The Definition and its Advantages
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and Waters 1987: 55 state that learner needs include target needs and learning needs.
1 Target Needs
Target needs include the target situation in terms of necessities, lacks, and wants.
1. Necessities
Necessities are determined by the demands of the target situation, that is, what the learners have to do in order to function effectively in the target situation.
2. Lacks
It is important to know what the learners already know in order to see the learners’ lacks.
3. Wants
After identifying the learners’ necessities and lacks, it is important to consider what the learners’ view of their needs is. It is necessary to conduct the students’
wants about the subject. 2
Gathering Information about Target Needs There are number of ways in which information can be gathered about
needs. The most frequently used are questionnaires, interviews, observation, data collection and others. However, it is possible to use more than one method to
gather the information. It is also important to remember that needs analysis is a continuing process in which the conclusions are constantly checked and re-
assessed Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 59. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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3 Learning Needs
According to Hutchinson and Waters 1987: 62, it is naive to base a course design simply on the target objective, just as it is naive to think that a
journey can be planned solely in terms of the stating point and the destination. Therefore, it is also important to know and plan about the vehicle in order to
achieve the destination. This vehicle, concerning ESP course design, is called as learning needs.
4 Analyzing Learning Needs
To analyze learning needs, we can refer to these following questions as the framework for analyzing learning needs:
Why are the learners taking the course?
How do the learners learn?
What resources are available?
Who are the learners?
Where will the ESP course take place?
When will the ESP course take place?
Therefore, after knowing what English for Specific Purpose is, the writer needs to know about the theory of teaching speaking.