ABSTRACT
As shown in Chapter Two, English teachers and learners differ considerably in their views on language teaching and learning, including what classroom interaction should involve. The aim of this chapter is to argue that those differences can only be resolved by gathering information and studying what that information reveals about the needs of the learners and teachers in a process called needs assessment. Only then can EIL course curricula, materials, teaching strategies, and assessment procedures be developed and used rationally and defensibly. To explain how to do all of this well, we will first have to examine the nature of fluency, proficiency, goals for learning English, and attitudes toward classroom activities because those are crucial variables that must be considered in making all local EIL pedagogical decisions. In the process, we will examine the following misconceptions about what English students need to learn and how they need to learn it.
Misconception #1: High levels of fluency in English are attainable by students.
Misconception #2: Students should be able to attain high levels of proficiency in English in the six years of their secondary education.
Misconception #3: All high school students are preparing for university entrance examinations.
Misconception #4: Needs assessment is necessarily a formal set of procedures that experts do to determine what ESL/EFL students should learn.
Misconception #5: The needs of English students are best expressed in terms of the language forms that they need to learn.
