August 2009 Volume 5 Issue 2
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Title
Needs Analysis for Developing an ESP Writing Course for Foreign Postgraduates in Science and Technology at National University of Malaysia

Author
Md. Momtazur Rahman, Thang Siew Ming, Mohd Sallehhudin Abd Aziz and Norizan Abdul Razak

National University of Malaysia

Bio Data
Md. Momtazur Rahman is a PhD candidate at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Malaysia. His on-going doctoral research is on developing an ESP course for foreign postgraduates in science and technology at National University of Malaysia.

Dr. Thang Siew Ming is an Associate Professor at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Malaysia. She is the Vice President of APACALL and PacCALL and also the Malaysian coordinator of an international project funded by HEFCE in 2007. Her research areas are CALL, Distance Education, Learner Autonomy and Learning Styles and Strategies. Her recent publications are in Open Learning Journal, CALL EJ online and e-FLT Journal.

Norizan Abdul Razak (Ph.D) is an Associate Professor at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics and Head of E-Community Research Center, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Malaysia. Her extensive research includes enhancing the employability of graduates and the ICT competency among educators. Her current research is on bridging digital divide and the social impacts of e-community centres in Malaysia.

Dr. Mohd Sallehhudin Abd Aziz is an Associate Professor at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Malaysia. His main areas of interests are Language Testing and ESP.

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Abstract
ESP Needs analysis is the first step to design a language course which is more appropriate and accommodating in meeting learners’ needs. The purpose of this paper is to propose an ESP writing course development framework for foreign postgraduates in the fields of science and technology of three faculties of National University of Malaysia. The theoretical aspects of the needs analysis are based on PSA (Present Situation Analysis) and TSA (Target Situation Analysis). Semi-structured interview and document analysis, as the instruments for data collection, are used for the language needs analysis. The samples include interviews of 10 foreign postgraduate students in the fields of science and technology of these three faculties in the university. The samples of documents were four masters theses, written in English by foreign postgraduates in the concerned faculties in the university. Document analysis is based on the methodological framework of language analysis suggested by Ellis and Johnson (1994). This paper reviews literature on some fundamental features of ESP, EAP, language needs analysis, components of needs analysis and ESP writing skills. First, as part of investigating writing needs, the paper looks into the areas of students’ difficulty in writing for academic purposes through interviews. In addition, it looks into foreign students’ difficulty and differences’ in academic culture. It also focuses on identifying foreign students’ specific writing difficulty and their writing needs required for ESP writing purposes through document analysis. In fact, the findings of the needs analysis determine some important writing tasks and skills for the proposed ESP writing course. In conclusion, the paper contributes to introduce a framework for the ESP writing course development process, necessary for these foreign postgraduates in the concerned fields of the three faculties in the university.