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B USINESS E NGLISH professional                                
Developing needs
Ana Almagro
Esteban considers why
and how to carry out needs
analysis in the field of
English for tourism.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 36 January 2005 •
T
ourism and the main activities
it involves are familiar to
everyone. This makes the gap
between the knowledge of the
teacher of English for Specific Purposes
and the content of what is taught in an
English for Tourism class less obvious
than might be the case in Business
English, Scientific-Technical English or
Legal English. Nevertheless, I still feel
1 Specify the information you wish to
collect.
In my case, the aim was to find out
what the main jobs are in the field of
tourism, the most important tasks for
each particular post, and those which
require the use of English.
2 Choose the most suitable
investigation instruments.
Instruments might include such things
as surveys or personal interviews. The
main advantage of a personal
interview is that it eliminates
ambiguity in responses; the main
advantage of a survey is that it takes
less time. I decided on the use of
both these instruments. I first carried
out an interview, which I intend to
follow up later with a survey.
3 Design the survey or interview.
Important factors here include the
formulation of the questions and reply
options, the type of questions chosen
(they could be open, closed or semi-
closed) and also their objective and
the layout (brevity for ease of
completion, etc). I opted for a
combination of semi-closed questions
(seven posts were named, although
these could be increased), closed (the
four English skills of writing, reading,
that it is worth carrying out an analysis of
what the students’ future jobs will involve
and to examine the results in terms of
their methodological implications.
A needs analysis
I decided that five steps were necessary
to perform a needs analysis. Here are
the steps and the choices that I made.
listening, and speaking), and open
(the tasks and the relevance of
English to each task).
4 Subject the survey or interview to
scrutiny by experts.
It is important to do this before
carrying it out so as to find any
errors or ambiguities. Thus, the
interview was evaluated by experts
in the field of English Studies and
Statistics. The English experts
pointed out that the formulation of
the question focusing on the
relevance of the four English skills
made it impossible to evaluate their
role in each task, and so the
necessary changes were made in
the final version of the interview. The
statistics experts, however, agreed
that the analysis of the interview
results would present no problems.
5 Decide on the group to whom the
survey or interview is to be
administered.
I decided to carry out the interview
with a professional in the field of
tourism*, a decision which justifies the
formulation of open questions. The
professional involved saw fit to add
further information concerning some
jobs and to modify one job title.

35
 B USINESS E NGLISH professional                                 

Developing needs Jobs

The original proposal
Tasks Use of English Relevance of the skills

1 Yes □ No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5

The original proposal
2 Yes □ No □ Reading 1 2 3 4 5
First, let’s take a look at the initial draft Hotel receptionist
questions for the interview and then the 3 Yes □ No □ Listening 1 2 3 4 5
final version, which includes the 4 Yes □ No □ Speaking 1 2 3 4 5
modifications suggested by both the
English experts and the tourism 1 Yes □ No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5
professional, as well as the information
2 Yes □ No □ Reading 1 2 3 4 5
collected from the interview. Travel agent
3 Yes □ No □ Listening 1 2 3 4 5

The final version 4 Yes □ No □ Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

The final version of my interview 1 Yes □ No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5

questions, which also shows the results,
2 Yes □ No □ Reading 1 2 3 4 5
is on page 37. Events organiser
3 Yes □ No □ Listening 1 2 3 4 5

Methodological 4 Yes □ No □ Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

implications 1 Yes □ No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5
1 I found that all four English skills
2 Yes □ No □ Reading 1 2 3 4 5
should be fostered, particularly Tourist information
officer
listening and speaking. 3 Yes □ No □ Listening 1 2 3 4 5

2 Descriptions of jobs, tasks involved 4 Yes □ No □ Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

and the role of English in each task
1 Yes □ No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5
might be a useful source of
information when evaluating 2 Yes □ No □ Reading 1 2 3 4 5
Tourist guide
materials for English for Tourism.
3 Yes □ No □ Listening 1 2 3 4 5
The contents need to be related to
the particular area of specialisation 4 Yes □ No □ Speaking 1 2 3 4 5
of the individual student and
should be authentic. In particular, 1 Yes □ No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5

activities in which students are 2 Yes □ No □ Reading 1 2 3 4 5

involved should reflect those Tour operator
demanded of tourism professionals. 3 Yes □ No □ Listening 1 2 3 4 5

3 The relevance of the four skills to 4 Yes □ No □ Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

particular jobs should be taken into 1 Yes □ No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5

account when evaluating materials
in this field. 2 Yes □ No □ Reading 1 2 3 4 5
Cook
4 The tasks given to define each job 3 Yes □ No □ Listening 1 2 3 4 5

could be a starting point for the 4 Yes □ No □ Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

design of activities.

 * I should like to take this opportunity to

Ana Almagro Esteban is
a lecturer in ESP at the
thank Eva María de Dios Martínez, University of Jaén,
As you will see, my initial proposal for Spain, from where she
Specialist in Firms and Tourist Activities,
a needs analysis was refined and received her PhD in
and President of the Provincial Business English. Her
developed to give a more appropriate Association of Official Tourist Guides in current research and
and useful instrument. I feel that this the Province of Jaén, Spain, of which publications focus on
instrument could be further adapted ESP (needs analysis,
she is a founder member. materials evaluation,
and used in needs analyses with other case methodology).
professionals in the field of tourism
and, indeed, with professionals in other
aalmagro@ujaen.es
areas of business. ETp

36 • Issue 36 January 2005 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 The final version
Jobs Tasks Use of English Relevance of the skills (on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being highly relevant)

1 Telephone reservations Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

2 Desk reservations Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

Hotel receptionist
3 Registration and checking out Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

4 Hotel and town information services Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

1 Information and reservations by telephone Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

2 Information and reservations at desk Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

Travel agent
(Retail agency)
3 Attendance at tourism fairs Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

4 Contact with foreign tour operators Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

1 Information about the event in writing Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

2 Conversations with exhibitors Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

Events organiser
(Conferences, etc)
3 Yes □ No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

4 Yes □ No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

1 Tourist information at desk Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

Tourist information 2 Dealing with Fam trips** Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5
officer
(Tourist office) 3 Writing tourist publicity Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

4 Tourist information by telephone Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

1 Information and visit reservations by telephone Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

2 Information and visit reservations in writing Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5
Tourist guide
3 Explanations on guided visits Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

4 Interpreting for clients (in restaurants, etc) Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

1 Reservation services Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

2 Inspection of new tourist destinations Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

Tour operator
(Wholesale agency)
3 Contact with offices Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

4 Attendance at tourism fairs Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

1 Writing menus Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 36 January 2005 •

2 Oral explanation of dishes/courses Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5
Restaurateur
3 Table reservation and payment Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

37
4 Dealing with complaints Yes  No □ Writing 1 2 3 4 5 Reading 1 2 3 4 5 Listening 1 2 3 4 5 Speaking 1 2 3 4 5

** Familiarisation trip: inspection of tourist destinations