Addressing English language needs of economic development students in Indonesian context

The heart of the study is English for Economics purposes as a branch of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). This study is dedicated to addressing the immediate needs of economics students in English language courses. By employing an explanatory survey method, researchers distributed a self-administrated survey and interviewed five firstyear students majoring in Economic Development in one of the state universities in Indonesia. In this study, the researchers attempted to analyze Economic Development students‟ target situation, present situation, and learning situation in English courses to prepare them to face global competition. The results revealed that most students admitted that English is essential for their future careers. Thus, they expected English courses should include materials related to their discipline and emphasize more authentic activities. Following the discussion, this need analysis can be a consideration in designing English learning materials for economics students.


Introduction
The existence of English as an International Language (EIL) has encouraged people to be able to communicate both orally and in written language by using English speaking and listening to materials in English. Following the findings, Saientisna (2019) suggested that speaking skills including public speaking, negotiation, and handling complaints should be emphasized in the syllabus of English for economic purposes.
Under the previous studies, most researchers (Čapková & Kroupová, 2017;Kurniawan & Retnawati, 2019;Saefullah & Nugraha, 2020) agreed that communication skills in target situations have become the prior concern to be developed in English for economic purposes. Consequently, developing materials that can fulfill learners" needs also becomes the fundamental aspect. However, researchers noticed that every discipline has its own needs. Thus, to close the gap of previous studies, the present study employs an explanatory research design to address immediate English language needs for EFL students majoring in Economic Development at one of the state universities in Indonesia. The researchers carried out a need analysis approach following the theory introduced by Dudley- Evans and St. John (1998) as they are considered to be experts who introduced the concept of ESP. In light of the aim of the study, two essential questions were posed: (1) what are the target situation, the present situation, and the learning situation of Economic Development students in English class?
(2) what improvement or suggestion can be made to the English course for Economic Development students? Further, this initial study can be a consideration in developing materials for English for economic purposes in Indonesian state universities, broadly in the EFL context.

Literature review
All over the period, many colleges and higher education institutions have already offered English language courses that spotlight the enhancement and expansion of the English language learning materials, according to learners" specific interests, called English as Specific Purpose (ESP). ESP has been popular and mushrooming since the 1960s due to massive global demand and development (Rahman, 2015). In the English Language Teaching (ELT) context, English for Specific Purpose (ESP) is devoted to providing appropriate Teaching or Learning Materials (TLM) for specific disciplines. The concept of ESP was initially purposed by Hutchison and Waters (1987) to equip learners" needs to attain their academic interests, professional careers, and occupational pursuits that meet global demands. Therefore, the decisions made in designing the English material are adjusted following the background of academic interest or workplace contexts.
Dudley- Evans and St. John (1998) mentioned three ultimate characteristics of ESP, namely (1) tailor to meet learners" precise needs in English language learning; (2) the approach or method used in ESP should be associated with what learners need to support their interests, disciplines, and occupations; (3) the focal point of ESP Teaching/Learning Materials (TLM) should involve linguistics features, genres, discourse, and registers. Besides, Dudley- Evans and St. John (1998) also highlighted that ESP is considered a milestone in the English Language Teaching (ELT) movement.
At first, English for Science and Technology, which deals with numerous technical English and scientific writing, was the center of ESP (Ewer & Latorre, 1969;Remache & Ibrahim, 2018;Selinker, Todd Trimble & Trimble, 1976;Shi, 2018;Ureña Salazar, 2017). These sub-areas involving English for Tourism, English for Medical Studies, English for Engineering, English for Economics, etc.
In this case, the emergence of need analysis to tailor proper language materials is undoubtedly paramount. Need analysis is a process of acquiring what learners need for their teaching and learning process. In consequence, this approach embraces learnercenteredness as it offers learners the opportunity to get involved in planning language learning (Dzięcioł-Pędich, 2014). In the ELT context, need analysis can facilitate learners addressing what they expect in learning English (Čapková & Kroupová, 2017). Further, it aids teachers in designing apt lesson plans, textbooks, or teaching methodology that tally with learners" needs.
One of the experts in ESP, Hutchinson and Waters (1987) divided need analysis into two basic subdivisions; target needs and learning needs. Target needs comprise the necessities, lack thereof, and wants of the learners in the target situation. Necessities refer to what learners should master, which is determined by the requirements of the target situation. Want is defined as students" voices on what they consider are beneficial for them and should be taught in language learning. Meanwhile, lack refers to what learners do not have but which are necessary for them.Whereas, learning needs are described as a process for acquiring information about the teaching environment. Learning needs can be portrayed in four questions; (1) how is English perceived regarding English language learning? (2) how do students acquire knowledge of the English language? (3) what are the materials provided to support English language learning? (4) where and when will English teaching be conducted? (Saientisna, 2019). Following the focal point of ESP, need analysis is considered as the heart of English for Specific Purposes (Alsamadani, 2017;Jasso-Aguilar, 2005;West, 1994).
Other researchers, like Dudley- Evans and St. John (1998) introduced the concept of need analysis. They classify it into three main categories, namely Target Situation Analysis (TSA), Learning Situation Analysis (LSA), and Present Situation Analysis (PSA). The target situation covers learning materials which in line with learners" disciplines. It also emphasizes the shred activities or tasks during their English class. Meanwhile, the learning situation describes the subjective reason behind why learners want to take English. In addition, it also leads to effective methodologies in language learning since the teacher only focuses on learners" interests. The last category, the present situation, deals with learners" actual condition in terms of knowledge and language skills.

Method
The mixed-method research design, specifically explanatory survey research was considered the most applicable method for this current study, as the primary goal was to scrutinize Economic Development students" English language needs. Gay, Mills, and Airasian (2012) defined a survey as a method used to describe a current situation that spotlights tendencies, attitudes, interests, or practices of a particular group. In this study, the explanatory method was done by distributing a survey followed by conducting a semi-structured interview with first-year students. 40 first-year students from the Economic Development study program at one of Indonesia"s state universities were chosen as they have passed the English course. The basic idea of selecting first-year students were they had already passed an English course in the previous academic year. To this point, the researchers investigated what Economic Development students had encountered in their previous English classes.
In the initial stage, the researchers distributed a self-administered survey, which consisted of twelve close-ended questions containing two questions on the learning situation, five questions on the present situation, and five questions on the target situation. The researchers adapted the survey from Ekayati et al. (2020) by considering essential components introduced by Dudley- Evans and St John (1998) in studying ESP needs, specifically in English as Economics Purposes. The survey were in the Indonesian language to make students easier to fill in since respondents were non-English students. Besides, researchers also interviewed five first-year students from the Department of Development Economics to seek an indepth understanding of their target situation, the learning situation, and the present situation regarding their previous English course. Those five students were selected based on their willingness to be interviewed. In this case, researchers contacted the students who already fulfilled the survey. The interview was conducted asynchronously by distributing four questions, which have been translated into the Indonesian language to five students via WhatsApp application.
Along with data display, the survey results were demonstrated in the form of a table and percentage. Then, the findings of self-administrated survey were tabulated quantitatively through the calculation of information, while the interview data were transcribed. Later, the transcriptions were organized and linked to the survey result since interview data aimed to support the data obtained from the survey. In the final stage, the researchers evaluated economic students" target, present, and learning situations during their English language learning.

Findings and discussion
Along with the focal questions of the study thus, data analysis is begun by displaying: (1) learning situation analysis of Economic Development students in learning English; (2) present situation analysis of Economic Development students in learning English; (3) target situation analysis of Economic Development students in learning English; (4) suggestions for ESP for Economic Development students.

Learning situation analysis
Moving on to the first discussion, Economic Development students agreed that learning English is essential for them (Table. 1). Concerning this, students exposed arguments that motivated them to study English. Students" learning situation analysis in learning English is manifested in Table 2. Thirty-two out of forty respondents (80%) believed mastering English would support their future study and professional careers. Thereby, topics given in their course should cover not only General English but also materials related to working life. On this matter, the course should accommodate materials about economics and business (Sukarni, 2020).

Table 1
The importance of taking English courses for economic development students.

Scale
Not Important Quite Important Urgent Very Urgent  Table 3 Other responses regarding students want in learning English

Others responses F
English is international language, by mastering English means preparing a bright future.

4
It is a significant element for a job interview. 1 A lot of qualified books or sources are written in English. 1 Dudley-Evans and St. John (1998) elucidated Learning Situation Analysis (LSA) as a subjective insider feeling to enroll in English courses. This learning situation analysis emphasizes learners' motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) for learning English. In practice, extrinsic motivation reveals external reasons for people performing something. In the English language learning context, extrinsic motivation is demonstrated when learners learn English to finding a job, communicating with foreigners, traveling abroad, and passing exams.
Opposite to extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation deals with learners' own sake in particular: watching English movies, listening to English songs, reading English books (Dörnyei, 1998). Referring to the results in Table 2, learning English as a compulsory subject (35%) and preparing for a future career and study (80%) belong to extrinsic motivation. It implied that extrinsic motivation became a primary factor that influenced students to learn English. Further, four students also stated that they learned English since it is considered an international language.
Furthermore, in the interview session, learners also posed their motivation for learning English. They believed that having good English skills would give extra credits for their CV. To this point, by mastering English definitely promotes their better future.  Dudley and St. John (1998) depicted Present Situation Analysis (PSA) as contentment, strengths, weaknesses, learning experiences, present knowledge, and skills of the learners. It is an approach to investigate learners" deficiency (Allright, 1982). In reference to students" present situation; the researchers had students delivered their perspectives regarding their English course. Since the study surveyed first-year students who already taken English courses, the researchers calculated that 42.2% of students considered their English topics are adequate to back up their study program (Table 4). It implied that the materials given accommodate their discipline.

Present situation analysis
In response to the self-identification of learners" current language skills, half of the students considered their listening skills were very weak (2.5%), weak (45%), while the rest were good (45%) and very good (7.5%). Meanwhile, a majority of students believed their ability to speak English was weak (55%). Results above also reveal that students contemplated their reading (65%) and writing (55%) abilities as good. Following the previous study, Sefullah and Nugraha (2020) also reported that EFL students majoring in Economics struggled in speaking skills. Consequently, teachers should put emphasis on speaking activities.
Consistent with data obtained from the survey, in the interview section students admitted that speaking and listening were considered the most complicated skills in English. The extracts below report what learners encountered during their previous English class and reveal students' lack of English.
Interviewee 1: "…my experience during English course was quite interesting; however, I would like to say speaking skills was the toughest skills as I dealt with grammar as well…" Interviewee 2: "…my response to my previous English class was adequate to help me learning English. Yet, I need more practice using English. Throughout the time, the lecturer only gave lectures and we should listen to him. In my opinion, we should practice more, like in speaking and writing…" Interviewee 3: "…quite good, yet I still lack practice and time given was so limited so we didn"t get many materials. And I think speaking is the skills that should be more emphasized…" Interviewee 4: "…in my opinion regarding the previous English course, I think speaking skills should come first, as it requires a lot of practice and preparation, such as grammar…" Interviewee 5: "…I noticed that I still lack in speaking and listening. I think those two skills should take precedence over other skills, even though all of the skills are important…" The interview data might suggest regarding English courses that the lecturer should provide learning activities that assist learners to practice their productive skills such as speaking. In this way, the suggestion were also given by following study conducted by Septiana, Petrus, and Inderawati (2020). In their study designing syllabus for Computer Science students, learners were keen interest in having practices, for that the teaching method recommended was role-playing and dialogue practice. In this current study, the researcher analyzed that Economic Development students were also interested in having more practices instead of theory. Consequently, the lecturer should apply learning methods and strategies which fit the learners in achieving the learning objectives. Following the importance of implementing the fit teaching-learning method and strategy; thus, researchers suggested that the lecturer needs to put emphasis on dialogue practicing and role-playing activities to assist learners in practicing their speaking skills. This suggestion is along with the study carried out by Ria and Malik (2020). They reported that drilling, role play, and discussion become the third-top suitable methods in learning English for Business English.

Target situation analysis
Target Situation Analysis (TSA) connotes any students" activities and tasks during the English course. It accentuates what students need or is able to do by the end of the course or for future work (Munby, 1978;Robinson, 1991). Following the TSA, the entry data below included learners" interests in their English courses that can be notions in designing syllabus and materials for Economic Development students.  Table 6 reveals varying needs of Economic Development students in listening skills. Thirty-one respondents (77.5%) stated that materials related to English instructions in the economy is an aspect that should be embedded in English courses. Ekayati et al. (2020) and Saefullah and Nugraha (2020) addressed in their studies that understanding instruction or commands in economics became the most dominant want of students. Secondly, as university students, the learners will join a lot of international conferences or webinars whom the speakers use English. Thus, introducing formal situations and informal audio listening is needed to make learners are familiar with the context. In light of Table 7, it addresses learners" targets in mastering speaking skills. To communicate with other people about the economics realm (65%), specifically with those who come abroad (57.5%), and do a presentation in international conferences (52.5%) were the top three reasons regarding their needs in speaking. In this way, findings support the earlier study conducted by Sukarni (2020) and Kusnawati (2017) that the target needs for speaking was English social interaction and conversational skills. Besides, the results from the table above are in concordance with a previous study from Ekayati et al. (2020), which reported that learners need speaking materials concerning communication skills in formal and informal situations, as it aims to promote self-confidence in public speaking and evaluate their understanding of linguistics contents.  Table 8 above discloses Economic Development students rated reading English journals (72.5%), materials given by the lecturer (70%), books (65%), and newspapers which related to economics is essential for them. Thus, introducing a glossary of economics is worth materials that should be covered in English for Economic Purposes syllabus to help students grasp the reading content. Even though the previous study on ESP for the accountancy program reported that technical terms or vocabulary equip learners to be able to communicate English fluently (Kusnawati, 2017;Sukarni, 2020) yet in this context, researchers believed that providing economic terminology also assists them to formulate the idea of the text. It is depicted in Table 9 that students need to improve their writing skills since they estimated their future professional job requires them to be able to compose a business letter or job application using English (75%). This findings are in accordance with study conducted by Ria and Malik (2020). They exposed that the use of English in workplace was dealt with business letter, email, proposal, job application and document reports. Therefore, the lecturer should be able to integrate those topics into a whole teaching material for Economic Development study program. In addition, university students also deal with writing scientific reports in English (65%) in case they are willing to submit their manuscripts to international journals or conferences. Subsequently, writing material that covers grammatical structure, writing conventions and punctuation should be embedded in their English class (Remache & Ibrahim, 2018).

Table 10
Topics that economic development students should learn in their English course. Six out of eight topics are considered exciting topics to be covered in ESP since its accordance with their discipline. The survey reports that Economic Development students require materials related to working life (77.5%), finance and bank (72.5%), intercultural communication and business (72.5%), marketing (67.5%). The survey findings also confirm by the interview data. Learners confirmed that ESP should cover materials, such as marketing, market research, and negotiation style. This finding is in line with Wu"s (2012) study, which claimed that negotiation style became a topic that should be attached in the ESP module. To support the quantitative data following extracts represent topics that students want in their target situation.
Interviewee 1: "…negotiation, doing business in a various culture, e-commerce, marketing are materials we really need as Economic Development students since those topics require particular English skills. Furthermore, in terms of negotiation, of course, we will meet a lot of people who have good speaking skills in English…" Interviewee 2: ""…in my opinion, marketing and market research are topics that should be included in English class, because those topics are concerning my discipline…" Interviewee 3: "…marketing, as we have been entering free trade were all of the people thought the world can buy and sell their goods and services… when we understand how to communicate with our customer who speaks in English, it will be very helpful for us to market our products…" Interviewee 4:"…working life is significant for me because when we have good English skills, it will be easy for us to expand our working network…"

Improvement in ESP for economic development
At last, in respect of improving teaching material, syllabus, and teaching method, researchers interviewed five Economic Development students. The following extracts are suggestions offered by students concerning their English course.
Interviewee 1: "…I think English course should address material or topic about the economy since economics is huge not only national but also international. So, I think English lecturer also needs to guide us to understand it…" Interviewee 2: "…I wish in the future English class provides materials that support my discipline, and then I expect lecturer will give more speaking activities..." Interviewee 3: "…I think an authentic assessment is worth it, for that we can improve our English in every chance we have…" Interviewee 4: "…my suggestions for English class I about materials that in line with my program study, so it should include economy…" Interviewee 5: "…I think lecturer should provide precise textbook or material that supports my study…" In light of the above results, English for Economic Development Purposes should be able to: (1) supply materials that accommodate the student"s discipline; (2) provide authentic material and assessment. The first point implies that English materials they have should convey their major need. Meanwhile, for the second point, several researchers believe that presenting authentic materials and assessments will stimulate learners" eagerness to practice English skills (Evans, 2013;Kazar & Mede, 2015). In addition, it also cultivates their motivation in language learning. This is to say since learning based on what learners need may boost their motivation which results in effective learning (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987).

Conclusion
Need analysis becomes the pivotal aspect of ESP. Thus, exploring learners" current situation, target needs, and learning needs is the initial stage in order to embody effective and successful teaching and learning. In this current study, researchers address those three main elements in the need analysis (Dudley- Evans & St. John, 1998). First, in regards to the learning situation, Economic Development students perceived that English is significant for their professional future careers. However, in their present situation, they faced obstacles in speaking skills. They rated their English speaking proficiency as weak since their previous English course did not provide adequate materials in relation to their discipline. Further, the class did not implement authentic materials and assessments on the economy. In the target situation, the researchers examined that Economic Development students highlight different goals in mastering four basics English skills namely listening, speaking writing, and reading. To this point, the lecturer should be able to integrate students" needs in every skill into a whole English teaching material for the Economic Development study program. In accordance with the findings, this study highlights two main considerations in designing appropriate learning materials for the Economic Development study program, namely: (1) supply materials or topics that accommodate the student"s discipline; (2) provide authentic material and assessment.