UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ NEEDS OF WRITING COURSE MATERIALS: A CASE OF INDONESIA

Ilham Ilham, Bachrudin Musthafa, Fazri Nur Yusuf

Abstract


The aim of this study is to explore the target needs (i.e. necessities, lacks and wants) of the students to inform academic writing courses materials. A case study design was employed as this design to provide in-depth data information. To collect the data, questionnaire and interviews were used. Twenty-three undergraduate students of English department at a private university in Mataram West Nusa Tenggara who take academic writing course in the 2019-2020 academic year participated in the study. The result of the study showed that the students need to learn the types of writing texts, vocabulary and construct sentences into paragraph, have good skills in writing different genres since they are lack of grammar knowledge and vocabularies, and improvement on the aspect of teaching writing. This finding may promise implications for updating the current curriculum and materials as practiced for tertiary level English department students in an attempt to keep up with the latest changes in the methodologies of English language teaching. This study recommends that lecturers and universities should conduct a need analysis regularly and updated the curriculum with such insightful needs.

Keywords


target needs; learning needs; writing courses; materials.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Al-hamlan, S., & Baniabdelrahman, A. A. (2015). A needs analysis approach to EFL syllabus development for second grade students in secondary education in Saudi Arabia : A descriptive analytical approach to students’ needs. American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 5(1).

Alwasilah, A. C. (2002). Pokoknya kualitatif: Dasar-dasar merancang dan melakukan penelitian qualitatif. Pustaka Jaya.

Ampa, A. T., & Quraisy, H. (2018). Needs analysis of the English writing skill as the base to design the learning materials. SHS Web of Conference 42, 00050, 1–6. doi: 10.1051/shsconf/20184200050.

Augusto-Navarro, E. H. (2015). The design of teaching materials as a tool in eflteacher education: Experiences of a Brazilian teacher education program. Ilha Do Desterro, 68(1), 121–137. doi: 10.5007/2175-8026.2015v68n1p121.

Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S. K. (1998). Qualiative research for education: An introduction to theories and methods. Allyn and Bacon.

Boroujeni, S. A., & Fard, F. M. (2013). A needs analysis of English for specific purposes (ESP) course for adoption of communicative language teaching: A case of Iranian first-year students of educational administration. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 2(6), 2319–7722.

Bouckaert, M. (2018). Current perspectives on teachers as materials developers: Why, what, and how? RELC Journal, 1–18. doi: 10.1177/0033688218810549.

Bouzid, H. A. (2017). An evaluation of selected moroccan ELT textbooks: A standards-based approach perspective. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(1), 229–238. doi: 10.17509/ijal.v7i1.6879.

Cruz Rondón, E. J., & Velasco Vera, L. F. (2016). Understanding the role of teaching materials in a beginners’ level English as a foreign language course: A case study. Profile, 18(2), 125–137. doi: 10.15446/profile.v18n2.52813.

Darici, A. (2016). The importance of needs analysis in materials development. In M. Azarnoosh, M. Zeraatpishe, A. Faravani, & H. R. Kargozari (Eds.), Issues in Material Development (pp. 1–219). Sense Publisher.

Dörnyei, Z. (2003). Questionnaires in second language. In Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Fareed, M., Ashraf, A., & Bilal, M. (2016). ESL learners’ writing skills: Problems, factors and suggestions. Journal of Education & Social Sciences, 4(2), 83–94. doi: 10.20547/jess0421604201.

Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2012). How to design and evaluate research in education (8th ed.). Mcgraw-Hill.

Garton, S., & Graves, K. (2014). Materials in ELT: current issues. In S. Garton & K. Graves (Eds.), International perspectives on materials in ELT (pp. 1–285). Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.

Garton, S., & Graves, K. (2014). Identifying a research agenda for language teaching materials. The Modern Language Journal, 98(2), 654–657. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.2014.12094.x.

Ghufron, M. A., Saleh, M., Warsono., & Sofwan, A. (2016). A model of research paper writing instructional materials for academic writing course. English Language Teaching, 9(3), 1. doi: 10.5539/elt.v9n3p1.

Ibrahim, H., Ali, H., Rahman, A., & Salih, A. (2013). Perceived views of language teachers on the use of needs analysis in ESP materials writing, 6(3), 11–19. doi: 10.5539/elt.v6n3p11.

Işik, A. (2018). ELT materials evaluation: A system and criteria. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 8(7), 797. doi: 10.17507/tpls.0807.11.

Kashoob, M. M. D. (2018). Evaluating ELT materials with specific reference to colleges of applied sciences general foundation programme in Oman : Towards a viable checklist. doi: 10.1515/iral.1999.37.2.111.

Linh, N. D., & Suppasetseree, S. (2016). The IAFOR Journal of Language Learning 2(1), 48–66.

Macalister, J. (2016). Adapting and adopting materials. In M. Azarnoosh, M. Zeraatpisha, A. Faravani, & H. R. Kargozari (Eds.), Issues in material development (pp. 1–219). Sense Publisher.

Mcgrath, I. (2013). Teaching materials and the roles of EFL/ESL teachers, practice and theory. In Bloomsbury. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.

Merriam, S. B. (2012). Qualitative research and case study application in education.

Mishan, F., & Timmis, I. (2015). Materials development for TESOL. doi: 10.1093/elt/ccx062.

Nation, & Macalister. (2010). Language curriculum design. Routledge.

Nunan, D. (1988). The Leaner-centered curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J. C. (2014). The ELT textbook. In S. Garton & K. Graves (Eds.), International perspectives on materials in ELT (pp. 19–36). Palgrave Macmillan.

Roohani, A., & Sharifi, M. (2015). Evaluating visual elements in two EFL textbooks. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 68–77. doi: 10.17509/ijal.v4i2.684.

Rostami, F., & Zafarghandi, A. M. (2014). EAP needs analysis in Iran: The case of university students in chemistry department. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(4), 924–934. doi: 10.4304/jltr.5.4.924-934.

Shree, J., Mohd, P., Nor, S., & Din, R. (2014). User needs analysis in learning argumentative writing via mobile platform. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 118, 198–205. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.027.

Silverman, D. (2005). Doing qualitative research. SAGE Publication.

Soleimani, H., & Esmaili, M. (2016). Technology in materials development: A CALL perspective. In M. Azarnoosh, M. Z. Pishe, A. Faravani, & H. reza Kargozari (Eds.), Issues in material development (pp. 1–219). Sense Publisher.

Spirovska Tevdovska, E. (2015). Selecting and adapting materials in the context of English for academic purposes- Is one textbook enough? The Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 3(1), 115–120.

Sumarsono, D., Bagis, A. K., & Arrafii, M. A. (2017). Students’ need to develop English writing materials. Lingua Cultura, 11(November), 67–71. doi: 10.21512/lc.v11i2.1504.

Tjalla, M., Akil, M., & Hamra, A. (2017). The analysis of EFL students’ needs for writing materials development, 6(8), 313–317. doi: 10.21275/ART20175922.

Tomlinson, B. (2012). Materials development for language learning and teaching. In Language Teaching. doi: 10.1017/S0261444811000528.

Tomlinson, B. (2013). Developing Materials for language teaching. In Bloomsbury (second). Bloombury.

Tomlinson, B. (2016). The importance of material development for language learning. In M. Azarnoosh, M. Zeraatpishe, A. Faravani, & H. R. Kargozari (Eds.), Issues in Material Development (pp. 1–219). Sense Publisher. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.

Tomlinson, B., & Masuhara, H. (2018). The complete guide to the theory and practice of materials development for language learning. Wiley Backwell. doi: 10.2307/2071122.

Widodo, H. P. (2015). The development of vocational English materials from a social semiotic perspective : Participatory action research (Issue March) [University of Adelaide]. Retrieved from: https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/97910/2/02whole.pdf

Yin, R. K. (1994). Case study research: Design and method. SAGE Publication.

Yundayani, A. (2018). Present situation analysis: Students’ early characteristics in writing for academic purposes. English Review: Journal of English Education, 6(2), 119–126. doi: 10.25134/erjee.v6i2.1262.

Yundayani, A., Emzir, & Rafli, Z. (2017). Need analysis: The writing skill instructional material context for academic purposes. English Review: Journal of English Education, 6(1), 59–70. doi: 10.25134/erjee.v6i1.771.

Zohoorian, Z. (2015). A needs analysis approach: An investigation of needs in an EAP context. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(1), 58. doi: 10.17507/tpls.0501.07.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.25134/erjee.v8i2.2988

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2020 English Review: Journal of English Education