The Training Concept of Speaking Skill based on Need Analysis

Sumarta

Indonesia University of Education

Keywords: Training, Concept, Speaking Skill, Need Analysis

Abstract: The development of good vocation trainings and schools is crucially needed to gain the quality education.

By quality education, it means the schools or trainings that can prepare the graduate with global

competence. The best schools or training that can produce the best outcome depends on how the curriculum

is designed and implemented. This paper will describe the training concept of speaking skill based on need

analysis. The research employed qualitative approach, in which the data were collected from the students of

vocational schools. The research describes; (1) the condition of the students’ speaking skill at vocational

school, (2) the portrait of the existing course condition at vocational school; (3) the concept of the students’

English speaking skill based on need analysis.. The concept includes the aspects; the course rationale, goals

and objectives, syllabus, the materials, the learning activities, the monitoring and assessment, and the course

evaluation.

1 INTRODUCTION

Most of the students at either public or private

schools in Indonesia are highly motivated to study

English and they are happy when their teachers use

English in the classroom interaction. However, not

all of the teachers use English in classroom

interaction; only 45 % of the teachers use English in

the classroom interaction (Yulia, 2013). The

research reveals that proficiency of the students in

English as Foreign Language (EFL) is still low

(PISA, 2016). The success of the students’

performance either inside or outside the classroom

depends on the construction of learning and teaching

(Bøhn, 2015). Sometimes, in learning and teaching,

students and teacher are mismatched (Babaii et al.,

2016). As matter of fact, teachers play an important

role in ELT classroom (Tsang, 2017). Therefore, the

concept is the starting point for teachers to explore

and fix the problem in the classroom (Fawcett,

2012). The process of a course design is affected by

need analysis which describes a particular target and

learning situation (Hutchinson.T, 2014). This paper

decribes a training concept of speaking skill based

on need analysis. The concept was formulated after

finding the answers of how the speaking skill of the

students and the portrait of the course at the school.

Until recently analyzing need of speaking skills

for students of vocational schools have been done a

lot of times. However, analysis of students’ need for

speaking skills at three majors of vocational schools

in Indonesian context is still scanty. The paper aims

to the paper aims to describe the following aspects:

(a) the present condition of the students’ speaking

skills at vocational schools; (b) The portrait of the

existing English course at vocational schools; and,

needs

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Training Conception

ESP, like any form of language teaching, is

primarily concerned with learning. But it is our view

that in its development up to now, ESP has paid

scant attention to the question of how people learn,

focusing instead on the question of what people

learn. It has, in other words, been language- centered

486

Sumarta, .

The Training Concept of Speaking Skill based on Need Analysis.

DOI: 10.5220/0008220900002284

In Proceedings of the 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference (BELTIC 2018) - Developing ELT in the 21st Century, pages 486-490

ISBN: 978-989-758-416-9

in its approach. We would not wish to dismiss this

language-centered approach. It has provided some

very important insights into the nature of specific

language needs.

However, we feel that, if it is to have any real

and lasting value, ESP must be founded in the first

instance on sound principles of learning, and it is

with this purpose in view that we have proposed a

learning-centered approach to ESP. In the following

part, what this shift in focus entails for the ESP

practitioner is explained (Hutchinson.T, 2014).

An outline of the transition from concept

acquisition to concept mastery is offered which

stresses the importance of learning in operational

conditions in order to achieve expert performance,

which itself implies concept mastery. Context-

sensitive aspects of concept mastery in the form of

‘activity concepts’ are considered and their

importance recognized (Winch, 2016). The effects

of training on peer assessment and comments

provided regarding oral presentations in EFL

(English as a Foreign Language) classrooms

(Saito.H, 2008).

Moreover, the conception of the teachers in

implementing curriculum to construct the classroom

activity concerned with the learners’ knowledge is

important (Bøhn, 2015). Task Based Learning

Teaching (TBLT) indicated that learners improved

their speaking proficiency by maximizing their

speed of speech, increasing grammatical accuracy,

elaborating on their utterances, and developing

interactional language. Furthermore, learners’

opinions on being taught with the TBLT approach

were sought, and the findings indicated that the

learners felt encouraged to speak, believed in their

potentials to use the target language, expanded their

vocabulary, and recognized the relevance of the

TBLT approach (Albino, 2017).

2.2 Need Analysis

Needs analysis as an integral part of evaluative

review of English materials, mainly textbooks,

requires giving sufficient attention in all English

language learning contexts. This issue seems to be

more demanding in English as a Foreign Language

(EFL) contexts where the textbooks are the main

sources of input for the learners. However, in some

cases, this important factor is excluded entirely or at

least limited to the ideas of major stakeholders

(Rashidi & Kehtarfard, 2014). The article reports on

the findings of a study conducted to evaluate an

English textbook (the third-grade high school

English book), which is being used in all state high

schools in Iran by using a needs analysis framework.

As the conclusion from the research that the

textbook that used by the students fully support the

students in learning process (Rashidi & Kehtarfard,

2014). In learning process, the students also need to

know what they are learning and they want to know

what they have been learning (2010).

Hutchinson and Waters ((Hutchinson.T, 2014))

divide needs into target needs (i.e. what the learner

needs to do in the target situation) and learning

needs (i.e. what the learner needs to do in order to

learn). And the target needs can be identified from

three areas i.e. necessity, wants, and lack. Necessity:

What is necessary in the learners’ use of language?

For example, do the learners have to write answers

to exam questions? Wants : What do the learners

lack? For example, are there aspects of writing that

were not practiced in their previous learning (L1,

L2)? and Lack: What do the learners wish to learn?

(Nation & Macalister, 2010)..

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the research methodology

which includes the research design, the data

collection, the data analysis, and the limitation of the

study. The research design provides the theoretical

framework on which the research is based on, the

purpose of the research, and the research site and

participants.

This study is in the domain of applied linguistics

specifically in ESP. ESP is an approach to language

teaching which aims to meet the needs of particular

learners. Robinson (1991), Jordan (1997), Dudley-

Evans and St. John (1998) agree that the key stages

in ESP are Needs Analysis, Course (Syllabus)

Design, Materials selection, teaching and learning,

and evaluation. The five stages can be contracted

into three phases: needs analysis, course design, and

application. Explicitly, ESP process is started from

identifying the learners needs analysis, and

designing the course on the basis of the needs, and

then the implementation of the course.

The aim of this research is to produce the

concept of course design (syllabus) at vocational

school. To achieve the intended target, the writer

conducts three main activities. First this research

begins from library research in order to find the

general concept of ESP and to review the literature

on ESP and to review the previous related studies.

Second, on the basis of the theory, the needs

analysis was conducted to find the needs of the

The Training Concept of Speaking Skill based on Need Analysis

487

students and the stakeholders. And the third, the

result of needs analysis was analysed and

interpreted to produce the concept of speaking

skills appropriate to the students.

This research was carried out at a vocational

school in Karawang called “S” vocational school.

This school has three majors, namely; Pharmacy,

Computer Network, and Office and Administration.

The focus of the research was done at Computer

Networking Students. This major has three learning

school years; the first, the second, and the third year.

Each has 120 learners. Therefore, the total number

is 360 learners. In this research, 120 third-year

students were taken to be the participants. Since the

research adopted a qulitative approach, the

questionnaire, interview, observation, and

documentation became the major tools of data

collection (Creswell, 1998).

There are 49 questions in the questionnaire; 9

items for respondents’ profile, 15 items about the

English course, 5 items for target situation analysis,

8 items for the present situation analysis, 10 items

for the learning needs analysis, and 2 items for the

deficiency analysis, situation analysis (learning

needs analysis and deficiency).

There are three forms of interview guides, for the

students, instructors, course and other stakeholders

(the headmaster and foundation). The parts of

interview guide for the students are: small talk

(warm up), level check, probe, and wind-down

(closing). These stages are done to 20 students in

order to confirm the results of assessment from the

instructors. The main parts of the interview guide for

the instructors of the course are: introduction, time

and place, questions (students’ profile, importance

of the English course, students’ proficiency,

teaching and learning activities, course objective,

needs analysis, course preparation, evaluation,

facilitating factors, and suggestions) and closing.

The parts of interview guide for head master and

foundation board are similar to the instructor guides.

But the interview for the head master and foundation

was focused on the general purposes of the

institutions.

The observation is carried out for two English

teachers and students. The writer observed the

classroom activities once for each instructors. The

classroom took 90 minutes. The procedures of the

observations are as follows: first, the researcher

asked for permission and made an appointment to

both instructors to have observation in the

classroom. At the schedule time, the researcher and

the instructor came into the classroom together. In

the classroom, the researcher also set a video camera

to record the activities in that classroom. And he

tried to be invisible to the instructor and students.

During the observation, the researcher took notes of

the classroom implementation.

The field notes in this study are in narrative

forms. The researcher focused on the description of

classroom activities, which consisted of the type of

activity, the participant organization, the content, the

student modality, materials, and physical setting.

The document collected in this research includes

syllabus, lesson plans, instructional, test and students

test records documents. The documents were from

the instructors of the English course at school “S”.

To answer the first research question and the

second research question, the researcher categorized

the data in terms of such as the present students

speaking skill, institutional goals, classroom

implementation, materials, instructors, teaching

methodology, and evaluation. The questionnaire data

on English course, the interview data, the classroom

observation data, and the data from documents were

the sources that gave the present students speaking

skills and the portrait of the present course

implementation. The result of the data analysis and

the interpretation was used to be the basis to build

the concept training of speaking skill at vocational

school.

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 The Students’ Speaking Skills

Based on the interview conducted to 20 students in

English and the information from the instructor, the

researcher found low their speaking skill at the

school “S”. When the researcher began to interview

using English, most of students could understand,

but they still committed some errors in both

pronunciation and grammar. Furthermore, when the

interview moved to the level check and probe, most

of them did not understand what the researcher said.

This portrait described that level of the students

speaking skill was still under the average.

4.1.1 Target Situation Analysis

There are five items in target situation analysis,

which describes the students’ reasons to study

English for the future, their perception of the

importance of English and oral accuracy, the

frequency of their writing task, and their

intermediate future need. Generally, the students

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needed English in order to work in a good company

and get much salary. By mastering English, they can

communicate globally and could travel around the

world.

This section gives the interpretation of the

students’ speaking skill at a vocational school. It

includes the competences of vocabulary, grammar,

and pronunciation. The vocabulary mastery of the

students at school “S” need some help since most of

the students have no sufficient vocabularies. They

should study hard to learn from daily vocabulary

commonly used in daily communication.

The grammar mastery of the students is still low.

This can be proved from the interview done by the

researcher concerned with the level check. Most of

them could not answer the question with past tense

situation. Even the present tenses are frequently

mistaken. The pronunciation mastery of the learners

is still questioned. Most of the students committed

pronunciation errors. They speak with local English

(Englishes), in terms of their intonation, stress, and

spelling.

4.1.2 The Portrait of English Course

The goals of the institution are to produce the good

English speaking skill graduations who could

answer the demand needed by the companies and to

fulfil the target of national curriculum. The efforts

to gain those aims, the head master and foundation

let the English instructors to organize the classroom

management or implementation by themselves. The

school gave the message for the instructors to be

able to fulfil the goals decided by the schools and

government. Technically, the headmaster and

foundation gave the chance to the instructors to

develop the materials by themselves.

4.1.3 Instructors and Teaching Model

From the interview, observation, and document

review to the instructors, the researcher narrated the

result as follows; first they share their problem

during the classroom activities, because most of the

students’ knowledge and ability in basic English are

very low. They were difficult to understand the

lesson given by teachers about the specific purpose.

Therefore, the result of the students learning and

teaching target was not maximal.

The methodology, generally, used by the

instructors consisted with three groups activities;

pre-activities, whilst activities, and post activities.

Pre-activities included greeting, checking the

students’ attendance, motivating the students.

Whilst-activities included the students’ reading text

and finding the answers written at the end of the

passage, and then discussing it with teachers’ guide.

The instructors asked the students to open the

dictionary to translate the meaning of the text.

Post-activities included the reviewing the points

of the text, assignments, and closing the meeting.

When the semester came, the assessment of the EFL

in that school was multiple choices, matching, and

essay (written test).

4.2 Interpretation of the Findings

In teaching implementation and learning process,

each instructor has her own styles of teaching.

However, the teaching methodology of the teachers

includes three groups of activities; pre-activities,

whilst activities, and post-activities. In the pre-

activities, the teachers greeted, motivated, and

conditioned the students. In the main activities, the

teachers explained the lesson, gave the students the

exercises to read and find vocabulary in the text. In

the post-activities, the teachers reviewed the lesson

and gave home work for the students. To make the

students actively participate in teaching and

learning, the teachers used various strategies,

namely; question-and-answer, discussion, individual

or group assignment.

4.2.1 The Proposed Training Concept of

Speaking Skill

The training concept of speaking skill is designed on

the basis of the needs analysis. The results of the

needs analysis provide the objective and subjective

of the students, and target needs and learning needs.

Target needs consists of the necessities, wants.

The training concept follows the design

suggested by Nation and Macalister (2010). The

process includes environmental analysis, needs

analysis, principles of language teaching and

learning, goal and objectives, content and

sequencing, format and presentation, monitoring and

assessment, and evaluation. Based on the findings of

the students’ present situation and target analysis,

the training concept of the speaking skill is as

follows:

1) The need to develop the vocabulary mastery

in order to make easier to master the oral

communication

2) The need to develop basic grammar as

the strong foundation of the students to

develop their own language

3) The need to develop the pronunciation in

The Training Concept of Speaking Skill based on Need Analysis

489

order that they can use the video or audio to

have a self- learning.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The purposes of this research are (1) to describe the

present students’ speaking skill; (2) to depict the

existing condition of the English course; and (3) to

propose the training concept of speaking skill based

on needs analysis.

The findings of the research conducted through

questionnaire, observation, interview, and document

review, give the portrait of the present condition of

the school and provide the information on the needs

analysis and teaching implementation t as a basis of

developing the training concept.

The training concept includes such aspects as the

course rationale, goals and objectives, syllabus, the

materials, the learning activities, and the monitoring

and assessment, and the course evaluation. Those

aspects are the training concept to develop the

students speaking skill based on the needs analysis.

Since developing the students skill based on the

needs analysis is crucial, to produce the design of

curriculum, specially speaking courses, need

analysis will be the target for the furure related

research. The future reseach may evaluate the

formulated speaking courses to see its effectiveness.

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