LOGO Needs Analysis on Non- English Major Students’ English Language Needs --An analysis based on Hutchinson and Waters’ categorization of needs Group members: Tao Tao, Wu Qiong, Hu Xiaohui, Liu Zhiping Presenter: Tao Tao Oct. 14, 2008

Logo Target group  Two classes of freshmen in college  Major in geophysics & geographic information system (GIS)  China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB)

Logo Background  English is widely taught in universities in China as a foreign language.  The curriculum is aimed to develop students’ strong reading competence, listening ability, and preliminary writing and speaking skills, so that they can use English as a tool to get information concerning their own major. (National Education Department, 2005,)  College English Test, Band 4 (CET-4) is a basic requirement for non-English-major students. It tests students’ general ability of language skills, as well as their mastery of grammatical structure and uses of vocabulary. (Committee of CET-4 & CET 6, 2006)  Students’ levels of English vary greatly by the time they finish English courses. Some even fail in CET-4.

Logo Hutchinson and Waters’ categorization of needs Needs target needs learning needs (route) necessities lacks wants psychological motivational material …

Logo Purpose  What are the necessities? What do they lack?  What do this particular group of students want/desire?  What are the issues?

Logo Method  Student questionnaire (adapted from Li & Richards, 1995) 50 questionnaires distributed, with 41 of them collected back.  Informal interview with teacher

Logo Necessities—CET-4 outline  Vocabulary  Grammar  Listening  Speaking  Reading  Writing  Translating

Logo Lacks  Problems are encountered in every specification of language skills/area, i.e. vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, reading, writing, translating  Teachers reported the fact that there are major pronunciation problems for the majority of students.

Logo Results--Vocabulary

Logo Grammar and Listening

Logo Spoken English

Logo Reading and Writing

Logo Lacks  46.34% of students encounter vocabulary problems often, 34.15% sometimes.  46.34% of students sometimes have difficulty in grammar, 19.51% often, and 26.83% occasionally.  Difficulties are met in their listening, speaking to varying degrees.  A little more than 50% of students met reading problems ‘sometimes’. Reading does not seem to be as serious a problem as listening, which is also a receptive skill.  Writing and translating difficulties are generally met to varying degrees. What are learners’ wants?

Logo Vocabulary  They do want to enlarge their vocabulary and know about different uses of specific words.

Logo Grammar  The majority of them want to understand grammatical rules better with the help of teachers and be able to utilize the rules in language output.

Logo Listening  They have a strong desire to improve general listening comprehension ability. More than 70% of subjects chose the highest degree in ‘want to improve this skill’.  Also, more than half of them expressed the strongest desire in ‘want to be able to watch and appreciate English movies’.

Logo Speaking  Students want to be able to do formal presentations/speeches and participate in classroom discussions in English.  More than half of them expressed the strongest desire to be able to effectively communicate with English speakers.

Logo Reading  The majority of them have the desire to develop the ability to read English literature concerning their major and read for authors’ viewpoint, but not so much for critical reading.  More than half expressed strongest desire to improve reading speed and nearly half of them badly want to develop their own effective reading strategies.

Logo Writing  More than 90% of subjects have strong desire to be able to express their ideas, emotions, viewpoints etc. in written form.

Logo Translating  Students in general show a stronger desire for translating English into Chinese (which is of more practical value for them) than for from Chinese to English.

Logo Categories where over 50% shows strongest desire

Logo Other wants  To know more about cultures in English speaking countries;  To pass CET-4;  To improve all-around skills of English and continue studying abroad;

Logo Other wants mentioned  An environment of the English language;  More amount of reading;  To learn to sing English songs;  To pass CET-4 in first year;  Enhance interest in English learning;  Intonations and tempo in reading English aloud;  English thinking pattern;  To speak English fluently  …

Logo Learning needs—possible route to meet target needs  Psychological  Attitudinal/motivational  Materials: besides textbooks, various kinds of resources are available  Teacher  …

Logo Issues Time:  Four hours of English class per week  Two hours for listening and speaking two hours for reading and writing  Far insufficient in meeting students’ needs to improve basic language skills

Logo Issues  No opportunity for communication with native speakers;  Teachers’ level, especially spoken English;  Spoken English specified in the outline, but not tested, making it likely to be overlooked in teaching and learning

Logo Conclusions  Students want to achieve more than the test outline requires;  For them, English is more than a subject. It can be a tool for them to understand the world, and entertain themselves;  Issues exist in bridging the gap between learners’ target and present proficiencies.  In order to satisfy learners’ various kinds of needs, they themselves have to be the main driving force. What administrators and institutes can offer is limited.

Logo References  Brown, J. D The Elements of Language Curriculum: A Systematic Approach to Program Development. Heinle and Heinle.  Hutchinson & Waters English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  National Committee for CET-4 & CET Outline of CET-4. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language and Education Press.  National Education Department Syllabus for college English teaching.  Richards, J Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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