Questionnaires

Questionnaires are commonly used in needs analysis because they are easy to prepare, can be used with large numbers of subjects, and obtain information that is easy to tabulate and analyze (Morrison, 2007; Richards, 2003). In this research, the responses to the questionnaires from the students were used to obtain quick and accurate views of the perceived language needs of the students in an academic context. This information helped the researcher to determine the students’ difficulties and their needs regarding their English language skills in particular situations. Similar to the proficiency tests, the questionnaires were separated into English language skills to determine the difficulty and the need for the different English language skills. Each skill included different activities and tasks in the academic and occupational contexts.

In order to answer the research questions and to avoid the students’ becoming confused about their language difficulty and what they needed during their completion of the questionnaire, this study provided two sets of questionnaires: the Questionnaire on Language Difficulties and the English Language Needs Questionnaire. These questionnaires were developed to be the same format in both phases. The two sets of questionnaires were administered to investigate the changes in the students’ perceptions of their difficulties and needs, which answered Research Question 4. In order to construct the two sets of questionnaires, the questions were developed according to the factors from the needs analysis model. These factors were professional information about the learners (A), personal

91 information about the learners (B), English language information about the learners (C), learners’ lacks (D), and the learners’ needs from the course (G).

Apart from validity and reliability, Rea and Parker (2005) suggested some essential elements that should be considered in designing questionnaires, such as the language and wording of the questions, recall bias, the order of the questions, and the length of the questionnaire; these points were considered in the questionnaire design. First, because of the specific Thai context and research aims and questions, bilingual questionnaires were developed for the research. The researcher developed parallel forms of the questions in both Thai and English. Using this bilingual process, issues unique to each language could be given consideration at every stage of the questionnaire development. Both languages had equivalent quality standards because the researcher asked her bilingual colleague to conduct a back translation. A bilingual questionnaire allows respondents a quick and ready reference against which to check their comprehension and is particularly useful for items which include terminology that may not be widely known in one of the languages (Potaka, 2008; Potaka & Cochrane, 2004).

For both types of questionnaires, four types of questions were used: factual, ranking, scaled, and open-ended. Factual questions were asked in order to collect information about the demographics and educational and academic background of respondents. Ranking questions were used to get the respondents to rank the importance of their language skills and language difficulties (Harzing, 2009). To specify the language needs and expectations of particular sub- skills and language structures and functions, scaling questions are considered the most appropriate. Scaling questions are usually easy to understand and so lead to consistent answers. They are also quicker to administer and easy and quick to record and code (Duff, 2008; Frances & Roland, 2003; Heigham & Croker, 2009).

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(2009). They observed that some people do not like making extreme choices, as this may make them appear as if they are very sure about their opinion when they realize that there are always valid opposing views to many questions. They may also prefer to be thought of as moderate rather than extremist. In order to ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaires, they were reviewed and modified after drafting by the supervisors and piloted with a few students in a food science and technology programme at the main campus of Agriculture University, as they were studying exactly the same programme but were not at the campus chosen for the research. The piloted questions were then edited, re-arranged, and re-written. The details and administration of the two sets of questionnaires are described in the next sections.

3.7.1.2.1 Questionnaire on Language Difficulties

The Questionnaire on Language Difficulties was distributed to the students during the two phases of the study. In phase one, the questionnaire was administered in week 4 (November 22, 2011) during the first period of the ESP1 course. The researcher met with ESP Teacher1 half an hour before the class. After the students entered the class, the researcher informed them of the purpose of the study and gave them instructions on the questionnaire. The students were told that the questionnaire should take 30 minutes. They were asked to return the completed questionnaire within a week as the same process as they did for the information sheet and the informed consent letter. A similar process was followed in phase two with ESP Teacher2 in week 4 (June 19, 2012). This questionnaire was administered at the beginning of the ESP2 course.

The Questionnaire on Language Difficulties in phase one comprised 60 questions in three parts: background information, difficulty with general language skills, and difficulty with language sub-skills and language functions. The questionnaire in phase two contained two parts, difficulty with general language skills and difficulty with language sub-skills and

93 language functions because the students had already provided information about their background in phase one. The questionnaire in phase two comprised 68 questions can be seen in Appendix 3.

Questions in Part 1: the Background Information of the Questionnaire on Language Difficulties in phase one and phase two aimed to elicit general background information from the students: prior learning experience with other English language courses, and frequency of using the English language outside the classroom. These questions also probed the perceptions of their attitudes towards the English language and requested a self-evaluation of their competency in the various English language skills. This information referred to personal information about the learner (B), a factor of the needs analysis model of this research. The questions in parts 2 and 3 aimed to elicit information about the students’ difficulties with their English language skills and sub-skills. This information related to the learner’s lacks (D), another factor of the needs analysis of this research, and helped to answer research question 1 about the students’ difficulties.

General information about the students

Items 1.1-1.2 explored general information about the students. Item 1.1 obtained information about the students’ demographics, including gender and age. Items 1.2 asked the students about their university admission system and whether they participated in a quota system, which is for students that meet both academic and the respective regional criteria set by the university, or the national examination2_.

Prior grades from other English language courses

2 _{This is for students thaqt do not meet the criteria for the quota system and thus are allowed to sit in a national}

examination administered by the Ministry of Education. Once their marks from the examination meet the criteria set by the Ministry of Education and the university, they can study in the selected university.

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Item 1.3 aimed to obtain information about the students’ success in English language learning prior to the ESP programme. The findings were drawn from the responses in both phases, which asked the students to indicate their grades from the two fundamental English courses in the phase one questionnaire. They had already studied these courses before entering the ESP programme. In the phase two questionnaire, the students filled in their grade from the ESP1 course.

Frequency of using English language outside the English classroom

Two items in the phase one questionnaire asked the students about their frequency of using English. Item 1.4.1 tried to clarify and verify their use of the English language outside the English classroom. The students were asked to write the names of the courses in which they needed to use the English language in their study.

Attitude towards the English language and the ESP Programme

Item 1.5 investigated the students’ interest and attitude towards the English language and the ESP programme. In the phase one questionnaire, the students were asked to rate the extent to which they liked the English language, rated from (1) dislike, (2) like slightly, (3) like moderately, (4) like very much, or (5) extremely like. In the phase two questionnaire, the students were asked to rate the importance of the ESP programme because they had already studied the ESP1 course in phase one. They could choose either (1) unimportant, (2) of little importance, (3) moderately important, (4) important or (5) the most important.

Self-evaluation of English language skills

Item 1.6 of the questionnaire from both phases aimed to identify the students’ perception of their abilities in English. The students were asked to evaluate their English language competency regarding six language skills by selecting good, average, or weak. Item 1.7 of the phase two questionnaire asked the students to rank their competency in all English language

95 skills, from the best to the weakest, in order to cross-check their responses from item 1.6. This question was added to the questionnaire in phase two in order to provide more information about the importance of English language skills and language functions.

Difficulties with General English Language Skills

Part 2 of the Questionnaire on Language Difficulties in phase one and phase two intended to reveal the students’ difficulties with general English language skills. In item 1, the students were asked to rate the extent to which they felt they had difficulty with their English language skills. They could rate each language skill from (1) the most serious difficulty to (2) serious difficulty, (3) moderate difficulty, (4) slight difficulty, (5) little difficulty, or (6) do not have any difficulty. If the students could not make a decision or did not know, they could select (7) do not know. Item 2 Part 2 of the phase two questionnaire asked the students to rank their general English language skills in order according to the extent of difficulty, from “the most serious difficulty” to “the least difficulty.” This was done in order to cross-check any discrepancies with items in the earlier sections, and could be looked at further in the interviews with the sampled students.

The Difficulties in English Language Activities and Tasks

There were fifty-three questions in total. Items 1- 42 in Part 3 of the Questionnaire on Language Difficulties in phase one and phase two were intended to gain insights into the difficulties that the students had with each English language skill. The students were asked to rate the difficulties with seven English language activities and tasks: listening (Items 1-5), speaking (Items 7-15), reading (Items. 17-24), writing (Items 26-37), vocabulary (Items 39-40), and grammar (Items 41-42). They were asked to rate the extent to which they found each of the five listening activities and tasks difficult from (1) the most serious difficulty to (7) do not

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know. Additionally, they could add more activities and tasks that they had difficulty with in the space provided at the end of the section of each language skill.

Items 43-52 aimed to identify the difficulties that the students had with their language function sub-skills. In phase one, the students were asked to rate each of 10 language function activities and tasks by writing (A) the most serious difficulty to (F) do not have any difficulty, with the option to select (?) if they do not know. In phase two, the students were asked to rank the ten language function activities and tasks in order according to the extent of the difficulty they had, from (1) the most serious difficulty to (10) the least difficulty. The students could add more language function activities and tasks in Item 53.

3.7.1.2.2 The English Language Needs Questionnaire

The English Language Needs Questionnaire was distributed to the students in the two phases of the study. In phase one, the questionnaire was administered in week 5 (November 29, 2011) during the first period of the ESP1 course. In phase two, the questionnaire was distributed to the 45 students during the first period in week 5 (June 26, 2012) in the ESP2 class. Further, the process of administration was similar to that of the English Language Needs Questionnaires. The students had 30 minutes to complete the questionnaire, and could return it within a week in the box in front of the common room of the English Language Department.

The English Language Needs Questionnaire comprised 60 questions in phase one and 61 questions in phase two. The content and organisation of the questionnaires were the same, but the English Language Needs Questionnaire was focused on asking the students about their needs. Additionally, ranking question about the students’ needs for the English language skills was added in the phase two questionnaire. The information obtained from this questionnaire dealt with the learners’ needs from the course (G), another factor of the needs analysis of this

97 research, and was a part of the information needed to answer Research Question 2 about the needs of the students regarding English language skills.

The English Language Needs Questionnaire consisted of two main parts. Part 1 asked the students to rate the extent to which they needed the English language skills for their study and work. They could choose from (1) the most needed, (2) extensive needed, (3) moderate needed, (4) slightly needed, (5) little needed, or (6) do not need to answer the question about each language skill. If the students could not make a decision or did not know what to rate, they could select (7) do not know. To further gauge the needs of the students regarding their English language skills, an item measuring how necessary the students felt these English language skills were was included to the questionnaire in phase two. The students were asked to rank the English language skills they needed from (1) the most needed to (5) the least needed in item no. 2.

Part 2 of the questionnaire in the two phases aimed to explore the need for the sub-skills for each English language skill. The students were asked to rate the extent to which they needed to use each of the English language sub-skills for the ESP programme. They could rate from (1) the most needed, (2) extensive needed, (3) moderate needed, (4) slight needed, (5) little needed, (6) do not need, and (7) do not know. They could add more language sub-skills that they thought they needed at the end of each section (Appendix 4).