A Study for the needs analysis of the English preparatory students at Hacettepe University

244 ABSTRACT This study aims at finding out the needs of the students by needs analysis questionnaire. In this study a questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument. To detemine valid and reliable results, a questionnaire was administered to the instructors, the students at preparatory school of Hacettepe University, the teaching staff and the students at the departments where students go after preparatory school. The questionnaire which was applied to the students at the preparatory classes and the one applied to the students at the departments are the same questionnaire. The questionnaire applied to the lecturers at the preparatory school and to the teaching staff at the departments are the same questionnaire. These two questionnaires are parallel to each other so that the results can be compared to identify the needs of the students. Before administering the questionnaire to the students and to the teachers the pilot administration was done to see the possible problems which might occur. In conclusion, 600 students, 300 from preparatory school and 300 from the different departments of Hacettepe University were given the questionnaire. Besides, 55 instructors from the preparatory school and 55 teaching staff from the different departments of Hacettepe University applied the questionnaire, so in total 700 people applied the questionnaires from Hacettepe University. This questionnaire aims at finding the needs of the students at Hacettepe University Preparatory School in order to see whether the existing syllabus meets the needs of the students at Hacettepe University Preparatory School. The analysis and the interpretation of the questionnaires have been done by comparing the groups in pairs. The pairs are as follows; students in the departments- students in the preparatory school, students in the departments-teaching staff in the departments and instructors in the preparatory school-students in the preparatory school.245 The interpretation of the needs analysis have shown that after the Preparatory School, some academic skills will be needed by the students to succeed in and to follow a number of their courses in their field of study taught in English. Thus, the academic skills such as surveying related resources, doing group work activities,reading techniques,reading comprehension and listening comprehension and the like should be integrated within the existing Preparartory Class syllabus. The first chapter gives a general background to the study and states its aim, importance, makes some assumptions about it and defines the limitations. The second chapter deals with the definitions and the types of the terms such as; course design, curriculum, syllabus, materials and needs analysis. In chapter three the present system, methods of data collection and the data collection device in the study has been discussed. The analysis and the interpretation of the questionnaire has been done in chapter four. The conclusion and suggestions have been given in chapter five.