There are two reasons why this approach should be used. First, learning, as an internal process, is seen as a process where the learners use their existing
knowledge and skills to process the information being presented to them. Therefore, learning depends on the knowledge that the learners already have
and their ability and motivation to use it. Secondly, a learning centered approach to course designs considers the learners at every step of the design
process.
Figure 2. 2 A Learning Centered Approach to Course Design. Hutchinson and Waters 1987:74
Identify learners Theoretical
view of language
Analyze learning situation
Theoretical view of learning
Analysis of target situation
Identify skills and knowledge needed to function in the target
situation
Write syllabusmaterials to
exploit the potential of the learning situation in
the acquisition of the skills and knowledge
required by the target situation
Identify students’ attitudeswantspotential Identify needspotentialconstraints of
learningteaching situation
Course Evaluation
Course Evaluation
Teach course
Teach course
b. Needs Analysis
A needs analysis is considered to be the first important procedure. Some researchers consider the needs analysis as a criteria of ESP, because without it
the course designers will find difficulties. Widdowson 1981:2 defines that needs mean what they students have to be able to do at the end of their
language course. Mountford 1981:27 has another definition of needs analysis. He says that needs mean what the users-institution or society at large
regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a program of language instruction. To determine what English the students need, a needs analysis
must be carried out. It simply identifies the learners’ personal, socio-cultural, and educational traits, their expectations and interest and what the students
need to do in English tasks, the context in which they will do it texts and what their current level of English is. Because of the various definitions of needs,
course designers define needs as what a particular group of students need English for.
1 Target Situation Analysis
Target situation analysis concerns the learner’s future roles and the linguistics skills and knowledge required to perform competently in writing in
a target context. This involves mainly objective and product-oriented data: identifying the contexts of language use, observing the language events in
these contexts, listing the genres employed, collecting and analyzing target genres.
Hutchinson and Waters define target needs as an umbrella term for necessity, lacks and wants. Necessity is what the learners need to know in
order to function effectively in a target situation. Lacks mean the gap between PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
the target proficiency and the existing knowledge that the students already have. Wants are the perceived needs by the students. What the students want
to learn may not necessarily match what they need to learn. Hutchinson provides a simple framework and Waters 1987:59 outlines the kind of
information that course designers need to gather from an analysis of target needs.
• Why is the language needed? • How will the language be used?
• What will the content areas be? • Who will the learner use the language with?
• Where will the language be used? • When will the language be used?
This question outline is used as source of information for the course designer to gather from an analysis of target needs. The materials course
designer is made to reflect on this outline.
2 Present Situation Analysis
Present situation analysis refers to information about learners’ current abilities, familiarity with writing processes and writing genres, their skills and
perceptions; what they are able to do and what they want to do at the beginning of the course. Data can therefore be objective age, proficiency,
prior learning experiences and subjective self perceived needs, strengths, and weaknesses.
Hutchinson and Waters have defined the gap between the target situation and the present situation as the learning needs. Hutchinson and
Waters 1987:62-63 have developed a checklist to analyze learning needs. They are stated as follows:
• Why are the learners taking the writing course? • How do the learners learn?
• What resources are available? • Who are the learners?
• What do learners know about writing? The course designer used this checklist to analyze learning needs. This
checklist helped a course designer to follow the step in designed materials.
c. Learning Objectives
