Page 171 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

Identifying the Target Needs of Non-Native Subject Teachers

receive all of their training in English and the third one is that in-service training is offered to practicing
teachers. Each country depending on their own contextual constraints and opportunities seems to adopt
the best option available to them.
Together with this accelerated interest in and implementations of teaching other subject through
English movement, a parallel increase in studies investigating pre and in-service teachers’ perceptions
on the challenges of teaching other subject through English with a focus on language needs can be
observed. For example, in a small scale study conducted in Malaysia with the participation of 26 sci-
ence and mathematics teachers using English 92.3% of the respondents reported problems using new
terms or words correctly while 88.5% of them had difficulty in expressing themselves correctly in Eng-
lish (Yahaya, Noor, Mokhtar, Rawian, Othman, & Jusoff, 2009). Similarly, another study done in the
Malaysian context in 2012 reported that subject teachers of science and mathematics needed “general
English language skills, certain specific language aspects such as instructional vocabulary and phrases”
(Masuum, Maarof, Zakaria, & Yamat, 2012, p. 1004). In Singapore, Low, Chong and Ellis (2014) found
that although the pre-service subject teachers in their cohort fell into the categories of ‘very good’ and
‘good’ users of English according to their IELTS scores, they had relatively lower scores in productive
skills of speaking and writing, especially in terms of pronunciation features and formal writing styles.
In another study in the Malaysian context by Hudson (2009), 50 pre-service teachers at the end of their
first year of a Bachelor of Education Studies (Primary Science) degree stated that having not enough
time to learn English with the associated science terminology was the biggest barrier for them to learn
how to teach science using English as the MoI. They also reported understanding and memorizing sci-
ence terminology as challenges for them.
As these studies show, general English language skills, field-related terminology and phrases are the
major areas that can be regarded as language needs of pre and in-service subject teachers. It is obvious
that as school systems, learning and teaching change in this new global context of education, teacher
preparation programs and in-service training courses should be designed to support subject teachers us-
ing English as the MoI so that they could attain the required highest level of English proficiency needed
to teach their subjects effectively.
Needs Analysis

Investigating learner needs is a prerequisite in effective course design and revision. Since the specific-
ity of tasks, genres and discourse in various situations that language learners have to operate change, a
“one-size-fits all” approach has proven to be ineffective. Therefore, every language course ought to be
considered unique and be designed through needs analysis (NA) (Long, 2005).
It can be better to understand what is meant by needs before discussing NA in detail. Simply put,
needs refers to wants, desires, demands, expectations, lacks, deficiencies, goals, aims, purposes and
objectives (Jordan, 1997, p. 22). NA, on the other hand, is “the process of establishing the what and
how of a course” (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998, p. 121). Especially in ESP course design NA is “a
stage in which the course developers identify what specific language and skills the group of language
learners will need” (Bashturkmen, 2010, p. 17). Main directions of needs analysis are goals and content
of a course. What students are in need of learning and what they know already are questioned in this
process. By doing NA, it is assured that the course will involve germane and beneficial things for learn-
ers (Nation & Macalister, 2010, p. 24).

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