Tailoring the curriculum to fit students’ needs: Designing and improving a language course at Dhaka University - Bangladesh
The assessment of students’ language needs is a crucial pre-requisite in EAP (English for Academic purposes) curriculum development. Effective needs analysis leads to the specification of objectives for a course at the same time considering the available resources and existing constraints. This lead...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Book Section |
| Language: | English |
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Faculty of Communication and Modern Languages, Universiti Utara Malaysia
2007
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| Online Access: | http://repo.uum.edu.my/3232/1/T1.pdf http://repo.uum.edu.my/3232/ http://staf.uum.edu.my/tleia2/ |
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| Summary: | The assessment of students’ language needs is a crucial pre-requisite in EAP (English for Academic purposes) curriculum development. Effective needs analysis leads to the specification of objectives for a course at the same time considering the available resources and existing constraints. This leads to curriculum design and choice of
methodology, which is implemented through appropriately selected teaching materials. This paper presents the findings of a research study undertaken at the Business Studies Faculty of Dhaka University. A needs analysis was conducted on ninety students of three departments of the Business Studies Faculty to assess their English language needs. A corresponding needs analysis was conducted on faculty members to find out their perceptions of their students’ English language needs. Several procedures, namely
questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations, were used to gather information about the objective needs of the students and teaching staff. Analysis of the findings of
this needs analysis revealed that some perceptions of the two groups converged to some extent but there was also some incongruency that needed to be addressed. The EAP course that was being used was evaluated in order to negotiate a more effective curriculum that would address the needs of all the stakeholders involved. |
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