汇 14. 63% 46. 34% 34. 15% 4. 88% 0. 00%

总是经常有时偶尔从不

Grammar and Listening

语法

7. 32%

19. 51%

46. 34%

26. 83%

0. 00%0. 00%5. 00%

10. 00%15. 00%20. 00%25. 00%30. 00%35. 00%40. 00%45. 00%50. 00%

听力

7. 32%

36. 59%

46. 34%

9. 76%

0. 00%0. 00%5. 00%

10. 00%15. 00%20. 00%25. 00%30. 00%35. 00%40. 00%45. 00%50. 00%

Spoken English

口语

,总是17. 07%

,经常39. 02%

,有时26. 83%

,偶尔17. 07% , 0. 00%从不

Reading and Writing

阅读

, 4. 88%总是, 19. 51%经常

, 51. 22%有时

, 21. 95%偶尔

, 2. 44%从不总是经常有时偶尔从不

7. 32%

24. 39%

43. 90%

24. 39%

0. 00%0. 00%

10. 00%

20. 00%

30. 00%

40. 00%

50. 00%

写作

翻译

, 7. 32%总是

, 24. 39%经常

, 43. 90%有时

, 24. 39%偶尔, 0. 00%从不总是

经常有时偶尔从不

46.34% of students encounter vocabulary problems often, 34.15% sometimes.

46.34% of students sometimes have difficulty in grammar, 19.51% often, and 26.83% occasionally.

Difficulties are met in their listening, speaking to varying degrees.

A little more than 50% of students met reading problems ‘sometimes’.

Reading does not seem to be as serious a problem as listening, which is also a receptive skill.

Writing and translating difficulties are generally met to varying degrees.

What are learners’ wants?

Vocabulary

They do want to enlarge their vocabulary and know about different uses of specific words.

Grammar

The majority of them want to understand grammatical rules better with the help of teachers and be able to utilize the rules in language output.

Listening

They have a strong desire to improve general listening comprehension ability. More than 70% of subjects chose the highest degree in ‘want to improve this skill’.

Also, more than half of them expressed the strongest desire in ‘want to be able to watch and appreciate English movies’.

Speaking

Students want to be able to do formal presentations/speeches and participate in classroom discussions in English.

More than half of them expressed the strongest desire to be able to effectively communicate with English speakers.

Reading

The majority of them have the desire to develop the ability to read English literature concerning their major and read for authors’ viewpoint, but not so much for critical reading.

More than half expressed strongest desire to improve reading speed and nearly half of them badly want to develop their own effective reading strategies.

Writing

More than 90% of subjects have strong desire to be able to express their ideas, emotions, viewpoints etc. in written form.

Translating

Students in general show a stronger desire for translating English into Chinese (which is of more practical value for them) than for from Chinese to English.

Categories where over 50% shows strongest desire

0. 00%

10. 00%

20. 00%

30. 00%

40. 00%

50. 00%

60. 00%

70. 00%

80. 00%

90. 00%

to enl arge vocabul ary

i mprovi ng general l i steni ngcomprehensi on abi l i t y

abl e to watch andappreci ate Engl i sh movi es

to communi cate eff ect i vewi th Engl i sh speakers

i mprovi ng readi ng speed

to expressemot i on, vi ewpoi nts i nEngl i sh i n wr i t ten f orm

to understandi ng Engl i shtexts correct l y andt ransl ate them i nto Chi nese

to pass CET- 4

Other wants

To know more about cultures in English speaking countries;

To pass CET-4;To improve all-around skills of

English and continue studying abroad;

Other wants mentioned

An environment of the English language;

More amount of reading;To learn to sing English songs;To pass CET-4 in first year;Enhance interest in English

learning; Intonations and tempo in reading

English aloud;English thinking pattern;To speak English fluently…

Learning needs—possible route to meet target needs

PsychologicalAttitudinal/motivationalMaterials: besides textbooks,

various kinds of resources are available

Teacher…

Issues

Time:Four hours of English class per

weekTwo hours for listening and

speaking two hours for reading and

writingFar insufficient in meeting

students’ needs to improve basic language skills

Issues

No opportunity for communication with native speakers;

Teachers’ level, especially spoken English;

Spoken English specified in the outline, but

not tested, making it likely to be overlooked in teaching and learning

Conclusions

Students want to achieve more than the test outline requires;

For them, English is more than a subject. It can be a tool for them to understand the world, and entertain themselves;

Issues exist in bridging the gap between learners’ target and present proficiencies.

In order to satisfy learners’ various kinds of needs, they themselves have to be the main driving force. What administrators and institutes can offer is limited.

References

Brown, J. D. 1995. The Elements of Language Curriculum: A Systematic Approach to Program Development. Heinle and Heinle.

Hutchinson & Waters. 1987. English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

National Committee for CET-4 & CET 6. 2006. Outline of CET-4. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language and Education Press.

National Education Department. 2005. Syllabus for college English teaching.

Richards, J. 2001. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

needs analysis on non-english major students’ english language needs

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