Needs Analysis as a Prerequisite for Designing an ESP Course for Medical Students

Abstract

This study aims to assess the medical students’ needs analysis at the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Neelain University in the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It also aims to examine the perceptions of the students and their instructors about the present syllabus and the challenges, which the students and the instructors face. It is an exploratory study, that is, to discover the aspects of reviewing a program by involving both instructors and students to express their views. The researcher followed the descriptive and analytical approach. The subjects of this study were of two types: the instructors who are either having experience in teaching ESP syllabus or teaching the current program (i.e. English for Medical Purposes) and medical students of first and second year. The number of the respondents who participated in the study was five instructors, twenty-five students of the first year and twenty-five students of the second year. The data, which were collected by the two forms of the questionnaires, were analyzed through statistics (numbers) then converted into the forms of percentage. The findings of this study confirmed that there were several problems that the students faced at the faculty such as the lack of some of the basic skills, especially speaking and listening skills. As recommendation plays an important basis to undergo some changes within the current syllabus, it is recommended to review the current syllabus to undergo some changes in the content of the syllabus so as to meet if not all, most of students’ needs towards their medical study. It is also recommended to use different methods for collecting data such interviews and classroom observation to get more productive data as well as to use more technical aids such as computer, videos and TV.