Identification and Analysis of Students’ Needs in Learning English for Specific Purposes (The Case of the 2 nd Year Students at the Department of Business, Kasdi Merbeh University-Ourgla)

Abstract

This piece of research is concerned with the teaching of English for specific purposes. It aims at identifying the English language needs at the Department of Business, Kasdi Merbah University. The participants are ninety second-year students registered at this department for the academic year 2012/2013.This study shows that analysing business students’ needs contributes to ESP teaching at the departments, and it attempts to analyse the weaknesses and prerequisites of the teaching/learning process in such context. A students’ questionnaire was addressed to second-year students. It has helped to identify the situation that prevails in the teaching of English at the business department. This research work attempts to show that the application of some strategies of predetermined objectives would enhance better the students’ achievements in learning English for specific purposes. Finally, taking into account the findings of this investigation, some suggestions are proposed to help improving ESP teaching methodology by designing a course that takes learners’ needs as a starting point.