ESP needs analysis of Turkish learners of English in architecture

Abstract

Needs analysis requires carrying out specific practices to figure out what students’ learning needs are. Understanding what learners need promotes auspicious course planning. Needs analysis− a practice in which learners are asked how they perceive their needs− is a step of structuring learner autonomy and awareness. Besides supplying data, needs analysis can embolden learners to think over their learning and impose them responsibility for related course. Phenomenology bears the concept of phenomenon that refers to bringing to light. It aims at interpreting the diverse ways people understand a phenomenon. Based on a phenomenological research design, 53 ESP (English for Specific Purposes) architecture students and two architecture faculty members at a newly founded state university in Turkey were surveyed in order to assess their ESP needs. The findings from the questionnaire with open ended questions unearthed the ESP needs of the informants in reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. This study showed that the adult learners of English in architecture department experienced serious problems in particularly production skills− speaking and writing. Thus, language departments and other departments should cooperate so as to make the education of ESP more quality because the participants in the study stated that they needed more quality ESP education.