Needs
Assessment

Ongoing needs assessments are completed to identify learners’ needs 
in a particular theme or subject area. They give you information about learners’ prior knowledge and experience, the skills they have gained and their self-identified ongoing needs.

An ongoing needs assessment should be completed whenever the class begins a new theme. You can ask which skills and strategies learners would like to learn and which tasks they would like to practice and complete. This encourages learners to feel they have a voice in their language learning journey. As an instructor, your observations in the classroom will also inform ongoing needs assessments.

The information from both types of needs assessment allows you, as 
the instructor, to tailor activities and tasks to meet the needs of your learners.

It is important to note that learners may not be able to articulate their needs, especially at lower levels, either because of language limitations or an unfamiliarity with the concept of expressing personal needs, or both. Instructor observation in these cases will be key. Instructors will need to observe and note important information that may inform learners’ specific language needs and other relevant information.

As learners become accustomed to the practice, needs assessments 
can be completed using activities such as:

• polls, in-person or on Avenue
  checklists, in-person or on Avenue
• multiple choice questionnaires, in-person or on Avenue
• short answer questionnaires, in-person or on Avenue
• one-on-one interviews, in-person or using an online conferencing tool
• group discussions, in-person or in discussion forums on Avenue
• reflections or journals, in-person or on Avenue

Choose activities that are level appropriate and that can be documented. Learners should have copies in the About Me section 
of their portfolio.