Running Head: Needs analysis in tourism.

Lengua Inglesa IV y Seminario Rotativo en Ingls.

Needs Analysis in Tourism for Secondary

School Students.

Students:
Bernal, Candy
Garrido, Nara

Teacher: Lic. Von Specht, Lilian

2017
 Needs analysis in tourism. 1

Needs Analysis in Tourism for Secondary School Students.

The English language plays a vital role in our modern world as being one of the most
important devices not only for general communication but also for business on an international
scale. It enables people from all over the globe to communicate and interact since it is known
as the language of power. It can be used for a variety of purposes, in different areas and between
people who do not share the same language, and one of the reasons why people study English,
especially in our province, is because of tourism.

In Misiones, tourism is of paramount importance, since it is one of the main touristic

points in Argentina, inasmuch as the Iguazu Falls are one of the Seven Wonders of nature and
thousands of foreigners visit our province every year. As a result, it is of fundamental
importance that high school students be prepared not only to communicate in English but also
to know specific vocabulary regarding the field that concerns our province, which is tourism.
For that to happen, a needs analysis is necessary to be carried out because teachers need to
identify what the students already know and what they need to learn.
When we speak about English for tourism, we are talking about ESP (English for
Specific Purpose), that is to say, the branch of English that is concerned with how to use English
for a specific situation. It is different from English as a Second Language (ESL) or General
English (GE), in which general language itself is the object of study currently taught at schools.
Since the purpose of this paper is to describe needs analysis for tourism in secondary
school, we first need to carry out an analysis of the current knowledge and lacks students have,
as well as their interests in the foreign language. In addition, it is of vital importance to select
suitable materials so that the students have appropriate information related to the field they are
interested (or oriented) in.

Definition of needs analysis.

Needs analysis is one of the most important steps in developing any English for Specific
Purpose course. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1989), it can be defined as the
awareness of the target situation -a definable need to communicate in English- that
distinguishes the ESP learner from the learner of General English (p. 54). It is one of the key
factors in any ESP course because it establishes what and how the course will develop.
Unlike General English learners, the ones who need ESP -for example, for tourism-
have a different kind of need to fulfil, hence, the importance to carry out an analysis which
 Needs analysis in tourism. 2

covers both the background knowledge of the students and the objective that they have to reach.
This can be considered to be the key for an ESP course to be successful.

Target needs for tourism.

Target needs refer to what the learner needs to learn in order to achieve a target
situation. When we talk about needs we have to bear in mind different facts. One of them is the
previously mentioned background knowledge since it is the starting point of our course. Then
we have to set the aims, but we also need to consider the context in which we are situated since
it is not relevant to teach students who live in Misiones specific vocabulary related to mountains
and cold weather when we have rainforests and humidity all over our province. To make this
point even clearer, it will be more significant to choose authentic and pertinent material to set
the target needs for an ESP course concerning tourism.
Another fact to take into account when establishing the target needs is that English is
currently used as a lingua franca, that is to say, a language used for communication between
people whose first languages differ (Holmes, 2013, p. 83), and as such high school students
need to be aware of its importance. It is also essential that they know how to use this language
as a bridge to communicate with other people, and why it is English (and no other language)
the one chosen to fulfil that role.
As a general guideline for teaching English to high school students, the national
government designed a curriculum (Diseo Curricular) which contains the main topics to teach
in each oriented course. It is mainly based on needs that students have on a national scale.
However, students in Misiones have a different reality, hence they have different needs. If we
follow the Diseo Curricular, we can find that they have to learn how to get information
about trips and how to use public transport, or how to ask for basic information and give (or
ask) for directions. They are also supposed to learn about cities, countries and nationalities, as
well as weather conditions, which is related to describing the mentioned places. As regards the
speaking skills students need to develop, the suggested topics are tourism at home and abroad
and life in other countries and communities (Ministerio de Cultura, Educacin, Ciencia y
Tecnologa: Subsecretara de Educacin, 2017). These topics give us a clear synopsis of the
general goals that secondary school students are supposed to reach.
In addition to this, teachers are encouraged to use authentic material from different
sources in order to retrieve the desired information, according to the purposes stated in the
Diseo Curricular Jurisdiccional de Ciclo Orientado (section 3.2.1.3.2). Those authentic
materials can be retrieved from the different tourist bureaus that exist in Misiones since there
 Needs analysis in tourism. 3

is specific material (such as brochures and books) which contain information about the most
popular tourist attractions in the province (see Appendix A). Those texts can be found
completely translated into English, or both in English and in Spanish, and they are appropriate
to work with secondary school students at different levels.

Students necessities, lacks and wants.

In any course of ESP, we have to evaluate the students necessities, lacks and wants.
That is to say, we have to define what the learner already knows as regards the specific area he
is interested in as well as the concepts, vocabulary, grammar structures and the development
of certain skills he lacks. But also, we need to bear in mind what specific topics the student
wants to learn about.
If we consider a high school student who is learning about tourism, we have to analyse
all these three characteristics. Probably, the student has a general idea of the concepts in his
native language, but he needs to learn specific vocabulary in English in order to give directions
to a foreign person who is visiting his city, or recommend a place to stay at during his holiday,
as well as the best points to go sightseeing.
Many students at the secondary level are able to understand the lyrics of a song or to
read simple texts. However, when it comes to oral communication most students become
inhibited either because they do not feel comfortable speaking out loud or because they think
that they are not well prepared to do it. So, if our students aim is to communicate with foreign
people it is important to consider improving their speaking skills. That should be one of the
necessities we need to take into account in an ESP course. Nevertheless, we may have to
analyse other needs, such as adapting textbooks (mostly used in high levels) or authentic
materials we can find in the tourist bureaus to the students level and prepare suitable activities
for them so that they can have adequate practice, and therefore they can have a clear
understanding of the material.
The shortfalls that our current education system presents are mainly related to the fact
that teachers do not use appropriate material for students who are in an oriented secondary
school. Even when they have authentic sources within reach, they prefer to take the easiest way
and teach General English with ordinary grammar books. In addition, teaching isolated
grammar and vocabulary without using it in a suitable context is meaningless and can be
counterproductive.
On the contrary, if students are provided with authentic and specific material (see
Appendices A, B and C), the probabilities that they will be more engaged in the subject increase
 Needs analysis in tourism. 4

since their inquisitiveness together with their thirst for knowledge make them eager to learn
the language. Curiosity is a distinctive characteristic of the human being and it is the engine
that makes mankind evolve. Therefore, if teachers take into account what the students want to
learn when selecting materials, the benefits are going to be enormous.

Target situation analysis.

When a target situation is being analysed, we need to ask certain questions in order to
set a framework for our ESP course. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1989), the questions
needed to determine the situation and the attitudes towards that situation of the participants
involved in the learning process are: Why is the language needed? / How will the language
be used? / What will the content areas be? / Who will the learners use the language with? /
Where will the language be used? / When will the language be used? (p. 59).
If we consider a group of teenagers that study English in a secondary school with a
tourism orientation as our target group of students, it would be useful to devise a chart
following the questions that Hutchinson and Waters propose in their book. That chart needs to
have the succeeding information:

Why is the language needed?
How will the language be used
What will the content areas be?
Who will the learners use the
language with?
Where will the language be
used?
When will the language be
used?
The language is needed mainly for study since students
are compelled to attend school and therefore to pass their
tests.
English is going to be used by reading academic texts,
brochures and informal conversations in order to develop
their reading skills, which is the one primarily asked in
higher levels.
The content area will be tourism for secondary school.
Students are going to use the language mainly with their
classmates and teacher, but they need to be also prepared
to communicate with foreigners (native and non-native
speakers).
The language will be used at school (in order to
communicate with the rest of the group), but it can also be
used in a hotel, in a tourist place inside our province or
abroad.
The language will be used during the ESP course and
afterwards, in any situation that requires it.

Learning needs.
Research about learning needs consist of knowing how to identify the needs of the
learners. Whether we want to spot any demands inside the real world or to guide the students
 Needs analysis in tourism. 5

with an assessment of any previous gaps in learning, an investigation of what is needed should
be done. The process of learning is properly achieved when learners make use of the language.
When the apprehension of the language is achieved, it can be said that knowledge and practice
coexist in order to make communication flow naturally. We need to collect data and take it into
account when developing new strategies, in this case, for tourism. It is of extreme importance
to know or find the most accurate strategies for students of the secondary school to learn and
make use of their English knowledge in specific situations.
Keeping students with their head inside a book without knowing how and when to use
the language is a wrong choice still made by most educators. No matter the method used, the
outcome should be appropriate and useful. This means that not only national standards are
important for learning English, but also the importance of living in Misiones should be one of
the most relevant issues when choosing themes to develop the tourism curriculum for
secondary school students. The research should be specific, measurable, achievable, and
realistic. Otherwise, learners will be stranded from significant knowledge and use of English
for the specific field.

Conclusion.
Since English is nowadays one of the most powerful languages in the world and a large
number of people use it as a lingua franca, it is of fundamental importance to prepare our
students to communicate with foreign people, especially because we live in an important tourist
place of Argentina visited by millions of foreigners every year.
Teachers cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that students need to know how to use the
language, considering that we are in such a well-known place as it is Misiones. That is why it
is essential for them to carry out a detailed need analysis when teaching an ESP course planned
for a tourist-oriented high school. It is not a matter of choosing any suggested book at random,
teachers need to select the most suitable material for the course. Not only they have to find
authentic and meaningful material for students, but also they have to adapt it, if necessary,
according to the different levels.
It has been presented, in this paper, the importance to carry out a needs analysis in any
ESP course, since it determines the necessities, lacks and wants of the students, and gives the
teacher an outlook of the students background knowledge. Based on this analysis, the teacher
will be able to design the most appropriate course for every group of students.
 Needs analysis in tourism. 6

REFERENCE LIST

Anonymous. (2009). Needs Analysis. Retrieved October 02, 2017, from

http://www.scientificlanguage.com/esp/needsanalysis.pdf

British Council. (n.d.). ESP. Retrieved October 02, 2017, from

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/esp

Delestree, A., & Viney, P. (2004). Basic survival: international communication for

professional people: practice book. Oxford: Macmillan Education.

DougLopezA Seguir. (n.d.). Needs analysis (ESP Course). Retrieved October 02, 2017, from

https://es.slideshare.net/DougLopezA/needs-analysis-esp-course

Holmes, J. (2013). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Fourth Edition. UK. Longman.

Hutchinson and Waters (1989). English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Ministerio de Cultura, Educacin, Ciencia y Tecnologa: Subsecretara de Educacin (2017).

Diseo Curricular Jurisdiccional - Ciclo Secundario Orientado Tomo I. Posadas,

Misiones, pp.60-66.

Ministerio de Turismo. (2011). Iguazu. Posadas, Misiones.

MK. Nina. (n.d.). Needs Analysis and Interaction. Retrieved October 02, 2017, from

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/ninamk/needs-analysis-interaction

Simion Minodora Otilia. (2015). Needs analysis in English for specific purposes. Retrieved

October 02, 2017, from http://www.utgjiu.ro/revista/ec/pdf/2015-

01.Volumul%202/08_Simion.pdf

Soars, L. & Soars, J. (2011). New headway elementary (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University.
 Needs analysis in tourism. 7

Appendix A

Authentic Material for Tourism

This brochure (Ministerio de Turismo, 2011) has tourist information about the city of Iguazu
as well as the Iguazu National Park and the Iguazu Falls that are located in that city. It can be
found at any tourist bureaus in our province and it can be used in the ESP course in order to
provide meaningful information to the students.
 Needs analysis in tourism. 8

Appendix B

Suitable Material for Secondary School Learners in the Orientation of Tourism.

This material, taken from the book New Headway (Soars, L. & Soars, J., 2011, p. 79), has
vocabulary and activities related to the objectives for the fourth year of Secondary School
established in the Diseo Curricular Jurisdiccional de Ciclo Orientado, therefore it can be
considered appropriate and meaningful for them.
 Needs analysis in tourism. 9

Appendix C

Suitable Material for Secondary School Learners in the Orientation of Tourism.

This material, taken from the book New Headway (Soars, L. & Soars, J., 2011, p. 79), has
vocabulary and activities related to the objectives for the fourth year of Secondary School
established in the Diseo Curricular Jurisdiccional de Ciclo Orientado, therefore it can be
considered appropriate and meaningful for them.