other tasks did not reveal any need as the learners rated themselves highly as opposed to the importance attached to the tasks. Students felt that listening to
obtain gist and take notes were important tasks that had to be internalized if at all they were to attain the target needs that needed this skill. Listening is an
important language skill and the listening tasks should be internalized well by the students because failure to listen and grasp what is being said can lead to
communication breakdown. Any communication that may not be clear between the teacher and the student may affect the internalization of the target needs
because learning needs are the means through which learners get to the target situation.
4.2.3 Reading Tasks as Learning Needs
The means of the reading tasks categorized as learning needs range between 4.29
– 2.99 and the tasks with the highest importance were reading intensively 80.5, reading for note taking 75 and skimming 65.3. The tasks with the
lowest importance were referencing 34.8, guessing the meaning of unknown words from context 33.4 and synthesizing 30.5. The table below shows the
importance given to reading tasks as learning needs by students.
Table 4.5 Means and Standard Deviation Scores of Reading Tasks as Learning Needs
READING TASKS
N IMPORTANCE
MEAN SD
SELF RATING MEAN
SD
Predicting 72
3.50 .99
3.47 .90
Scanning 72
3.72 .90
3.33 .96
Skimming 72
3.75 .98
3.14 .82
Reading intensively
72 4.29
1.06 3.40 1.03
Guessing the meaning
of unknown
words 72
3.01 1.01 3.82
.81
Referencing 72
3.00 1.04 3.86
.75 Analyzing
72 3.60
.98 3.54
.79 Synthesizing
72 2.99
1.04 3.58 .76
Making inferences
72 3.14
1.13 3.94 .80
Reading for
note taking 72
4.00 .93
3.65 .92
Identifying main ideas
72 3.76
.89 3.68
.96 Finding
supporting ideas
72 3.47
1.12 3.72 .85
Paraphrasing 72
3.60 .95
3.72 .82
Summarizing 72
3.57 1.05 3.54
.83 Transferring
information 72
3.33 1.06 3.71
.89 Responding
critically 72
3.42 1.13 3.86
.82 Speed
reading 72
3.32 1.08 3.81
.76
The tasks of: predicting, scanning, skimming, reading intensively, analyzing, synthesizing, identifying main ideas and summarizing revealed needs. The
other tasks did not reveal any needs since the mean difference between the importance attached to the tasks and their self rating did not indicate need for
those tasks.
With regard to reading, the students need to read and understand the course materials to a considerable degree if at all they want to emerge successful.
Tasks such as reading intensively and reading for note taking have been considered very important and the students have rated themselves lowly
because they play a critical role in the overall course. The students cannot
succeed in the course if their reading culture is poor.
4.2.4 Writing Tasks as Learning Needs
