Ha noi University

Department of Post graduate

Assignment

Topic:
Needs analysis towards Designing an ESP
listening syllabus for second year-students of
non- English major of Ha noi university of
Business and management

Tutor’s name:
Le Thanh Dung
Student’s name: Nguyen Thi Thiet
Class: PG2

Hanoi March 30th 2010

I-Introduction

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In Viet Nam,the ESP movement has shown a slow but
definite growth over the past few years.When the country’s
economic reform began in the late 1980s,the importance of
English for scientific and technological developement,for
trade and commerce,and international co-operation is well
understood .The need is not only General English ( GE ) but
also ESP.Many universities,institutions and resoures centres
teach ESP for students from their second year of study.The
aims of the English courses at these universities is to provide
students with knowledge of English used in the field they are
learning so that they can use it later in their future career.It
is a fact that English has become a necessary tool in order to
obtain a job,get promoted and perform effectively in the
working world.This has led to a rapid growth in English
courses aimed at specific disciplines such as English for
Tourism,English for Marketing,English for Technical...
In order to meet the demand for an ESP listening syllabus for
the 2nd year students and in the light of current ESP teaching
methods, The researcher decided to choose needs analysis
towards designing an ESP listening syllabus based on
students’ needs.The subject were 30 second-year students
of non-English major at Hanoi University of Business and
Management.Their age ranged from 19 to 22 years old.Most
of them had only attended English classes as part of the
official school curriculum.The students had fulfilled English

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File 1,2 and 3.In semester 2 of the second year they started
studying Business English.This study attempts to investigate
the students’ needs in an effort to make a suitable syllabus
for them and help them to find a good future job.
II-content

* Overview of needs analysis.

Considered the fundamental step in planning a language
course,especially in ESP course,Needs analysis contribute
much to the success of a course design. In the first section
we will review the definition of Needs, types of Needs, the
role of Needs Analysis, and approaches to Needs Analysis.
1. Definition of Needs.
There are several different definitons of Needs. Robinson
(1991 ) discussses needs in ESP course design as follows.
• Needs can refer to students’ study or job
requirments,that is ,what they have to do at the and of the
course.This is a goal-oriented definiion of needs.Needs in this
sense are perhaps more appropriately described
as’objectives’.
• Needs can mean ‘what the user-instution or society at
large regards as necessary or deriable to be learnt from a
programme or language instruction’.
• Needs can be considered as ‘what the learner needs to
do to actually acquire the language.This is a process-

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oriented definition of needs and relates to transitional
behavior,the means of learning’
• Needs can be’what the students themselves would like
to gain from the language course.This implies that students
may have personal aims in addition to ( or even opposition
to ) the requirements of the studies or jobs.Such personal
needs may be viewed as wants or desires.
• We may interpret needs as lacks,that is,what the
students do not know or can not do in English.
Robinson ( 1991 ) also discuss that some views of needs
have been paired such as : sujectives and objectives
needs( or perceived and felt needs ),goal-oriented and
process-oriented ( or target and learning needs ).
Tom Hutchinson ( 1986 ) gives the answer to the question
“ What do we mean by Needs “ ?:
In the language centre approach, the answer to this
question would be “
Ability to comprehend and /or produce the linguistic
feature of the
Target situation”.
Brown ( 1995 ),meanwhile,shows that :
Once identified needs can be started in terms of goals
and objectives
Which in turn,can serve as the bais for developing
tests,materials,

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 Teaching activities,an evaluation stratery,as well as
for evaluating
The precision and accuracy of the original needs
assessment”.
2. Types of needs.
From the different definitions above, Tom Hutchinson & Alan
Water ( 1986 ) divided Needs into two major
categeries:Target Needs and Learning Needs.
a.Target needs.
Target Needs is what the learners need to do in the target
situations. It is more useful to look at the situation in terms
of necessities,lacks and wants.
• Necessities : Necessities are considered the type of
needs determined by the demand of the target situation,
that is, what the learner has to know in order to function
effectively in the target situation.
• Lacks : The gap between the existing proficiency and
the target proficiency can be referred to as the learners’
lacks. In other words, it is the gap betwwen what the
learners know already and what they achieve by the end of
the course.
• Wants : In addition to the perception of course designers,
sponsors and teachers of the target situation, learners may
well have a clear idea of the necessities of the target
situation and their lacks. This may conflict with perception of
other parties.

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b.Learning needs.
We have considered Needs in terms of target situation, that
is, what learners need to do in the target situation.
However, we have taken into account how we help students
acquire the knowledge and abilities in order to perform in
the target situation and how students learnt to do it.
Hutchinson (1986 ) says it is naive to base a course design
simply on the target objectives.The Needs,potential and
constraints of learninf situation must also be taken into
account, if we are going to have any useful analysis of
learners’s needs. This indicates another kind of needs :
learning needs.
3.The role of Needs Analysis.
Tom Hutchinson ( 1986 ) says:
What distinguishes ESP from General Enhlish is not the
existence of a
Need such as but rather than an awareness of the
needs. If learners,
Sponsors, and teachers know why the learners need
English, that
Awareness will have an influence on what will be
acceptable as
Reasonable content in the language course and, on the
positive side,
What potential can be exploited.

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Kathleen Graves ( 2000 ) says when Needs Assessment
( Needs Analysis ) is used as an ongoing part of teaching, it
helps the learners to reflect on their learning, to identify
their needs and to gain a sense of ownership and control
their learning.
4.Target situation and learning situation framework.

Target situation Learning situation

-Why is the language -Why are the learners taking
needed? the course?
-How will the language be -How do the learners learn ?
used? -What resourses are
-What will the content areas available?
be ? -Who are the learners?
-Who will the learners use the -Where will the ESP course
language with? take place?
-Where will the language be -When will the ESP take
used? place?

5.Means of data collection

According to Tom Hutchinson and Alan Water ( 1986 ), there
are several ways to gather information about target needs
and learning needs such as questionnaires, interviews,
observations, data collection and informal consultations.In
this study, questionnaire is chosen as means of data

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collection because it can help gather infornation from a large
number of people without researcher’s presence. Besides,
the result of the questionnaire is accurate and reliable as the
respondents have time to think over their answers without
undergoing pressure.
6.Approaches to Needs Analysis.
There are two approaches of Needs Analysis. They are :
Target situation Analysis and Present situation Analysis.
• Target Situation Analysis ( TSA)
According to Chambers ( 1980 ), TSA is a “ communication
in the target situation “. Robinson ( 1991 ),in the
meantime,says TSA focuses on students’ needs at the end of
a language course.
• Present Situation Analysis ( PSA )
PSA may be posited as a complement to target situation
analysis ( Jordan,1997 ) .It attempts to identify what they are
like at the beginning of the course.According to Robinson
( 1991 ), a PSA seeks to establish what the students are like
at the start of the course, investigating their strength and
weaknesses.The PSA seeks information about their
respective levels of ability,their view on language teaching
and learning, the surrouding society and culture; the attitude
held towards English and towards the learning and use of a
foreign language.
In this study,the researcher uses both needs analysis
approaches ( target situation analysis and present situation

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analysis ) in the hope to get an overview of students’
needs : what is to be learnt and how it is accquired best by
students.In other words, the reseacher agrees with Brown’s
idea of needs analysis. He said that :
Students have needs and concerns other than linguistic
ones. Thus the
Learners’ human needs must also be acknowleged
alongside their
Purely language-related ones...Needs analysis will be
defined as the
Systematic collection and analysis of relevant
information necessary
To satisfy the language learning requirements of the
students within
The context of the particular institutions involved in the
learning
Situation.

III.Conclusion

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Nowadays,the ESP area proves to be in great demand for a
global community of people speaking different language,
where efficient command of English can help to contribute to
professtional as well as personal developement of each
individual.Therefore, teaching and learning ESP is
necessary.A practical and useful ESP syllabus plays the most
important role in teaching and learning process.
This study focused on needs analysis towards designing an
ESP listening syllabus for second-year students of non-
English major of Ha Noi University of Business and
Management.What the researcher emphasizes is that from a
suggested syllabus to implementing it in classroom is a long
way and the process demands a lot of creation and efforts
from material writers and teachers as well as learners who
are main factors having great influence on the sucess of a
syllabus.

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 Questionnaire 1

To: Learners who are intending ESP course at Ha Noi

University of Business and Management .
In order to design an appropriate listening course for
students of non-English major of Ha Noi University of
Business and Management, we would like you, as ESP
learner, tell us your opinion regarding your English study
and what you expect to achieve by the end of the course.
Please respond to all the folowing questions and statements.
General information:
Name:..................................
Sex:......................................
Date of birth:........................
Academic information

1.What English level have you completed?

a.elementary d.pre-
intermediate
b.intermediate e.upper-
intermediate
c.advanced.
2.How often do you listen to English for learning?

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a.often b.sometimes c.rarely
d.never
3.What kind of listening do you often do ?
a.listening carefully to get the main information.
b.Listening for giving direction.
c.Regconizing individual words what is being said.
d.Other listening...............................
4.What difficulty do you have while listening?
a.There are too many difficult words.
b.There are different accents.
c.They speak at a high speed.
d.It is difficult to get the overall information.
5.What do you wish to achieve by the end of the course?
a.Widen my professional knowleged.
b.Be able to use English for communication.
c.Be able to listen to native speakers accurately.
d.Others........

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 qestionnaire 2

To :The teachers who are in charge of teaching listening at

Ha Noi university of Business and Management.
In order to design an effective listening ESP course for your
students ,we would like you,as the teachers,let us know your
expectation from the course.Please respond to all the
following questions and statements.
1.How long would you like the course is?
a.36 hours
b.48 hours
c.72 hours
d.others...
2.What do you expect the teachers do during the course ?
a.To provide learners with more listening task.
b.To provide learners with more professional knolems
wledge.

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c.To help learners solve problems relating to listening.
d.To provide learners with extra materials.
3.How often do you want the class to take place ?
a.Once a week
b.Twice a week.
c.Three times a week.
d.Others:
4.What do you wish the learners to be able to do by the end
of the course?
a.They can listen to specific information accurately.
b.They can listen to English speakers with different accents.
c.They can listen to radios , news and summarize the mains
points.
d.They can listen to real life situations.

references.

Emmert,P. ( 1994 ).A definition of listening.The listening

Post.
Hutchinson,T.& Water.(1987).English for Specific
Purposes.Cambrigde University Press.
Rixon,S (1986).Developing listening skills.Macmillan
Publishers Ltd
Underwood,M (1989).Teaching listening,Longman
Willis,J (1981).Teaching English through English.Longman.

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Richards,J.C,Platts,J.& Platts,H (1992).Dictionary of language
teaching & Applied Linguistic.Longman.
Robinson ,P.C (1991),ESP Today: A practitioner’sguide.
Griva,E .(2002).Needs analysis projects for the
E.A.P,students of the Florida Pedagogical School.
Nunan,D.(1987).The teacher as cirriculum developer.
Harmer,J.(1991) The practice of English language
Teaching.Longman.
Chamber ( 1980 ).A re-evaluation of Needs Analysis.

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