changing needs of the esp students anna stefanowicz-kocoł department of english philology, state...

Changing needs of the ESP students

Anna Stefanowicz-KocołDepartment of English Philology, State Higher Vocational School of Tarnow, Faculty of Humanities, , Tarnów, Poland

Danijela ĐorđevićDepartment of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia

Presentation overview

Selected issues in needs analysisNeeds analysis in academic settingsSources and methods of needs analysisRapport: How reliable is the needs

analysis carried out among students?Conclusions

Needs analysis

“the means of establishing the how and what of a course” Hyland (2003: 58)

„wide angle” (Waters and Hutchinson, 1980) versus „narrow angle” courses (Hyland, 2002)

ESP teachers: “language experts not technical insiders” (Huckin; 2003: 16).

ESP textbooks (?)

Needs anaysis in academic settings

a college department prepares students for a wide range of professions and opens the way for further academic education

students are not always aware of the ample opportunities awaiting the graduates

many areas of science and industry change rapidly

triangulation of sources as recommended by Long (2002)

Sources and methods of needs analysis Long (2002: 25: 33)

How reliable is the needs analysis carried out among students?

37 students (22 students of Chemistry and Materials Engineering and 15 students of Mathematics)

needs analysis questionnaires administered three months before the English language courses „English in Chemistry” and „English in Mathematics” and at the end of the 8-month long courses

Questionnaire: 4 parts topics students might be interested inskills needed for studying languagesstudents’ preferred forms of learningstudents’ preferred modes of learning

Interesting topics - Mathematics

Topics interesting to students before the course

Topics interesting to students after the course

Operations in Arithmetic Percentages

Numbers Linear Equations

Percentages Graphs, Functions and Relations

Basic Algebra The Decimal System

Logic and Set Theory Fractions

Linear Equations Numbers

Graphs, Functions and Relations Operations in Arithmetic

Fractions Logic and Set Theory

The Decimal System Basics of Geometry

Statistics Statistics

Basics of Geometry Probability Calculus

Probability Calculus Basic Algebra

Interesting topics - ChemistryTopics interesting to students before the course

Topics interesting to students after the course

Chemistry in Everyday Life Chemistry in Everyday Life

Organic Chemistry Fundamentals of Materials Science and Engineering

Fundamentals of Materials Science and Engineering

Environmental Chemistry

The Nano Organic Chemistry

Biological Chemistry - The Molecules of Life Molecular Compounds

Nuclear Chemistry Biological Chemistry - The Molecules of Life

Environmental Chemistry The Nano

Ionic Compounds Atomic Theory

Molecular Compounds Macromolecules and Colloids

Macromolecules and Colloids Nuclear Chemistry

Atomic Theory Ionic Compounds

Needed skills

Before the course After the course

Preferred forms of learning

Before the course After the course

Preferred modes of learning

Before the course After the course

Students’ reflections

“I had not thought ‘Environmental chemistry’ would be so interesting”

“I had had a completely different idea of what ‘Nuclear chemistry’ was about”.

“I have had enough of ‘Basic Algebra’ for the time being”

“I appeared to misunderstand the topic of ‘Graphs, Functions and Relations’. ”

“I didn’t realize that engineers need to write so much!” “It turned out that a presentation was a piece of cake

in comparison to group discussions!”

Conclusions

students’ needs change during the coursestudents are sometimes not aware of some

issues before the beginning of the course the course design has a formative role, making

students realize that certain preconceptions or attributions they had before they started it were not necessarily correct

the course design, the materials, the teaching techniques chosen by the teacher should be selected bearing in mind the impact they will have on the course participants in the long run

Thank you

anna.kocol@gmail.com

ddj@agrif.bg.ac.rs