Introduction
0.1 Objectives and Significance of the Project
Successful English learning is the main target for most of the Chinese Englishteachers. Researchers and experts spent lots of time and energy on the ESL (secondlanguage learning), till now, they developed much and conditions are improved, butwe all know that without a complete knowing of the learners’ needs we can not carryout a successful English class, that is to say, “no language teaching program should bedesigned without a thorough needs analysis.”(Long, 2011) So, careful studies oflearner needs caught more and more attention and it becomes a prerequisite foreffective course design. This research intends to make an up-to-date analysis on theChinese students’ needs on English studies, especially the students of science andengineering.As we all know, successful language leaning is vital for all those people whodevoted so much in the long-lasting and huge English study activity. Differentlearners have different targets. However, their own needs for English study and theenvironments are unmatched today. Put simply, need analysis focuses on therequirements related to the goals, aspirations and needs of the students and fixes theminto the student-centered course-design. So we think, the main purpose of needanalysis is to meet the learners’ satisfaction.Need analysis has been well developed in United States of America and someother European countries. Anyhow, it is not so easy for Chinese researchers to getenough information on this topic, and the lagging behind situation tells us howemergent the case is. English teaching and study is a big matter in mainland China, sothe analysis on learners’ needs need an immediate action if we want to change andimprove the unmatched conditions.
……….
0.2 General Organization of the Thesis
The thesis is composed by six parts: introduction, four chapters and conclusion.In part of Introduction, the objectives and significance of this thesis areexplained.Chapter one focuses on the important definitions of need analysis andsegmentation and two pairs of confusing concepts, such as need and motivation,General English (GE) and English for Special Purposes (ESP) will be explained indetails. After that, a brief preview of previous studies on need analysis which containsthe relationship between ESP and Need Analysis, some studies on Need Analysis andthe borrowed word “Segmentation” from marketing place are followed. And thecurrent study situation in mainland China cannot be omitted of course.Chapter two will firstly introduce the rationale of Need Analysis, and thenqualitative approaches, which to establish learners’ segments and their needs, andqualitative approach, which to validate the learners’ segments, are the methodologiesusing to begin the research. Six hypothesized segments of learners’ needs appear inthis part, they are segments of Career-oriented, Knowledge Seeker, Socio-economicAdvantage, Stepper, Undecided and Multi-purposed.Chapter three is the core of the whole thesis. The detailed analysis of thequestionnaire data is the main task here. Through analyzing the data by using SPSS,learners’ needs would be explained in details and a learner-centered proposal will beenhanced. The post interview among the volunteers who had finished the first stage’sinvestigation will strengthen the main idea of this thesis.
……..
Chapter 1 Previous Theoretical and Empirical Research
1.1 Related Definitions
Need analysis is not a new item for some abroad scholars since the study aboutneed analysis is over 40 years. However, this item has not been wildly accepted bymost of the researchers of mainland China. Meanwhile, segmentation is also not sofamiliar a concept for most of the English study researchers, for it is a conceptborrowing from the marketing field, so the definitions and explanations about whatneed analysis is and what segmentation is are needed here. People are quite familiar with the word “need”, for we have all kinds of needsabout our life, a need is something that is necessary for organisms to live a healthy.Need is more essential to people than “want” and need can be objective and physical,such as the food, or need can be classified to subjective needs and psychologicalneeds, such as the need for self-esteem and life. When study begins, people’s variousneeds to study come into being and research about “need” will be the following step.As for English learners, their needs for English study will largely determine whetherthey will behave well or not in this long-lasting and arduous English study activity
………..
1.2 Distinguishing the Confusing Items
There are several pairs of concepts about English study make people confused.When people talk about what need analysis is, they always have an immediateresponse about the difference between need analysis and motivation, so it is quiteessential to give a distinction between these two. In the following part, we will giveseparate definitions about what need analysis is and what motivation is. Not all theEnglish learners have the same aims for English study, according to the differentEnglish levels, some will set a target for passing the examinations, but others have afurther need for English study, learners will make sure about what kind of Englishthey will learn and the distinction between GE and ESP is necessary. Needs and motivations should not be confused. The former are, so to speak ,imposed by the reality of the language situation, and knowing a language meansprecisely being able to respond appropriately to the numerous requirements of thatreality; the latter, although influenced by the social lives of individuals and groups,are created by the former.(Richterich, R. 1972.)Gardner and Lambert’s (1972) identified two forms of motivation: instrumentaland integrative. As for the instrumental motivation, it is the reflection of an externalneed. The learners are not learning a language because they want to (although thisdoes not imply that they do not want to), but rather because they need to.
……….
Chapter 3 Questionnaire and Post-Interviews on Learners' NeedAnalysis .........25
3.1 Questionnaire Design and Realization ........25
3.1.1 Subject......25
3.1.2 Procedure .........25
3.1.3 Methodology.....26
3.1.4 Results and Discussion .....27
3.2 Statistics Analysis .......27
3.3 Post-interview and Analysis........45
Chapter 4 Pedagogical Implications of Learners' Need Analysis......48
4.1 Role Transition of Instructors......49
4.2 Role Transition of Students.........50
4.3 Role Transition of University and College..........53
4.4 Improvement of Course Design ..........54
Chapter 4 Related Pedagogical Implications of Learners’Need Analysis
We always try to make clear what the goals of educational systems are. AsSwain (1981) once referred, among all the targets of educational systems, the aim tohelp students to use the target language to read, listen and communicate with othersshould be put at the first place. Regarding language as a tool and using language thatthey are studying alone to conceptualize drawing, abstract generalizations andfurthermore, expressing complicated relationship between speaking and writing arethe huge task for most of the English learners and instructors. As for college studentsin mainland China, these are even bigger challenges for all the parties which areinvolving in the English learning activity.Language learning process should never be regarded as a static one but dynamic.When we shift our focus on analyzing learners’ needs of English study, then Englishstudy will not be a simple and alone task for only learners themselves. All the factorsthat related to teaching process will be involved in this transition. The main factorsinclude the transitions of instructors’ role, students’ role, course designing anduniversity or college’s role.A fact-based understanding and co-create solution is definitely needed. Tosome degree, the relationship between students and instructors (including universityand college) likes the customers and shop owners. Usually, what the shop owner cando is to provide various goods, comfortable settings and well-knowledge of what thecustomers want. Most of the customers have a clear idea about what they want to buybefore they enter the shop, some are just coming in to have a look, and some othersmay make sure about the things they want to buy after having a careful look at thegoods.
…………
Conclusion
As the thesis displayed, need analysis has been well developed abroad on boththe theoretical and practical fields, although the notion of Need Analysis came intobeing for only less than 40 year as the time when instructors and researchers turn theirattention to a learner-centered teaching model. People in mainland China have beenstruggled for a long time and made great changes about our English class. Ateacher-centered teaching rationale had lost its dominant role and more and morevoices from students are heard and adopted by the course designers. Need analysisthen gradually accepted by our instructors. Since a learner- centered teaching ideologyhas been widely recognized by us, the learner itself and the elements that containedcatch more and more sights.So far, we get some less confused ideas that GE is quite different from ESP. Forthose students who are majoring in science and engineering, English for the beginnersare just General English, because they have to pass the final examination and try toget the certifications of band 4 and band 6, for those are the guarantees of getting adegree diploma. For most of the college students in our country, the first-year studentsand second-year students are fighting for those targets. But when their English levelsare improving, they will consciously or unconsciously connect the English study totheir majors or the future career, and then their needs for English get near to a desireof English study to English for Special Purposes.#p#分页标题#e#
…………
Reference (omitted)
