Análisis de necesidades para el aula de lengua inglesa en Filología Inglesa: un estudio de caso

Abstract

Needs analysis has been generally considered as a typical feature of courses in English for Specific Purposes. However, knowing the purposes and reasons why a group of students needs to learn English should be the starting point of any English language curriculum, be it general or specific. The aim of the present paper is to carry out a needs analysis of the students taking a degree in English Philology at the University of León (Spain). The paper analyses and justifies the type of needs that should be taken into account in order to obtain objective and relevant information for the design of a task-based English language syllabus adequate to the needs of these particular learners. To collect data in relation to the groups' characteristics, the target situation demands and the learners' wants, lacks and learning needs, a questionnaire was administered to 103 students of courses in Lengua Inglesa II, III and IV. The paper reports and discusses the results obtained. On this basis, it has been possible to design more adequate curricula for these courses and choose, adapt and/or design course materials that are presumably more relevant to present students in this degree.