Needs Analysis for the Improvement of the English Curriculum for the School of Human Welfare Studies : A Preliminary Study

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This research pertains to a preliminary needs analysis (NA) for the purpose of improving the English curriculum for a new faculty, the School of Human Welfare Studies, at Kwansei Gakuin University. It also provided an opportunity to survey learners' interests and necessities as well as to integrate the results into the new curriculum. A questionnaire was chosen as the primary instrument of research and 48 questions were constructed. The questions covered the following areas: general background information (experience of going abroad and preferred learning strategies), the academic fields of interest to the students, attitudinal and motivational factors, priority of basic language skills (selfassessment and basic language skills), Other topics that students are interested in, course content and method of instruction, and reaction to extensive reading assignments using graded readers. The questionnaire was given to all the students (n=315) at the end of the first semester, and 264 questionnaires were returned. The results indicated that over 50% of the students went abroad prior to their admission to the university and the skill that they would like to improve most was speaking. Most of them realized the necessity of studying English. The areas of study that aroused the most interest could not yet been narrowed down; rather, most students listed the general areas of the department in which they wanted to study. Most students did not yet have specific reasons to study English nor could they identify the language skills they would require in the future. It seemed that they would like to be able to communicate in English about general topics. In addition, they stressed that the content of teaching materials and methods should make the lessons enjoyable. The previous study strategy used by the majority of students was based on rote learning, particularly memorizing vocabulary, grammar rules, and solutions for past university entrance examinations. They had studied English alone in a passive way rather than as a vehicle for communication, and they had not practiced English with partners in a productive way. Thirty-two percent of the students answered that throughout the course of the first semester, their reading speed became faster.
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Needs Analysis for the Improvement of the English Curriculum for the School of Human Welfare Studies : A Preliminary Study

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