Have you ever wondered how to do an ESL needs analysis for your students? What about an analysis of their CEFR level? How well do you understand your students’ goals, challenges, and level? During lessons, it’s natural to reflect on our students’ skills and needs. Why should we do this?
As we’ll learn, it serves as a guiding framework in ELT. Through a needs analysis, teachers can gain a clearer idea of our students’ abilities and objectives. It helps us better support our students’ learning journey. In essence, it’s a valuable tool for both teachers and learners. In this post, we’ll go through it all.
Imagine having a tool that gives you insights into your students’ abilities or needs. This is basically what an ESL needs analysis is! It offers a comprehensive understanding of students’ goals, challenges, and strengths. This enables teachers to make informed decisions. The benefits of a needs’ analysis include the following:
So, how do we make this magic work? We’ve got many tools, and no, you don’t need a magic wand!
One idea is to use detailed questionnaires. These are designed to assess a student’s language challenges. There are so many diverse tools out there for this. You can do this simply through one-on-one chats, group discussions, or even personal diaries. One of the easiest ways to find out what your students’ challenges are is to simply ask them, take notes, and prepare accordingly. Then, you can take additional steps.
There’s a tool for every teaching style. For example, you could use:
In addition to doing an ESL need analysis, it’s essential to learn about our students’ level of proficiency. Think of placement tests as the starting point. There are many resources online for this too. From Cambridge to Oxford, many tests are readily available. For online resources, you can do a quick Google search. Just search for “online placement tests CEFR”, and you’ll get a list of options, including:
As we have conversations with our students, we should consider evaluating fluency and accuracy. These two aspects go hand in hand. In spoken language, fluency is like the current that carries words in a smooth way. Accuracy acts as a guide, steering our communication. These separate pieces come together naturally during informal chats. They show us how well a student knows the language.
Now, let’s talk about the details of assessing fluency and accuracy. We’ll offer useful tools to help you understand your students’ language abilities.
Fluency is all about speaking naturally and effortlessly. It’s the way we connect and put words together. Fluency is also about sharing thoughts and ideas without pauses or hesitations. A fluent speaker can continue a conversation without struggling to find the right words. Fluency is the way thoughts connect and how we communicate. We can compare it to the well-timed rhythm of a song. In essence, when words flow without disruption, it mean we’re communicating effectively and clearly. A fluent speaker can form a coherent dialogue easily.
As teachers have informal conversations with their students, they can look for specific signs of fluency. These can provide insights into our student’s comfort and competence. This guides teachers because they can adapt their teaching methods to help students improve.
Pay attention to how often a student pauses or hesitates in a conversation. These moments can show where a student has problems. How do they construct sentences? Are they using the right words in the right contexts? For instance, if your student says, “Well, you know, I went to the, uh, shop yesterday,” these hesitations and fillers like “uh” and “you know” are signs of fluency challenges.
Examine how complex their sentences are. Fluent speakers naturally put words together, creating sentences that flow smoothly. Assessing how they form sentences naturally, without sounding awkward, is a sign of their fluency level. For example, a sentence like “I went to the market yesterday and bought fresh vegetables” shows strong sentence structure.
Focus on the rhythm and flow of their speech. A smooth and comfortable pace often shows a higher fluency level. Pay attention to how smooth it sounds in conversation. This rhythm shows familiarity and comfort with the language.
Listen for excessive use of filler words. These are words like “um,” “uh,” “you know,” and “like.” While using fillers is common, using them too much disrupts the fluidity of speech. For instance, if a student says, “Um, so, you know, I was, like, thinking about, uh, going to the movie, you know,” — this shows difficulty expressing thoughts smoothly.
Accuracy is important in using language effectively. It’s different than fluency. While fluency focuses on the smooth and natural flow of speech, accuracy focuses on using the language correctly. It involves choosing the appropriate words, register, and applying grammar rules correctly. Accurate language use ensures that the message is conveyed clearly without misunderstandings.
In teaching, accuracy is connected to fluency. It’s the foundation for clear and effective communication. Speaking accurately reflects a deeper understanding of the language’s nuances and rules, contributing to their overall proficiency. When observing your students’ accuracy, pay attention to the following:
Pay attention to the words they choose. Assess whether they align with their level. Listen for advanced words used incorrectly. This could highlight gaps in vocabulary usage. If a student uses a word like “plethora” incorrectly instead of “many,” it shows they understand advanced vocabulary, but need to learn how to use it correctly.
Take note of the variety of vocabulary they incorporate in a conversation. Advanced learners exhibit a broader range of words. They also avoid repetitive language. A diverse selection of words reflects their mastery of language nuances and their ability to communicate effectively.
Observe how effectively they apply grammar rules. Do they use tenses, subject-verb agreement, and sentence structures properly? Identifying grammatical mistakes can show the areas where they need to improve. For instance, a student saying “I has been studying” instead of “I have been studying” indicates a grammar issue.
Listen for their use of idioms and phrasal verbs. Using them correctly shows they understand the language’s nuances. For example, a student that says, “The new project is a piece of cake” shows accurate use of an idiomatic expression.
By observing all these aspects, you can gain understanding of a student’s fluency and accuracy. This evaluation helps you tailor your teaching approach. Then you can work on helping them improve where there are gaps.
These two aspects are essential in a students’ language proficiency journey. By focusing on the fluency and accuracy of speech, you get to know your students’ abilities. As mentioned, this understanding goes beyond the surface and helps you tailor your teaching approach. Observing pauses, sentence complexity, vocabulary usage, or grammatical accuracy will help you provide effective support.
To sum up, try to assess fluency and accuracy through informal chats. These offer a practical way to understand your students’ language abilities. They’re a great tool to have in your teaching toolkit.
As we start using an ESL needs analysis, asking the right discussion questions is a good way to create meaningful conversations. There are questions you can ask according to CEFR levels. But you shouldn’t forget about the benefits of placement tests. However, there are good reasons why teachers might choose alternative methods. This might include planning rich discussion material. This is especially true when considering the factors below:
To enhance discussions, teachers can bring in visual aids for a more immersive experience. These are some ideas on what you can do:
Below are some general descriptions of CEFR levels you can refer to. Which of these descriptions sound like your students? With time, you’ll be able to easily assess whether a student is A1, A2, B1, etc. Keep in mind that each CEFR level is a spectrum within a spectrum. For example, you can have a student who is on the low end of A2 and another student who is on the high end of A2.
You can also ask them the following questions at the beginning of the course or starting lessons with them. If they find it easy to answer each question, you can ask follow-up questions or move on to the next one.
These students are just starting out. They know some basic words and can handle simple phrases, but longer sentences might be hard to form. At this level, learners focus on basic skills like listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They start with simple grammar like present tenses and basic vocabulary such as greetings and daily activities.
Here, students are feeling a bit more comfortable. They can express themselves better, even if it’s still on familiar topics. They should be able to understand simple texts and write short messages. In your lessons with A2 level students, you could focus on basic grammar structures such as present simple, past simple, and future with ‘going to’. They should also learn common vocabulary related to everyday activities, such as daily routines, hobbies, family, and food.
Students at this level can carry on basic conversations for a while and express opinions. They’re starting to get more into present perfect and can use common vocabulary. They know a variety of words on topics related to work, travel, cultural traditions, cooking, and technology. They read longer texts and write emails. At the B1 level, you could focus on building their grammar skills. You can do this by teaching more complex sentence structures, verb tenses (including past, present, and future), and basic conditional sentences.
They’re fluent and can handle complex discussions. They understand nuances and can even write essays on certain topics. They should be able to express themselves effectively in both spoken and written forms. In your lessons, you could focus on expanding their vocabulary to include idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs, and formal language for various contexts.
At the C1 level, students demonstrate near-native proficiency, with advanced language skills across all areas. They show a deep understanding of grammar and vocabulary. They can engage in in-depth discussions about niched topics.
They should also be able to comprehend complex texts with ease. In your lessons, you could work on mastering complex grammar structures and idiomatic expressions. This includes advanced tenses, conditionals, reported speech, and subjunctive mood. Additionally, they should expand their vocabulary to include niched vocabulary used in academic, professional, and formal contexts.
These are diverse questions designed for conversations across different CEFR levels. By incorporating visuals and asking more questions, you can create an immersive learning environment. This promotes linguistic growth and also develops students’ ability to engage in meaningful conversations. Assessing your students’ level goes hand in hand with your ESL needs analysis.
Now, let’s take a step back. Language isn’t just about vocabulary and grammar. It’s also about experiences, emotions, and individual journeys. When we craft a ‘learner profile’, it’s like sketching a portrait of our student. This isn’t just about their language skills. It’s more about their fears, joys, histories, and dreams. The questions we ask aren’t just routine. They can be keys to language learning. Some important questions to ask include:
Of course, these are just guiding questions. We should listen to their responses and use them to plan our materials. As a result, this can improve our connection with students. It can have a strong impact on the learning process.
The WIN approach is a guide for teaching methods. It stands for “Wants,” “Interests,” and “Needs“. This approach serves as a system for learning about our students. By discovering their goals, we find the areas they’re interested in, as well as the skills they wish to acquire. Through this method, we put the student at the heart of the learning process. The WIN approach is a joint effort, where we collaboratively tailor a learning plan for their goals and visions. Start by asking students:
You should get a lot of useful responses from students by asking these questions. Use this as fuel to plan your lessons. Once you have a good idea of your students’ level and needs, you can either plan your own lessons, or use pre-made materials adapted to their level and needs.
If you’re looking for a good place to find pre-made lesson materials, we’d like to suggest our materials on Fluentize. We offer pre-made lesson plans tailored to student level. Each lesson is based on an engaging YouTube video. They’re created by experienced lesson writers and teachers that understand the CEFR student levels. Once you’ve done your ESL needs analysis and know your students’ level, Fluentize can be a great resource. We’ve got lessons ready made for levels A1 through C1. Browse our lessons to find the right topic that matches your students’ level!
An ESL needs analysis isn’t just jargon. It’s at the heart of effective language teaching. It helps us remember why we do what we do. It’s a guiding star for us and our students. We want to support and celebrate our students’ achievements. This is the main purpose of an ESL needs or student level analysis. It also gives us the chance to personalise our teaching. Don’t you want to give your students the best learning journey possible?
Do you have any thoughts on using an ESL needs or student level analysis? Have you ever used them? If so, we’d love to hear about your experience. Feel free to leave a comment below!
