Needs analysis is important to be conducted as the starting point in designing the course as mentioned by Jordan (1997) that needs analysis should be the starting point for devising syllabus, courses, materials and the kind of teaching and learning that take place. This study aims at finding out 1) the learning needs and language needs of the Tourism students in the ESP classroom and in the workplace, 2). Designing and developing the ESP course based on the needs analysis. This research employed Research and Development (R & D) into three main stages: introduction, development and testing. It has been found that speaking and writing skills are used more often than others and these skills are also recognized to be more difficult and more important skills. In learning preferences, study in pairs and role plays are more preferred than others. And English is often used only with the native speaker by telephone and by fax or email. Based on the results of needs analysis, the ESP course was designed and developed by using an integrated syllabus to provide the materials and activities that can fulfill the learning needs, language needs, and curriculum demands.

Autorentext

Dr. Ratnah, M.Pd is an English lecturer in Tourism Academy of Makassar, Indonesia. Her main field of study is English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Courses. She has written some articles on ESP and published in Journals. She also actively participated in international conferences on the English language teaching as the speaker.