In response to Pat Sawyer's last message -

Several posters have alluded to the challenge of managing the client's expectations.  It's common to hear questions like that which Pat mentioned, "How many weeks is this going to take?"  I have found that it will take much more than one conversation before my clients really begin to understand  what I'm saying regarding the process and time commitment of language learning and the goals of the course (which we develop together as much
 as possible through
 the needs analysis process.)  

I have found that the needs analysis itself is useful not only to identify students' and workplace needs, but also to bring out into the light of day the stakeholders' expectations....which are often unrealistic and/or conflicting with other stakeholders' expectations.  The needs analysis process provides an opportunity to do the very important work of getting all stakeholders on the same page...it's a little teachable moment.  If important stakeholders have different ideas of why we're doing this (say, union and management) and  how it will impact them....that can deal a death blow to a program!  

I always use an example from a electricans' union for which I once put together a VESL program when I first began this work:  In the needs analysis, I did my language task analysis and I interviewed some workers, the union
 leaders, the apprentice coordinator, the organizer, and the contractor (the "big boss").  I felt good that this part of the needs analysis had been thorough and everybody shared an understanding of our goals.  Yet, by the end of the semester, the otherwise very successful class was almost done away with!....why?  Because the workers' foremen (who were not getting jobs finished on time because they lost some of their crew for a few hours each week) were angry and refusing to let their workers leave for the class.  I had neglected to make them part of the process, and their differing expectations and needs led to revolt.  We modified the course schedule and luckily continued on, but I learned some lessons about needs analysis.

Also, I liked Miriam's description of how she did her observations (language task analysis) BEFORE she interviewed the various stakeholders.  I'll be using that tip...it's a great idea - because it gives us more information on which to base our questions to stakeholders, and as Pat already
 mentioned, often the management (or HR, or union leader, etc.) will just say, "I want them to learn English," and not be able to go much farther than that.  

Amber

Amber GallupDirector, Essential Language(202) 234-4565www.essentiallanguage.com 
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