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English Needs Analysis

1.2 Needs analysis
For a proper understanding of the present situation the needs of the learners with respect to written English were analysed at two levels. Teachers involved in the teaching and testing of written English at the secondary level, were asked to answer a questionnaire ( Appendix 3 ) and were interviewed.  They were also made to write a report about the needs of the learners,  and about the actual way of teaching and testing undertaken in schools.  Some other studies concerned with the needs of the learners were also reviewed.

1.2.1 Questionnaire and Interview
About a hundered teachers from urban and rural areas of Gujarat were randomly selected.  They were given a questionnaire which asked for their opinion about the importance of writing skills for the learners, at the secondary level, for further education and later in life.  They were also asked to indicate the importance of the type of writing that would be useful for the learners of secondary schools (The details of the data collected through the questionnaire are given in chapter four).

Marking the importance of writing skill on a five point scale-very low, low, moderate, high and very high-teachers rated it as more important during schooling than afterwards. Thus 78% of the teachers rate the importance of writing skill as ‘very high’ and 22% consider it as ‘High’ at secondary level.  For further education, 70% think it is ‘very high’, 28% think it is ‘high’ while 2% consider it ‘moderate’.  The importance of writing skill later in life is rated as ‘very high’ by 43% of teachers, ‘high’ by 56%, and ‘moderate’ by 2%  ( Chapter 4, table 1 ).

Among the topics listed in the questionnaire, except for official letters and picture-compositions, all the other topics were rated ‘high’ by 56% to 76% of the teachers and as ‘high’ by 20 to 40% of the teachers (Chapter 4 for details).

The topics preferred by the teachers were as follows :
- descriptive paragraphs
- narrative paragraphs
- story writing
- personal letters
- describing a process
- note-taking
- composition on a given topic
- developing points and writing a paragraph
- simple instructions
- leave notes

About 20% of the teachers consider that one more writing activity should be included in the list, and that was answering comprehension questions based on a reading passage.
To supplement the data obtained through the questionnaire teachers were personally interviewed and were also made to write a report about the needs of the learners. 

According to the interview and report, learners need to learn to write in English for the following reasons :

English as a compulsory subject in classes VIII and IX.  So it is essential for the learners to learn English to pass the examination.
It is useful for communication
English as an associate official language is used for a number of practical purpose within India.
Learners of Gujarat would need English for higher studies if they want to study in any state other than Gujarat.
They would also need English to go abroad for higher studies or for job opportunities.
Many of the competitive examinations at national level are in English and hence English is essential.
Even the learners who learn through their mother tongue would need English to read the books available in English pertaining to their subject.

In answering the question why their pupils should learn to write in English, all of them said it was important for their pupils to write well to pass the examinations, obtain good grades and also to secure better jobs.  About 10% of the teachers said that through writing their pupils learn to express their ideas and feeling. About 90% of the teachers said that writing activity was helpful to consolidate the vocabulary and structure items already learnt orally.