the need analysis of it students in learning english as
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The Need Analysis of IT Students in Learning English as Foreign
Language: A Small-Scale Study at Satya Wacana Christian
University
Fita Khoiriyati Ilma
Abstract
In the global use of English in many fields, the need of English in different fields has
been increasing since each field has different needs. In learning English, students in
a certain field of study need to be equipped with English which is relevant to their
needs. To fulfill the need of English that is really suitable with the learners’ need,
therefore, a need analysis is necessary to be done. Need analysis is seen as the ideal
problems solving in order to get to know the students’ need. The purpose of this
study was to find out the Information and Technology (IT) students’ need in their
English learning process in order to support their future occupation in IT field. The
participants of the study were three lecturer-participants, three graduate-participants
and 100 students-participants of 2012 academic year from the IT Faculty of Satya
Wacana Christian University (SWCU). In this study, the data were obtained from
questionnaire and interview. The result of this study revealed three needs for IT
students in learning English. The first need was to add the length of the meeting
hours in English courses, the second one was to emphasize the listening, speaking
and writing skill in the English course, and the third one was English need to be used
more in English teaching and learning process.
Keywords: ESP, need, need analysis, IT students
INTRODUCTION
As one implication of the global use of English in many fields such as
politics, business, medical, science, and information technology, the needs of
learning English for specific purposes or ESP have increased. Through this ESP,one
can learn, for example, the specific terms used in Information Technology and also
about procedures doing things in that field. This ESP is seen as a way to cover the
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frequent use of English for the technical language in many specific fields. This is in
line with Douglas’ (2000) opinion that the use of language for specific purpose is
due to the technical language that is used in any academic, professional, or
occupational field.
Although ESP ideally provides the need of English learning for certain
purposes, the practice might not always well implemented. The first obstacle is, as in
Indonesian context, English in Indonesia stated as EFL (English as Foreign
Language). It can cause difficulty for students to learn English since English is not
used in their daily life. Xhemaili (2013) states that studies have shown that learners
of English as foreign language make the same mistakes due to of their linguistic
backgrounds. The second obstacle is about the limitation time in the teaching and
learning process. If ESP is taught at university, for example, it is usually allocated in
limited time and place to practice the language. Another reason can be about the
teaching of ESP that tends to be general English. IT students, in this case, have their
own background in IT, so they are expected to learn English related to their
major.General English may unlikely fulfill the specific need. Their IT major should
also be brought into consideration of their English learning process. Morever,
students have different background, and subsequently, they have different language
needs. This is in line with Hutchinson and Waters (1987) who argue that “learners
were seen to have different needs and interest, which would have important
influence on their motivation to learn and therefore on the effectiveness of their
learning” (p.8). Thus, the purposes of English course for students with specific need
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of English have to be well-designed and give specific or future-oriented advantages
for students’ learning of English.
To fulfill the need of English that is really suitable with the learners’ need,
therefore, a need analysis is necessary to be done. Need analysis is seen as the ideal
problems solving because it gives information about the students’ needs in English
language learning. Dudley-Evan and St. John (1998) defines need analysis as the
process of establishing what and how of a course. Need analysis is important due to
the target language is presented in different context of use. This in line with Munby
(1978), that explains need analysis as the study of the purpose, content, realization
and assessment of learning process.
The importance of Need Analysis above might have led some studies on ESP
to be made. A study about ESP was conducted by Miyake and Tremarco (2005) in
Japan. They found out that the important thing to learn in the course is technical
English rather than basic technical vocabulary. In addition to that, another study by
Navqi and Matthew (2010) revealed that another aspect that influenced the learning
process in an ESP course was the teachers who should make the class more effective.
Hence, there are many needs factors should be considered in order to establish a
successful ESP course. Dudley-Evan and St. John (1998) claim that “the main
concerns of ESP have always been and remain with needs analysis, text analysis and
preparing learners to communicate effectively in the task prescribed by their study or
work situation” (p.1).
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Due to the importance of need analysis, every faculty in higher education
which offers ESP courses for non-English-major students needs to conduct such an
analysis for better and appropriate result in English learning. One faculty offering
ESP is the Faculty of Information and Technology (IT Faculty) of Satya Wacana
Christian University (SWCU). In this faculty, the students learn English as a
compulsory course. There are two kinds of English course that they should take
during majoring IT in SWCU: Bahasa Inggris Dasar (BID) and Bahasa Inggris
Profesi (BIP). The latter is considered ESP. However, no formal need analysis of
this course has been done.
The purpose of this study was to find out the IT students’ needs in learning
English as foreign language. In order to identify the needs, hence the following
research question need to be answered: What are the IT students’ needs in English
learning as foreign language in order to support future occupation in IT fields?
The finding of this study is significant for the IT faculty to know what their
students’ needs in studying ESP in order to support their future occupation needs in
IT fields. Furthermore, it might help the student-readers to know how to do a need
analysis in English learning.
English for Specific Purpose (ESP)
In ESP framework, the main components involved are need, need analysis,
and two approaches i.e. TSA (Target Situation Analysis) and PSA (Present Situation
Analysis).
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The Definition of ESP
Hutchinson and Waters (1987)defined ESP as "an approach to language
teaching in which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner's
reason for learning" (p. 19). From its concept, ESP is performing as an access for
learners that have different motivation to learn the language for various purposes and
context. In addition, Richards (2000) describes that ESP learners typically study
English to accomplish peculiar role that different from General English (GE)
students who master the language to pass general exam. He points out that basically
ESP and GE are two things opposed each other because ESP seems has technical
language as what Douglas (2000) claims as a crucial concept in language for specific
purpose.
The notion of ESP concern about English learning that focused on the
students’ need. It is important because it talks about specific language that closely
relates to particular subjects such as economy and business, tourism, information
technology and so on.
The Classification of ESP
Under ESP framework there are two terms that mainly characterized it
differently: the first one is EAP (English for Academic Purpose) and the second one
is EOP (English for Occupational Purpose). The dissimilarity for both terms is
important to decide the appropriate material for the course. EAP can be defined as
English course that concern with macro skill for study purpose in official system.
Dudley-Evan and ST. John (1998) describe EAP needs for nurse students, for
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instance, are related to reading textbook, article, essays, and so forth. In the other
hand, EOP refers to English that is not for academic purpose. EOP needs are related
to communication using English for professional purpose or working in an English
speaking-country.
ESP and Need Analysis
This section discusses need, need analysis, the importance of need analysis
and the framework of need analysis.
Need
Need is often being understood as students’ lack of knowledge that educators
need to know. Meanwhile, Richards (2000) urge that needs is a linguistic deficiency
which portrays what learners can presently do and what they should be able to do.
From those concise explanations of the term need they have complement meaning
one to another, it come to a conclusion that Hutchinson and Water (1978) describe
needs as necessities, wants, and lacks. Necessities refer to the type of need that likely
a demand for the target situation, while lack is the gap between the target proficiency
and what learners know already (Hutchinson and Water), on the other hand wants
refer to personal interest in language learning (Tisfaye, 2003).
In the other words, the term needs portray the learners’ condition that should
be fulfilled during in the process of language learning. Afterwards, needs are
required as the main elements in need analysis, some approaches are used to figure it
out.
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Need Analysis
According to Richards (2001) need analysis is a method applied to gain data
about learners’ need. Similarly, Richterich (1983 cited in Rajabi and Azarpour,
2011) defines need analysis as procedure that “consists primarily of compiling
information both on the individuals or groups of individuals who are to learn a
language and on the use which they are expected to make of it.” (p.21)
The Importance of Need Analysis
Need analysis is important in language teaching especially to lay down an
ESP course. There are numbers of reasons of conducting need analysis. McDonough
(1984) underlines the information of learners’ need will helpful in establishing
objectives and course content.Meanwhile, Choroleeva (2009) states need analysis
roleESP teachers to create kind of classroom activities which appropriate for the
students considering to their age, their present or future occupation development,
their needs and their prospects toward teaching and learning process. In addition,
Dudley-Evan and St. John (1998) state three purposes of need analysis as the
importance of need analysis:
First, needs analysis aims to know learners as people, as language users and as language
learners. Second, needs analysis study also aims to know how language learning and skills
learning can be maximized for a given learner group. Third, needs analysis study aims to
know the target situations and learning environment so that data can appropriately be
interpreted. (p.126)
Hence, a need analysis is seen as crucial thing for both educators and learners
in order to make sure that the course is suitable based on course’s efficiency and
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effectiveness. Richterich and Chanceril (1978 cited in Richards 2001) urged that
“learners, teachers and employers could be involved in determining learners’ need”
(p.33).
The Framework of Need Analysis
Dudley-Evan and St. John (1998: 125) explain a framework for analyzing
learning needs that they called as a current concept of need analysis. The concept
will determine:
A. Professional information about the learners: the task and activities learners are
/will be using English for.
B. Personal information about the learners: factor which may affect the way they
learn such as previous learning experiences, cultural information, reason for
attending the course and expectations of it, attitude to English.
C. English and language information about the learners: what their current skills an
language use are.
D. The learners’ lacks: the gap between (C) and (A).
E. Language learning information: effective ways of learning the skills and
language in (D).
F. Professional communication information about (A): knowledge of how language
and skills are used in the target situation.
G. What is wanted from the course.
H. Information about the environment in which the course will be run.
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The Approaches of Need Analysis
There are two main approaches used in order to carry out a need analysis,
they are Target Situation Analysis (TSA) and Present Situation Analysis (PSA).
Both concepts will be used to seek out all the information needed in need analysis.
Robinson (1991) points out that “an important issue is the relationship between the
PSA and the TSA” (p.9). In addition, in academic setting, it is important to know
regarding language learning and how people learn to do what they do with the
language. In short, the connection of both approaches are demanded to complete the
concept of need analysis
Target Situational Analysis (TSA)
TSA can be defined as study to seek out all information about component
condition in target language that being train in the language learning. According to
Dudley-Evan and St. John (1998) TSA is “include objective perceive and product-
oriented needs” (p.124) while it support by Robinson (1991) that describes TSA as a
need analysis that focused on students’ needs at the end of language course.
Present Situational Analysis (PSA)
PSA can be defined as study to see current condition of the learners in
beginning of the language course. Robinson (1991) describes PSA as a complement
to TSA. In present situational analysis will display the learners’ levels of ability, the
language-teaching establishment, the learners’ attitude toward the language learning
and students’ strangeness and weakness.
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THE STUDY
This section presented context of the study, participants, instruments, data
collection procedure and data analysis procedure.
Context of the Study
This study attempted to investigate students’ needs in learning English as
foreign language in order to prepare their future occupation in IT work area. This
study was done in IT Faculty of Satya Wacana Christian University (SWCU),
Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. This study focused on English courses of which
the syllabus was used by the study programs in the IT faculty i.e. TI (Teknologi
Informasi) Program Study, SI (Sistem Informatika) Program Study and DKV
(Desain Komunikasi Visual) Program Study, and PTIK (Pendidikan Teknologi
Informasi dan Komputer) Program Study.
Participants
The target participants were divided into three different group participants.
The first group was three lecturer-participants of IT Faculty, two of them teach
English courses and one was the head study program of IT study program. The
second group was three graduate-participants that work in IT fields. The last group
was 100 student-participants of 2012 academic year from the IT Faculty of SWCU
that already took two English courses i.e. BID (Bahasa Inggris Dasar) and BIP
(Bahasa Inggris Profesi).
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Instruments
This study used questionnaire and interview as the instruments to get the
primary data. Both questionnaire and interview instrument were in Bahasa Indonesia.
The questionnaire questions were adapted from previous studies i.e. Miyake and
Tremarco (2005) and Tesfaye (2003) about need analysis and the interview questions
were made by me.The questionnaire was used to get data from the student-
participants about the present situation in English learning process. Moreover, the
interview was used to get data from the lecturer-participants about the present
situation in English learning in the IT Faculty. In addition, interview also used to get
data from the graduate-participants about the target situations in IT work area.The
interview instrument used semi-structured technique due to its flexibility and “give
the interviewee a degree of power and control over the course of the interview.”
(Nunan, 1992, p.150)
Data Collection Procedure
The data were collected through the following procedures. First, the
researcher put the permission letter in the IT Faculty in order to be permitted to gain
the data in the study. Second, the questionnaires were distributed to the IT students.
Before distributing the questionnaire, piloting was done by eight IT students to make
sure that the questionnaires were understandable to do. This was as suggested by
Richard (2001) that piloting of questionnaires was important to identify ambiguities
and other problems before the questionnaires were distributed. Third, the researcher
decided the time to do interview with three lecturer-participants in different places
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and time. All the interviews processes were recorded. The last, after the researcher
get the data from the lecturer-participants, then the researcher decided the time to do
interviews with three graduate-participants in different places and time. All the
interviews processes were also recorded.
Data Analysis Procedure
After collecting data, the data were analyzed as the following procedures.
First, the data from questionnaires were counted in charts in order to analyze the
students’ present situation in English learning in IT Faculty. Second, the data from
the interview with lecturer-participants were transcribed and the result was to
support the present situation analysis of English learning situation in IT Faculty.
Third, the data from the interview with graduate-participants were transcribed in
Englishthen analyzed in order to know the target situation in IT work area. Finally,
the data from questionnaires and interviews could reveal the students’ need between
both situations to investigate the need of IT students in learning English as foreign
language in order to support their future occupation in IT field.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This section was divided into three parts. The first part was about the present
situation of English teaching and learning in the IT faculty. The second part was
about the target situations which describe how English was used in IT fields. The last
part discussed the needs of IT students in learning English as foreign language drawn
from two parts mentioned above.
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Present Situation of English Teaching and Learning in IT Faculty
The present situation in learning situation is one of the important components
in need analysis. It consisted of information of the students themselves and the
language-teaching establishment (Richterich and Chancerel in Robinson, 1991).
Students’ Profile in English Learning
The students’ profile here described the students’ difficulties in learning
English. The data were gained from the questionnaires given to the IT
students.Students’ self- assessment of their difficulty in taking English courses in IT
Faculty was illustrated below:
Chart 3. Students’ self assessment of their difficulty in taking English courses
It showedthat 49% out of 100% students got difficulty in listening skill quite often,
47% out of 100% got difficulty in speaking skill quite often, 51% out of 100% rarely
faced difficulty in writing skill, and the last 59% out of 100 also rarely got difficulty
in reading skill. In short,the highest percentage at this point was difficulty in
7%
31% 57%
5% 7%
40% 51%
2% 10%
47% 38%
5% 7%
49% 41%
3% 0
102030405060
Ve
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ften
Qu
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Oft
en
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Nev
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Reading Writing Speaking Listening
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listening skill, then followed by speaking skill and writing skill. The lowest
percentage of difficulty was reading skill.
The Existence of English Courses in IT Faculty
This section presented the purpose of offering English classes in IT Faculty,
the skill used in English learning and how the English courses were designed. The
data were gained from the questionnaire to the IT students and the interviews with
the Head Study Program of IT faculty and the English lecturers involved in the
syllabus designing.
The main objective of offering English courses to the IT students was
because of the government’s regulation. It was supported by the extract below.
“…ya karena pemerintah menyatakan bahwa Bahasa Inggris masuk kedalam
kurikulum, jadi kita menyediakan.”
“…yes, because of the government stated that we have to include English in
curriculum, so we provide it.”
(Lecturer-Participant 3)
The second objective was because almost all IT learning sources were
available in English. Referring to this, IT faculty attempted to provide English
courses to equipped the students with sufficient ability to comprehend the learning
sources. It was confirmed by the extract as followed.
“…ya karena kan hamper seluruh komponen dalam computer dan seluruh
instruksi dalam pembelajaran dengan computer itu sudah berbahasa Inggris.
Jadi ada beberapa matakuliah yang misalnya yang wajib harus diambil yaitu
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statistika, itu murni dari vendor asing dan itu tidak di translate-kan dan itu
bentuknya adalah web, software yang semuanya berbahasa Inggris…”
“… almost all the component in computer and instructions in computer
learning are in English. Some of compulsory course like statistics, it exist
purely in English that are not being translated (in Bahasa Indonesia) and the
form such as web, software are in English…”
(Lecturer-Participant 1)
The next part of the existence of English Course in IT Faculty was the
design. Based on the purposes above, the English courses in the IT Faculty were
designed in 4 credits divided in two major courses i.e. Bahasa Inggris Dasar (BID)
and Bahasa Inggris Profesi (BIP). Both English courses had different focuses. The
first course was about basic English especially basic Grammar. The second one, BIP,
contained in-depth explanation in every macro language skills such as reading,
listening, speaking, and writing. The present English courses actually had been
renewed from the previous ones that offered 14 credits, 4 credits for BID and 10
credits for BIP.
English Skills Focused In English Courses in IT Faculty
This section described about English skill focused in English courses in IT
faculty and English skills focused relate to future IT work fields. The data were
gained from the interviews with the lecturer participants and the questionnaires by
the student-participants.
From the interview with the lecturer-participants, all of them stated the same
point about the English skills taught to the students. They stated that all macro
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language skills such as listening, speaking, writing and especially reading were
taught as already intended in the curriculum. This affirmation could be seen as
below:
“Yang diutamakan memang membaca ya… Tapi kemampuan standar yang
diharapkan memang reading, (writing), listening kemudian speaking.”
“…all skills as the standard expected (to be taught) such as reading,
(writing), listening, speaking. However, reading skill is as the priority (in
teaching learning process)”
(Lecturer-Participant 1)
Referring to the students’ English needs in their future occupation in IT work
area, Lecturer-Participant 1 stated that all language skills like reading, speaking,
listening and writing were expected to be well possessed by the students in order to
support them in their future IT work situation. Meanwhile, Lecturer-Participant 2
stated the similar point toward this issue. However, she added that reading skill have
higher intensity compare to other skills.
“Justru kalau lulus itu harapannya dia (mahasiswa) reading,
speaking,(writing),(listening) bagus ya jadi dia bias berdiskusi, bias
berbahasa Inggris dengan baik dan mudahlah.”
“The students, precisely, are expected can apply well all skills after they
graduate so they can discus and use English well and easily…”
(Lecturer-Participant 1)
“Ketrampilan memahami bacaan, karena biasanya orang TI memerlukan itu
untuk membaca buku-buku tentang TI baik dari internet yang e-book maupun
buku-buku…”
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“Reading skill (is viewed as needed most). It because IT people usually need
it to read IT books either e-book or printed one…”
(Lecturer-Participant 2)
This finding was confirmed by the student participants. From the
questionnaire, it revealed that the students exprerienced how the following skills
were required in their English courses in IT Faculty.
Chart 4. Skill Used in English Learning
The chart revealed that reading skill was the most needed skill in the class as
agreed by 55% of the students, then itwas followed by listening skill, as agreed
by46% of the students.As for speaking and writing skill, they were not really
required as witnessed by 36% of the students.
However, students also stated their opinion about their needs to support their
upcoming occupation in IT fields. It was gained from the result of questionnaire to
the students. In English teaching learning in the IT faculty, however, students were
expected not only could use their skills in academic situation but also in work
situation after they graduate.
11%
55%
32%
2% 3%
31%
61%
5% 2%
36%
55%
7% 7%
46% 40%
6%
010203040506070
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Reading Writing Speaking Listening
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Chart 5. Skills consider important to be learned
From the chart above, it showed that 70% was speaking skill, 59% was
listening skill, 56% was reading skill, and 54% was writing skill. Speaking skill had
the highest percentage in this point, meanwhile writing skill had the lowest
percentage to this issue. In other words, speaking wasskill considered to be used
more in English learning in IT Faculty.
The Language Used In English Teaching and Learning Process in IT Faculty
This section presented about the language used in English teaching and
learning process in IT Faculty and the students’ want about lecturers’ language used
in English teaching and learning processes in IT Faculty. The data were gained from
the interviews with lecturers and the questionnaires given to IT students.
The result of the interview with the lecturer-participants revealed that all of
them used Bahasa Indonesia more than English. The used of Bahasa Indonesia in
English teaching and learning was approximately 80%. The reason was Bahasa
Indonesia was considered more understandable than English due to the students’
56% 41%
3% 0%
54%
38%
7% 1%
70%
25%
4% 1%
59%
38%
3% 0% 01020304050607080
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ant
No
t Im
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Less
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ant
No
t Im
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Less
Imp
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No
t Im
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Reading Writing Speaking Listening
19
attitude toward the English courses. From teachers’ perspective, the students tended
to became passive in the class if the lecturers used English a lot as supported by the
following extract.
“Ya, 80% masih menggunakan Bahasa Indonesia. Jadi (ketika) kita
menggunakan bahasa Inggris, ketika mata memandang, mata kosong
(tidakmengerti) kita ulang lagi pakai Bahasa Indonesia. Jadi dikelas
selanjutnya kan mereka akan terbiasa dan mengerti.”
“Yes, 80% still use Bahasa Indonesia. So when we use English (in
explanation) there are many empty sight from the students (means not
understand), we (the lecturers) will repeat it again in Bahasa Indonesia.
Then they (the students) will be accustomed and understand in the next
meeting.”
(Lecturer-Participant 2)
On the other hand, the language used by English lecturers in class might
motivate the students to learn English more so that they could improve their ability
using English. Hence, students had their own perspective toward this point. It
wasdescribed by the chart as followed.
Chart 5. Students’ view about the use English in English learning
From the chart above,it showed that the majority of the student-participants
which was 56% want English lecturers used Bahasa Indonesia and English equally in
8%
36% 56%
0% 0
20
40
60
100% use English Use BahasaIndonesia only
for difficult words
50% Use Englishand 50% use
Bahasa Indonesia
100% use BahasaIndonesia
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the process of English learning and only 8% of student-participants wanted the
English lecturers used English all the time in English courses.
Target Situation in IT Fields
The data presented here were the research finding on the target situations in
IT work, specifically on how English language and skills were used in the target
situation (Dudley-Evan and St. John, 1998: 125).
The Graduate-Participants’ Profile
This section describes the graduate-participants’ work place, the length of
working and also their work descriptions in IT job fields
Graduate-
participants Work place
Length of
work Work description
1
IT Faculty of
SatyaWacana
Christian
University
About 4
years
Teaching IT courses such as
Programming, Math, and Logic
2 Garment Company About 2
years
Dealing with networking, software
development, and also as a web
developer in the company
3
Library of
SatyaWacana
Christian
University
About
2,5 years
Being responsible for the software
development and things relate to
this
Table 1 Graduate-Participants’ Profile
From the table above, it was known that IT fields which perform the
graduate-participants work in IT work area such as an IT lecturer, IT staff and
programmer. They had been working for about two until four years. Their work
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descriptions were teaching IT courses, taking care of networking and software, and
developing web.
The Necessities of Using English in IT Work Situation
This section presented the need of English in IT work situation and the
language skills needed in IT work situations.All the graduate-participants confirmed
that in their occupations they needed English for different purposes:
Graduate- participant The necessities of using English in it work situation
1
Read teaching materials that most of them were in English,
communicated with native guests, colleagues, sometimes
students
2
Communicated with his supervisor who was a native
speaker of English, read and listened to manuals in English
for solving problems in work situation
3 Read and listened to manuals in English for solving
problems in work situation
Table 2. The Necessities of Using English in IT Work Situation
The situations in IT work situations which need English were various. For
example, used English language skills to read references, explained in teaching,
communicated with native person and also did problem solving either by read or
listen to manuals or online references.
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English Skill Required in IT work Situation
The language skills i.e. reading, speaking, listening and writing skill needed
in IT work situations, as mentioned before, were used depends on the situations. It
was described as followed:
Graduate-
participant
The necessities of using English in it work
situation
English skill
required
1
Read teaching materials that most of them
were in English, communicated with
native guests, colleagues, sometimes
students
Reading and
speaking
2
Communicates with his supervisor who
was a native speaker of English, read and
listened to manuals in English for solving
problems in work situation
Reading, speaking
and listening
3
Read and listened to manuals in English
for solving problems in work situation,
asked directly to abroad vendor by e-mail
(occasional)
Reading, listening
and writing
(occasional)
Table 3. English Skill Required in IT work Situation
`
For reading skill, all the graduate-participants stated the same point that they
needed English to read references that available in English. The following was an
extract from the interview of a graduate who used reading skill in his job.
“Kadang-kadang ketika kita (saya) men-develop aplikasi, kita (saya) akan
menemukan hambatan-hambatan dalam cara mencapai sesuatu misalny
aaplikasi. Saya secara pribadi banyak menggunakan referensi online untuk
mencari bantuan apalagi untuk coding misalnya. Dan resource yang paling
banyak ada di internet dan yang paling credible itu semua berbahasa
Inggris.”
23
“Sometimes when I develop application I might find problems to get
something done, application, for instance. I personally often use online
references to get helped especially for coding. The most available and
credible sources in the internet are in English. ”
(Graduate-Participant 3)
For speaking skill, all the graduate-participants stated that the skill was used
to communicate with different interlocutors such as colleagues, students, foreign
clients, and foreign supervisor:
“…seperti misalnya diskusi dikelas, mengajar sedikit menggunakan Bahasa
Inggris, kemudian kalau ada rapat itu juga menggunakan Bahasa Inggris,
kemudian kalaupun ada kerja sama dengan bidang-bidang luar fakultas atau
universitas dari pihak asing maka biasanya menggunakan bahasa Inggris
juga.”
“… for example do discussion in class, teach use little English, then
sometimeshave a meeting using English, also sometimes when there are
corporation with sectors out of faculty or university from foreigners it is
usually needed English too.”
(Graduate-Participant 1)
Further, in listening skill, all graduate-participants pointed out that listening
skill was used to comprehended things such as audio-visual manuals without caption
or did conversation with foreigners. The following were extracts interview of
graduate-participants who used listening skill.
“… kemudian listening. Karena terkadang juga saya mendengarkan tutorial
lewat Youtube tanpa caption….”
“…then listening. Because sometimes I also listen (and watch) tutorial by
youtube without caption…”
(Graduate-Participant 3)
24
“Waktu si Boss minta sesuatu dia juga belum bias fasih berbahasa Indonesia
otomatis dia memakai bahasa Inggris, saya juga harus mengerti apa yang di
perintahkan.”
“When my supervisor asks me to do something, he use English instead of
Bahasa Indonesia due to he cannot speak Bahasa Indonesia fluently. So I
have to understand what he commands.”
(Graduate-Participant 2)
The last, writing skill, the third Graduate-Participant was the only graduate-
participant that stated use writing skill. He used it to make direct communication by
email, but he explained that it was occasionally used.
“…kalau writing kan tidak terlalu, maksudnya occasional jadi jarang saya
gunakan. Kecuali memang untuk hal-hal crucial seperti final ke vendor.”
“…writing skill is not really used (in work situation), I mean it is only
occasional so I rarely use it except for crucial thing such as final (action) to
(abroad) vendor.”
(Graduate-Participant 3)
To sum up, skills used in target situation were reading, speaking, listening
and writing skill. The most used was reading skill meanwhile the least used was
writing skill.
English Courses in IT Faculty in Relation To Work Situation
This section presented the graduates-participants’ views about language skills
in English courses and the graduate-participants’ views about the English courses
presented in IT Faculty in relation to their works’ need and how it support their work
25
in IT fields. It also supplemented by the finding from questionnaire to the student-
participants about their view about language skill needed in future IT work situation.
First, the graduate-participants’ views about the language skills in the English
material, two of three graduate-participants affirmed that the language skill in the
materials given when they studied in IT faculty were sufficient to help them in work
situation. From the data, it showed how the English language skills in the English
material could support the graduate-participants in IT work situation. Two of three
graduate-participants who worked as an IT lecturer and a programmer stated that the
language skills in English materials in IT Faculty were generally could support their
works due to they felt enough of it and had no big problems to use it in any
situations and interlocutors.
“Mungkin bisa di skalakan, kalau mungkin 1 sampai 10 mungkin saya bisa
mengatakan 8.”
“If it (the language skill in English courses that fulfill works’ needs) can be
judging on a scale of 1 to 10, I would say 8 for this.”
(Graduate-Participant 3)
“Kalau secara general iya… tapi kalo secara materi saya rasa cukup di
Fakultas. Fakultas sudah menyediakan itu.”
“…generally yes (the language skills in the English material in IT Faculty)
but I felt the material is enough provided by thefaculty (to support IT work
situation).”
(Graduate-Participant 1)
However, the Graduate-Participant 2 who worked as an IT staff and often
used English with his native English speaker supervisor stated that the language
26
skills in English courses were not really enough to support his job. He explained that
speaking skill also needed to be learned more.
“Belum cukup, karena (dalambekerja) saya sering komunikasi pakai bahasa
Inggris dengan Boss. Jadi mungkin speaking-nya perlu ditambah.”
“It is not really enough for me, because I often do conversation with my
native (English-speaker) supervisor so I think speaking skill need more
practice in English courses (in IT Faculty).”
(Graduate-Participant 2)
Second, graduate-participants’ views about the English courses presented in
IT Faculty, one of three graduate-participants stated that the English courses offered
in IT faculty were enough to support them in IT work situation
“Kalau dulu BID 1-2, kemudian BIP kalau tidak salah 1sampai 6 kalau yang
sekarang saya kurang tahu kurikulum yang sekarang bagaimana, tapi saya
rasa sudah cukup membantu.”
“It used to BID 1 and 2, then BIP 1 to…if it is not mistaken is 6, but I don’t
know the present curriculum, but I think the courses are adequately support
me.”
(Graduate-Participant 3)
On the other hand, two of three graduate-participants stated that the English
courses offered needed to be added the length of meeting hours in English courses.
Graduate-participant 2, who often used speaking skill in his work, stated it was not
really sufficient for him when he was taking English courses in IT Faculty.
“Menurut saya belum dan perlu banyak praktek speaking.Mungkin
waktunya, itu masih sangat kurang jadi menurut saya ya mending
ditambah.”
27
“I am not sure it is sufficient and need more speaking practice in the activity
(in the English class). The reason is that limited meeting hours (that limit the
material given). I think it would be better if the meeting hours are extended.”
(Graduate-Participant 2)
“Menurut saya belum, masih kurang. Karena kita hanya 14 pertemuan dan
kemudian kita tidak punya tugas-tugas tambahan yang menurut saya itu
penting sekali karena itu membuat pemahaman bahasa Inggris itu di long
term memory.”
“I feel it is not enough yet. We only have 14 meetings and we don’t have
additional tasks that I think it is important for English understanding in long
term memory.”
(Graduate-Participant 1)
To sum up, English courses in IT Faculty in relation to work situation were
adequately support the graduate-participants. However, the length of meeting hours
in English courses needed to be added in order to emphasize activities and task in
English learning process.
Need of IT Students in Learning English as Foreign Language
Need analysis describes the kind of skills and behavior demanded of learners
in present and future target situation (Benesch, 2001). As stated that needs are
considered as a gap or lack between the present situation and what conditions
expected to make use of the language. (Dudley-Evan & St. John, 1998; Richards,
2001).
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The Need of Providing More Time to Learn English in the English Courses
From the discussions on the present situation about English courses in the IT
Faculty in the previous section, it was known that the English courses were given in
4 credits, which had been renewed from the previous one that offered 14 credits.
From the target situation, indeed, English was used in IT work situation for
various situations. For instance,it used to read references to teach,
communicatedwith native English-speaking person and also did problem solving
either by reading or listening to manuals or online references.
Refering to the fact in the real work experienced by the graduate-participants,
theyviewedthat the credits of English courses need to be added due to two of
themfelt that the meeting hours for the English courses were not really sufficient to
delivered all materials. As a result, the students were not really well supplied with
English and it might influence their performance in their future occupation in IT
work area.In short, the credits of English courses need to be added.
The Need of English Language Skills
From the present situation about English courses in the IT Faculty, two
different group participants, i.e. lecturers and students, were in line that language
skills properly used were speaking, listening, reading, and writing. But, in fact,
reading skill had a higher intensity compared to others. The study revealed that the
English lecturers give reading skill more because the students were expected to read
learning sources in English not only in English course but also other IT courses, in
29
addition the students affirmed that reading skill was the most needed skill in the
class as agreed by 55% of the students.
From the target situation, the graduate-participants stated that language skills
needed were reading, speaking, listening and writing. All language skills were used
for different situations. Reading skill was used to read teaching materials that mostly
were in English and also read manuals to do problem solving in work situation.
Speaking skill was used to communicate with native English-speaker interlocutor,
colleagues and sometimes with students. Listening skill was used to comprehend
conversations with native English-speaker interlocutors and to listen to references in
audio-visual forms. Writing skill was used to write a formal e-mail to abroad
vendor.In other words, in target situation involved not only specific one but all
language skills.
From both present situation and target situation, it could be seen there was an
emerging need from the reality of English teaching and learning in the IT Faculty.
The fact in the real work in IT work situation showed other language skill necessities
such as listening, speaking and writing skill.
This need was confirmed with the finding of students’ difficulties in English
learning. As mentioned before that the first difficulty was listening (49%), then
followed by speaking (47%), writing (40%) and the last was reading (31%). It could
be seen that listening, speaking, and writing skill received quite high number of
percentage in term of difficulty. Therefore, in order to meet the students’ needs, the
30
language skills that needed to be emphasized more in the English learning in the IT
Faculty were listening, speaking and writing skill.
Quantity of the Use of English in English Courses
From present situation about English courses in IT Faculty, the fact that the
English lecturers often used Bahasa Indonesia in English courses leaded to students’
want on this issue. Related to the results of the questionnaire to the IT students, 56%
of the students stated that they want the English lecturers to used Bahasa Indonesia
and English equally in the English courses.
From the target situation, the graduate-participants stated that less speaking
practice made him felt the language skills in English courses were not really enough
to support his job. He considered speaking skill wasalso needed to be learned more
due to its importance in work situation.
From both present and target situations,it could be seen there wasa similar
perspective about the use of English more in English courses. As the students
showed their intentions to increase their ability in English, they wanted the English
lecturers used Bahasa Indonesia equally with English in the teaching and learning
process. Through the usedof both languages, the students might have better
understanding in learning English. It was also aimed to make the students
accustomed with English conversations in order to encourage them to spoke English
actively in English teaching and learning process. Later on, it was expected to
provide the students good abilities in English to support them in the future
occupation in IT work fields.
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Other Finding
In this study, the researcher found that there were needs that already
accomplished by English course in IT Faculty. First need was reading skill that the
English courses were designed to gained this language skill more. In addition, the
result of students self assessment also showed reading skill had the highest
percentage in class action. Moreover, in target situation, the graduate-participants
also often used it in work situation. Second need was four macro language skills that
had been already provided in two English courses in IT Faculty, however, three of
four language skills i.e. listening, speaking, and writing skill needed to be learned
more due to the result of students’ affirmation about their difficulty in English
learning and graduate-participants’ necessity in work situation.
CONCLUSION
The aim of this study was to find out what were the IT students’ needs in
learning English as foreign language in order to support their future occupation in IT
work fields. The result of the study was gained from the analysis of the need between
present and target situations. There were three different kinds of needs in English
learning process that needed to be added. The first need was the need of providing
more time to learn English in the English courses,the second need was the need of
32
English language skills, and the third need was quantity of the use of English in
English courses.
Reflecting to the findings of this study which indicate the needs of students in
English learning, the IT Faculty, especially the English lecturers, arenecessary to
consider and pay attention to this issue.
Nevertheless, the limitation of the study is that this study cannot be
generalized to all contexts. This study was in the scope of need analysis of IT
students in learning English in order to support their future occupation in IT work
area. Thus, the result will be different if the study is conducted in the context of other
majors. For that reason, it is suggested for further study to conduct a need analysis in
other specific major other IT context to increase studies about ESP.
33
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would like to thank my Almighty God, Allah SWT for always
staying by my side and strengthening me to complete my thesis. My deepest
gratitude also goes to my thesis supervisor Debora Tri Ragawanti, MA-ELT for her
time, patience, help, and suggestions to finish my thesis, also my examiner Dian
Toar Y.G Sumakul, S.pd, M.A who has also spared his precious time to read and
examine my thesis. I am also thankful for having great lecturers while studying in
English Departments especially to my student advisor, Lany Kristono, S.pd.
This thesis would also not have been completed without the help and
supports from many people. I would thank to my elder friends Yustina Priska,
Radius Tanone and Ardy Mayopu and all of my research participants in IT Faculty
for being really helpful during the data gathering of my research work. I would also
like to express my sincere appreciation for my beloved father Abdul Mujib and my
beloved mother Asih also my sister Ajeng Anatasya. I thank them for all of their
prayers and support that have really strengthened and encouraged me to study hard
and complete my thesis.
Finally, I send my special gratitude to my beloved the one and only Rino F.
Akoli for the love and encouragement and my best friends Tanty, Ardha, Luina,
Indry,Kak Winny and Kak Bonny for their moral supports and kindness. Also I
thank to all Tenners Family without exceptance for studying together throughout the
unforgettable moments at English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University.
Fita Khoiriyati Ilma
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