The Effect of Needs Analysis on Designing ESP Courses in Iranian Context A Case Study

Needs analysis is an element of designing or reviewing a curriculum. Its purpose is to establish key learning outcomesand requirements in the design and delivery of a course or learning activity. The needs relate to the characteristics,concerns ,and potential constraints of the students or any other relevant stakeholders. As Needs analysis is considered anecessary first step in designing a course, many researchers attempted to mention the effect of NA on designing ameaningful course. In the present study, I attempted to determine the effect of NA on designing ESP courses in Iraniancontext. To do so, I adopted the needs analysis framework suggested by Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) focusing ontarget needs analysis, present situation analysis, and learning means needs analysis. I used a questionnaire and aproficiency test to collect data. The questionnaire is consisted of 5 different parts including General Information,Experience with English, English at Work, Identifying Difficulties, and English Outside of Work. The third part of thequestionnaire, which is the most important one, contains eleven multiple choice questions and two open-endedquestions. The proficiency test, which I implemented as diagnostic test, is a standardized one that measured the generallanguage proficiency of the participants. The participants of this study are my private ESP classes’ students whograduated in photography at BA level. Based on the result of the questionnaire and the proficiency test, I found thattheir outstanding problem was in active skills and because of their professional matter, they decided to learn English.Based on what I have found from this case study, I have designed an appropriate syllabus for this class to cover theirpresent and future needs.

Keywords:

Needs Analysis , designing syllabus , ESP Courses , Iranian Context