Classroom Needs Assessment

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TESL 0100

Needs Assessments

After quite a bit of searching I came across a great resource that describes a variety of needs assessments. It is from the Center for Applied Linguistics and is actually a trainer's guide titled, Assessing Learner Needs in the Adult ESL Classroom. On pages 40-42 of the document there is a Classroom Needs Assessment Tools Chart that outlines 7 different types of needs assessments that can be used in an adult ESL classroom, however many could be modified for different age levels. For each needs assessment there is a description, the purpose and an explanation of how it can be analyzed. 
One that I liked is Topic Selection. It could be done in a couple of different ways. One way is similar to the activity Kathryn described in which pictures of skills/topics are placed around the room and students stand by the picture of what they most want/need to develop English skills for. This is sometimes called "Four Corners," but could definitely have more than four options.
Another way to do Topic Selection is called "Priority Cards." Prepare cards with pictures or words of skills or topics and have the students put them in order of importance. This could be done individually, in pairs, or in small groups. Students could then get into larger groups and compare their ranking or do a whole class comparison. This activity will help to identify the "high-priority" needs of the students in the class. Afterwards the teacher and the class can select and order the topics/skills that will be studied in the class. This gives the students ownership and makes the learning personalized. Another way to vary it slightly would be to have the students cut and paste the skills or topics in their preferred order on a separate piece of paper. 
Here is the link. Remember to scroll down to pages 40-42, although there is a lot of other great info in the document as well!


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