The Necessity of Designing ESP Courses Based on Learners’ Needs for Business Administration

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the area of ESP and to provide solutions to students with problems in English for AcademicPurposes, namely business English and improve the teaching atmosphere by providing a new learning context depending on students real needs.It is hypothesized that needs analysis can provide the necessary platform required for delineating the demarcations of the desired business course and offering information on both the content and form that the course is expected to exhibit. Three experimental methods were utilized for data collection: One questionnaire administered for (56)instructors, two interviews employed for (4) recent CC graduates and (22) CC students and a students’ test. The gathered data were analyzed and interpreted through descriptive statistical analysis that confirmed the research hypothesis. The most important findings are: 1) adopting needs analysis can provide the necessary platform required for the delineations of the desired ESP course 2)teaching and learning ESP courses that are matching with the students’ needs will certainly produce reasonable outcomes 3)the current ESP course in the English curriculum for teaching students at JCC namely at BA Department, is insufficient and it does not meet the students’ needs in their different levels and subjects. This study might lay the foundations for designing ESP syllabi based on learners’ needs at CC and other colleges at JU. The researcher concluded by recommending some recommendations and suggesting some suggestions for further studies. Key words: ESP, Learners’ needs analysis, medium of instruction, ESP syllabus design, curriculum, platform, JU, Community College.