Students’ Needs Analysis in an EFL Program for University Professors

Abstract

This study sets out to investigate professors' needs from an English as a foreign language program in a public university regarding demands, interests, and lacks based on the methodology of needs analysis. Data collected through a survey, focus groups, and individual interviews showed that professors need to meet the institutional language policy for contractual and academic reasons. Additionally, data revealed their desire to learn English to communicate in both academic and non-academic settings. Moreover, the lack of time and effective learning strategies were reported as comprising the main constraints for learning. Finally, the authors present the strengths and weaknesses of the program as well as the participants' suggestions for curriculum restructuring.Key words: English as a foreign language, language policies, learning strategies, needs analysis.Este es tu dio se en fo ca en in ves ti gar las ne ce si da des de pro fe so res de una uni ver sidad pú bli ca al apren der en un pro gra ma de in glés como len gua ex tran je ra en tér mi nos de de man das, in te re ses y ca ren- cias se gún la me to do lo gía del aná li sis de ne ce si da des. La in for ma ción re co lec ta da de una en cues ta, grupos fo ca les y en tre vis tas mos tró la ne ce si dad de cum plir con la po lí ti ca lin güís ti ca ins ti tu cio nal por ra zo nes aca dé mi cas y con trac tua les. Ade más, los da tos re ve la ron el de seo de apren der in glés para co muni car se en si tua cio nes co ti dia nas y aca dé mi cas. Asi mis mo, la fal ta de tiem po y de es tra te gias de apren diza je efec ti vas se re por ta ron como los prin ci pa les obs tácu los para apren der. Fi nal mente, se pre sen tan las for ta le zas y de bi li da des del pro gra ma y las su ge ren cias da das por los par ti ci pan tes para la restructuración curricular.Pa la bras cla ve: aná li sis de ne ce si da des, es tra te gias de apren di za je, in glés como len gua ex tran je ra, po lí ti cas lin güís ti cas.

English Teaching in Vocational High School: A Need Analysis

“…Most of them agreed that they preferred to do tasks in groups instead of doing the task individually, in pairs, and whole class work. These results accord with the findings of Bedoya, Valencia, & Montoya (2015). They found that the participants feel more engaged in group activities rather than individual work.…”

“…The students also confessed that they feel that their English proficiency is elementary. The findings keep in line with Bedoya, Valencia, & Montoya (2015) who affirm that the participants have very low level in English. In addition, the findings of this research corroborate the findings of Fard-Kashani & Jahromi (2015) that claim that the undergraduate students of computer and engineering suffered from low English proficiency.…”

Needs Analysis in English for Academic Purposes: The Case of Teaching Assistants at the University of Khartoum

“…Generally, as attested by the high percentages of those who strongly agreed, all the other writing sub-skills are considered important. These results match with what was found by Vahed (2017) and Bedoya et al (2015) who concluded that their subjects needed academic writing courses to prepare them to write scientific papers.…”

“…These results agree with what was revealed by Vahed (2017), who concluded that his subjects needed EAP courses to prepare them for academic study. The results are also in line with Bedoya et al (2015) who found that their students needed to be proficient in English to communicate with it.…”

“…This author also concluded that the professors had problems in academic writing. Bedoya, Valencia, and Montoya (2015) investigated the needs of the professors, at a Colombian public university, for English language. Data were collected through a questionnaire, focus group, and interviews.…”