Needs analysis: stakeholders’ perspectives and practices, and collaboration between English and accounting lecturers

Abstract

Research on specific uses of English in occupational and academic discourse communities has led to the development of different types of analyses of learners’ target language needs and present learning needs which are specific to a particular context. A substantial body of research indicates that needs analyses have been well-developed in ESL contexts, whereas those in EFL contexts like Indonesia are less well developed. The aim of this study was to investigate needs analysis practices in one accounting department of a tertiary vocational education institution in the EFL context of Indonesia. A conceptual framework of target situation and present situation analysis were used to examine the perspectives of four stakeholders in the department - students, English and accounting lecturers, and administrators - in relation to their perspectives and their practices of needs analysis. In addition, this study explored the extent to which English and accounting lecturers collaborated in undertaking needs analysis in this context. The study adopted a case study research design using a mixed methods approach to data collection. A total of 168 students in their final year of study, four English lecturers, five accounting lecturers, and three administrators in the accounting department participated in this study. A structured questionnaire using Likert-like scales was used to collect data from undergraduate students about their perspectives of the levels of importance of language competencies in the four language skills - listening, speaking, reading and writing. Individual and focus group interviews and a workshop were used as the main qualitative data collection instruments to collect information about perceptions and analysis practices from the students, the lecturers, and the administrators. A document study was conducted to examine learner needs as addressed in English curricular documents. The key findings related to the practices of target situation analysis were that the stakeholders analysed the students’ target occupational needs pragmatically. While the majority of the English lecturers and administrators relied on informal talks with graduates through social media to get information about target needs, the accounting lecturers drew the target English needs for accounting from the use of bilingual financial statements in business in a globalized economy. Meanwhile, the students relied on their assumption that speaking and listening skills were mostly needed for communication in social discourse. The English lecturers, the students, and two accounting lecturers held similar views about the primacy of speaking skills and considered that conversational skills for social interactions among workers were important. Nevertheless, their knowledge about workplace discourses was limited. They made assumptions about workplace discourses and compared them to the typical discourses of their own social communities. A different view of learner occupational needs was acknowledged by the accounting lecturers. They perceived that knowledge of English accounting terminology was needed by the students to deal with English financial reports. The main findings related to these stakeholders’ present situation analyses showed that there was a strong connection between their limited knowledge about target discourse and their determination of needs based on their routine instructional activities. It was evident that the necessity for oral communication competence and knowledge of English accounting terminology was predominantly justified based on the students’ current low language proficiency and academic language deficiency. The lecturers’ analyses of the students’ language deficiency resulted in their focus on addressing language problems in their instructional activities while striving to achieve the perceived target needs. Furthermore, this study found that the English and accounting lecturers rarely cooperated in determining the students’ needs. A facilitated collaborative discussion between them about learner needs revealed that despite the accounting lecturers’ perspectives of the necessity of understanding English accounting terms, they did not make any recommendations for teaching the terminology through English academic texts either in their accounting courses, or in ESP courses. Some lecturers acknowledged that they themselves sometimes had difficulty in understanding accounting concepts in English accounting texts. The English lecturers were also resistant to teaching English academic accounting texts because they had no expertise in the discipline. The findings of this study add to our knowledge and our understanding of the stakeholders’ multi-layered needs analyses in this context and the influences on their decision-making when prioritizing learners’ learning needs. The findings also provide insights into the students’ analyses of their language proficiency and learning problems as well as their needs priorities. The findings also provide evidence of lecturers’ awareness of their own limitations in identifying learners’ occupational needs, their lack of coordination in needs analysis, and the necessity for more emphasis on formal target situation analysis. Finally, this study also shed light on the importance of understanding the challenges of teaching and learning English for academic purposes (EAP) in an EFL context as EAP was challenging for students, English lecturers, and subject lecturers.