LANGUAGE NEEDS ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS OF ECONOMICS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2017.100101Keywords:
coursebook, economics topics, ESP, needs analysis, questionnaire, triangulationAbstract
One of the main concerns of educational specialists is the relevance of their programmes to the graduates’ success on today’s highly competitive labour market. As a result of these concerns academics at the English Department of the University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic decided to conduct a survey of undergraduates, graduates and their major employers as well as the academic staff at the university in order to determine the suitability of English language courses offered to students. The result of this research has been implemented in the adaptation of new teaching materials which aim to satisfy real world requirements. A needs analysis used in this study proved to be very valuable as it emphasises the practices of using multiple sources and multiple methods in the data gathering stage. Triangulation was employed to validate the findings. This type of analysis encouraged the creation of more suitable and appropriate teaching material. Such an analysis also facilitates the collection of information regarding the needs of students and the requirements of other stakeholders.
References
Corbett, J. (2003) An Intercultural Approach to English Language Teaching, Multilingual Matters.
Cowling, J. D. (2007) ‘Needs analysis: Planning a syllabus for a series of intensive workplace courses at a leading Japanese company’, English for Specific Purposes, Vol. 26, No. 4. pp. 426-442. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2006.10.003
Huhta, M., Vogt, K., Johnson, E., Hall, D. R., and Tulkki, H. (2013) Needs Analysis for Language Course Design: A Holistic Approach to ESP, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hutchison, T. and Waters, A. (1987) A Learner-Centred Approach, English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jasso-Aguilar, R. (2005) Second language needs analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Johns, A. M. and Dudley-Evans, T. (1991) ‘English for Specific Purposes: International in Scope, Specific in Purpose’, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 297–314. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3587465
Kučírková, L., Vogeltanzová, T., and Jarkovská, M. (2011) ‘Business English Courses Online Support’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 197 – 206.
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Department for Higher Education Institutions (2005) The Long-Term Plan for Educational, Scientific, Research, Development, Artistic and Other Creative Activities of Higher Education Institutions for 2006 – 2010, Prague: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Department for Higher Education Institutions.
Lustigová, L. (2012) ‘ICT Challenges in the 21st Century Business English University Classroom’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 46 – 62. http://dx.doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2012.050201
McKillip, J. (1987) Need Analysis: Tools for the Human Services and Education, Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
Strevens, P. (1988) ESP after twenty years: In M. Tickoo (ed.) A re-appraisal; ESP: state of the art, Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.
West, R. (1994) ‘Needs analysis in language teaching’, Language Teaching, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 1-19.
http://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444800007527
Williams, R. (1978) English for Special Purposes (Special issue), MALS journal (Midlands Applied Linguistics Association), UK: The University of Birmingham.
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors declare with this manuscript intended for publication to ERIES Journal that:
- all co-authors agree with the publication of the manuscript even after amendments arising from peer review;
- all co-authors agree with the posting of the full text of this work on the web page of ERIES Journal and to the inclusion of references in databases accessible on the internet;
- no results of other researchers were used in the submitted manuscript without their consent, proper citation, or acknowledgement of their cooperation or material provided;
- the results (or any part of them) used in the manuscript have not been sent for publication to any other journal nor have they already been published (or if so, that the relevant works are cited in this manuscript);
- submission of the manuscript for publication was completed in accordance with the publishing regulations pertaining to place of work;
- experiments performed comply with current laws and written consent of the Scientific Ethics Committee / National Animal Care Authority (as is mentioned in the manuscript submitted);
- grant holders confirm that they have been informed of the submitted manuscript and they agree to its publication.
Authors retain copyright and grant ERIES Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the published work with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. Moreover, authors are able to post the published work in an institutional repository with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. In addition, authors are permitted and encouraged to post the published work online (e.g. institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.