Desires and Expectations of ESP Students: A Needs Analysis Approach

This study investigated what language skills Iranian undergraduate students need in general to meet their specific academic goals. It also intended to examine the students' satisfaction level andexpectations regarding their ESP courses. A total of 158 undergraduate engineering students fromdifferent universities participated in this study. The data were collected through a survey using questionnaire. Statistical analysis of the data revealed that the students needed to develop their readingskill more than other language skills to meet their field-specific requirements. Major and gender werefound to have no significant effect on the students’ needs for the 4 language skills. Moreover, it was found that most of the students were not really satisfied with their English language courses. Also, amajority of the students expressed their desire to have their ESP classes twice a week during 2semesters in their bachelor’s program, having a teacher whose education is in the same field as their own field. The implications for ESP/EAP instruction and course design will be discussed