Wulan Rahmatunisa, 2015 NEEDS ANALYSIS AND COURSE DESIGN FOR ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS STUDENTS OF
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |
repository.upi.edu |
perpustakaan.upi.edu
folly due to the abolition of vital lessons especially for vocational schools. A vocational school is a school in which the students are taught the skills needed to
perform a particular job. Vocational students need to be prepared to enter the working world after they graduate and should have some special abilities to
support their knowledge. The competition to get the job as advertised in many job vacancies stated
that English is required in term of fluency in written as well as spoken forms. So the vocational high school students should be able to perform their English
competence; General English GE as well as English for Specific Purpose ESP. However, the present situation of learning English in Indonesian vocational
schools has not really fulfilled those issues Alfiyati Mariana, 2014. Therefore, by this study, a deep analysis on needs of students of vocational school in
Kuningan was conducted in order to enhance the implementation of the newest curriculum for economics and business students of vocational school.
1.2 Research Questions
The study attempted to answer the following questions: 1.
What are the required learning materials for economics and business students of vocational school?
2. What are the suitable learning activities for economics and business students
of vocational school?
1.3 Purposes of the Study
As mentioned in background above, the present study aimed to investigate:
1. The required learning materials for economics and business students of
vocational school. 2.
The suitable learning activities for economics and business students of vocational school.
Wulan Rahmatunisa, 2015 NEEDS ANALYSIS AND COURSE DESIGN FOR ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS STUDENTS OF
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |
repository.upi.edu |
perpustakaan.upi.edu
1.4 Significance of the Study
With regard to the significance of the study, this research has the potential to the theory, educational practice and professional practice as follows.
Theoretically, this study is expected to enrich the literature on need analysis for economics and business students of vocational school in the context
of 2013 curriculum which is still likely received a little attention in Indonesian EFL context.
Practically, this study provides information related to designing need analysis in order to develop students’ English proficiency especially for
economics and business students of vocational school. Professionally, informed by the results of this study, it is hoped that EFL
teachers could develop materials and teaching strategies which incorporate need analysis in o
rder to support students’ success.
1.5 Definition of the Key Terms
There are two terms in this study; “needs analysis” and “course design”. Firstly, needs analysis is a vital part of syllabus design. It helps to inform
decisions concerning the formulation of both process and product objectives, and these in turn, assist with the specification of syllabus content and procedures.
Needs should be regularly re-checked, and objectives modified as appropriate throughout the duration of the teaching programme Richards, 2001. Moreover,
needs analysis is an important part of language curriculum design. It involves looking at where the learners are now in their knowledge of the language, where
they need to get to in order to use the language for the purposes they are aiming for, and what they feel they want to learn Nation, 2000. A very useful way of
taking account of learners’ needs in a language course is to use a negotiated syllabus. This involves the teacher and the learners regularly negotiating with
each other to decide what will be taught and how it will be taught.
Wulan Rahmatunisa, 2015 NEEDS ANALYSIS AND COURSE DESIGN FOR ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS STUDENTS OF
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |
repository.upi.edu |
perpustakaan.upi.edu
Needs are described as objective and subjective Brindley, 1989: 65, perceived and felt Berwick, 1989; 55, target situationgoal oriented and
learning, process-oriented and product-oriented Brindley, 1989: 63; in addition there are necessities, wants and lacks Hutchinson Waters, 1987: 55. These
terms have been introduced to describe the different factors and perspectives which have helped the concept of needs to grow. Each of these terms represents a
different philosophy or educational value, and merits careful thought. The importance of needs analysis is mentioned by Hutchinson and Waters
1987, Jordan 1997 and Robinson 1990 when saying that any approach to course design should start with some kind of analysis of: target needs, present
situation, language, etc. With the data obtained it will be possible to formulate ‘general aims’ and more ‘specific objectives’ as intended outcomes.
Secondly, course design is the way in organizing the course. It depends on a number of factors which include the course content, goals and objectives, past
experience, students’ needs, beliefs and understandings, the method or text and the context Graves, 2000: 127. A course is “an integrated series of teaching-
learning experiences, whose ultimate aim is to lead the learners to a particular state of knowledge”. Hutchinson Waters 1987: 65 The distinction between a
curriculum and a course is important because some of the areas of concern in curriculum development as: societal needs analysis, testing for placement
purposes or program wide evaluation may be out of the hands of teachers who are developing courses Richards, 2001.
According to Dubin and Olshtain 1986, course outcomes can be divided into knowledge-oriented or skill oriented types. When course planners choose to
focus in the knowledge aspect of the course product, they must list the elements of the content that learners are expected to master. Basically, a
contentknowledge-oriented statement of outcomes will answer the question: what are learners expected to know by the end of the course? Content can be specified
as actual reading selections to be covered during the course, as linguistic structure
Wulan Rahmatunisa, 2015 NEEDS ANALYSIS AND COURSE DESIGN FOR ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS STUDENTS OF
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia |
repository.upi.edu |
perpustakaan.upi.edu
or functions, as vocabulary – defined both quantitatively and qualitatively – or it
can be specified in terms of all these areas of content Graves, 2000; Richards, 2001.
1.6 Thesis Statement
