Needs assessment or needs analysis in a language program is often viewed simply as identification of the language forms that the students will likely need to use in the target language when they are required to actually understand and to produce the language. In general term, needs assessment also called needs assessment, refers to the activities involved in gathering information that will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum that will meet the learning needs of particular group of students. In the case of language program, those needs will be language related. Once identified, needs can be stated in terms of goals and objectives which in turn, can serve as the basis for developing tests, materials, teaching activities, and evaluation strategies, as well as for reevaluating the precision and accuracy of the original needs assessment.
According to Iwai et al. (1999), the term needs assessment generally refers to the activities that are involved in collecting information that will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum that will meet the needs of a particular group of students.
The aims of a needs assessment are thus to determine the types of situations in which learners will be using English, the tasks and activities they are expected to carry out for take part in English. And their existing language skills or abilities with respect to those tasks (Munby 1978).
Needs can be distinguished between “subjective” and Objective” needs (Brindly 1989:70) defines objective need as “derivable from different kinds of factual information about learners, their use of language in real life communication situations as well as their current language proficiency and language difficulties” and subjective needs the cognitive and affective needs of the learners in the learning situations.
Johnson (1994:55) distinguished the needs between “felt” needs and perceived” needs. Felt needs are those which learners have. Felt needs in this reveled state are sometimes referred to express needs and maybe devaluated by viewing them as desire or wants. Thus Perceived Needs represent the other side of the coin –judgments or certified expert about the educational gaps in other people’s experience.
In assessing the needs, Grave (1996:15-16) suggest to include information about the learners’ background – country and culture, education, family, profession, language spoken, age and so on; the students; abilities of proficiency in speaking, understanding, reading, and writing English .
Practical guidelines to needs assessment is proposed by Isaac and Michael (1990:21) as follows:
- Identify the students-oriented goals (needs are based on goals)
- Rank the importance of these goal without regard to performance levels which are categorized as high, moderate, or low importance.
- Assess the level of performance for each of the goals (categorized as high, moderate, or low)
- Establish a priority for each student goal, considering both importance and performance.
McCawley (2004) describes that there are two types of needs assessment:
1. Direct Needs Assessment
A direct needs assessment is accomplished through formal research that gathers data from clientele. An indirect approach uses secondary data or asks surrogates (advisors) for their opinions about priority needs and issues. The direct assessment will result in data that is more specific to the needs of individuals, and it can be quantitative in terms of probability and confidence.However, direct research requires considerably more resources to design and also requires institutional approval to conduct. Direct assessment should be conducted periodically for major program efforts.
2. Indirect Needs Assessment
An indirect needs assessment can be conducted at any time when an advisory committee is meeting and does not require the same level of investment in the design, implementation, and analysis. However, even for a nonformal assessment, if the results are to be credible, procedures must be followed, and findings must be carefully documented.