Needs Analysis on Non-English Major Students’ English Language Needs

1. 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 Tao Oct. 14, 2008

2. Target group • Two classes of freshmen in college • Major in geophysics & geographic information system (GIS) • China University of Geosciences , Beijing (CUGB) Company Logo

3. Background • English is widely taught in universities in China as a foreign language. • The curriculum is aimed to develop students’ strongreading 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. Company Logo

4. Hutchinson and Waters’ categorization of needs Needs target needs learning needs (route) necessities lacks wantspsychological motivational material … Company Logo

5. Purpose • What are the necessities? What do they lack? • What do this particular group of students want/desire? • What are the issues? Company Logo

6. Method • Student questionnaire (adapted from Li & Richards, 1995) 50 questionnaires distributed, with 41 of them collected back. • Informal interview with teacher Company Logo

7. Necessities—CET-4 outline • Vocabulary • Grammar • Listening • Speaking • Reading • Writing • Translating Company Logo

8. Lacks • 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. Company Logo

9. Results--Vocabulary Company Logo

10. Grammar and Listening Company Logo

11. Spoken English Company Logo

12. Reading and Writing Company Logo

13. Lacks • 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? Company Logo

14. Vocabulary • They do want to enlarge their vocabulary and know about different uses of specific words. Company Logo

15. 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. Company Logo

16. 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’. Company Logo

17. 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. Company Logo

18. 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. Company Logo

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

20. 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. Company Logo

21. Categories where over 50% shows strongest desire Company Logo

22. 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; Company Logo

23. 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 • … Company Logo

24. Learning needs—possible route to meet target needs • Psychological • Attitudinal/motivational • Materials: besides textbooks, various kinds of resources are available • Teacher • … Company Logo

25. Issues Time: • Four hours of English class per week • Two hours for listening and speaking two hours for reading and writing • Far insufficient in meeting students’ needs to improve basic language skills Company Logo

26. 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 Company Logo

27. 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. Company Logo

28. 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. Company Logo

29. Thank You for your time !