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ERIC Number: EJ1074598
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Sep
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0015-718X
EISSN: N/A
The Utility of Needs Analysis for Nondomain Expert Instructors in Designing Task-Based Spanish for the Professions Curricula
Serafini, Ellen J.; Torres, Julio
Foreign Language Annals, v48 n3 p447-472 Sep 2015
The demand for Spanish for specific purposes (SSP) university courses in the United States has prompted widespread curricular change in language departments over the last two decades (Klee, 2015; Sánchez-López, 2013). However, many instructors lack the tools and training needed to design SSP curricula that meet learners' communicative needs in such contexts. Moreover, little SSP research to date has taken a task-based approach to identifying learners' specialized needs (Long, 2015), which can provide much-needed support to instructors who are nonexperts in the particular domain of interest. The current study reports on a small-scale, multiphase needs analysis carried out to design a university business Spanish course. In Phase 1, a small sample of business graduates and professionals generated a list of 40 target tasks in the domains of reading, writing, listening, and speaking that were relevant to their particular work. In Phase 2, 54 university business majors rated the frequency and difficulty of each task on a 40-item Likert-type questionnaire. During Phase 3, the researchers analyzed and grouped target tasks identified in the needs assessment to create five major target task types that informed course objectives and classroom tasks.
Wiley-Blackwell. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8598; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A