Needs Analysis in Higher Education: A Case Study for English Language Achievement

Edgar Emmanuell Garcia-Ponce*, Irasema Mora-Pablo**, M. Martha Lengeling***
* English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham, UK.
** Applied Linguistics, University of Kent, UK.
*** Language Studies, University of Kent, UK.
Periodicity:April - June'2021
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jelt.11.2.17476

Abstract

Due to globalization, many universities around the world have started to strengthen academic and research practices with the view to meeting international standards. However, the higher education context of the study has faced the challenge to provide our students with successful language learning to prepare them for the job market. This challenge was the motivation for this research: to better understand the needs of our students' language achievement for their future jobs. Therefore, in order to examine how English teaching and learning can be improved in this context, we adopted a need analysis approach by conducting focus groups with university authorities (36 participants), English teachers (31 participants) and learners (54 participants) from different disciplines in a state university in central Mexico. Based on the participants' responses, the findings suggest that in the present context English teaching and learning should be redesigned to include practices which allow learners to develop language skills for their future career. To do this, we suggest a top-down strategic plan which promotes the inclusion of two major components (i.e. a general English coordination and content-based instruction) as a way to address the stakeholders' needs concerning linguistic limitations in this setting. This paper shows the importance of conducting needs analysis in higher education to determine how to enhance English teaching and learning from a context-sensitive perspective.

Keywords

Content-Based Instruction, English Learning, English Teaching, Higher Education, Mexican University, Needs Analysis (NA).

How to Cite this Article?

García-Ponce, E. E., Mora-Pablo, I., and Lengeling, M. M. (2021). Needs Analysis in Higher Education: A Case Study for English Language Achievement. i-manager's Journal on English Language Teaching, 11(2), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.26634/jelt.11.2.17476

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