A Needs Analysis of ‘General English’ Course from the ‎Perspective of Science Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find the perceived needs of Iranian undergraduate Engineering students from their ‘General English’ course. To this end, a needs analysis questionnaire was administered to 148 undergraduate students to elicit information about their needs in English language at Noshirvani University of Technology. The results of data analysis revealed that among four language skills speaking was the highly needed skill followed by listening. It was also found that writing was viewed as the least important skill and it was the least practiced in the class.  Additionally, majority of participants were dissatisfied with the current ‘General English’ courses. Findings point to the fact that ‘General English’ syllabus, teaching method and evaluation system require reconsideration by course designers.