Needs analysis for designing a specific English language course for the in-service English teachers of secondary schools in Bangladesh

Abstract

English for teaching is a component of EOP (English for Occupational Purposes) subcategory in ESP. The purpose of this study was to analyze the needs for designing a specific English language for the in-service English language teachers of Bangladesh. To discover what language the learners have to learn, what they like to learn, and what they have not learned yet, was the central aim of the needs analysis that corresponds roughly to learners’ needs: wants, and lacks (Kumaravadivelu, 2012). The hypothesis behind this study was that learner may perceive their needs differently but it can be addressed by analyzing objective needs (necessity and lacks) and subject needs (wants). This was done by conducting a needs analysis by interviewing 20 correspondents who teach English in the secondary schools in Bangladesh. Correspondents were randomly selected from 12 schools having numerous years of English teaching experience and the interviews were taken face to face and over phone call. Data were collected through the pre-prepared structured questionnaire based on Hutchinson and Waters (1987) target need analysis model. Collected data were analyzed in three main sections that shed light on the real need for an ESP course of the secondary school EFL teachers. The study demonstrated that Teachers are highly motivated to undertake an ESP course as the feel its genuine need. Inspection of possible syllabus for the course was carried out in the discussion part and the researcher provided certain recommendations in the conclusion part of the paper.