English Needs Assessment Survey for International Students of Technology at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary

Abstract

Regular language instruction informed by needs assessment has been a widespread phenomenon in Teaching English as a Foreign language (EFL). In higher education (HE) institutions teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) based on research has also been a widely accepted trend. Nowadays the increasing number of international students in the Hungarian HE scenario has prompted faculties to support the development of students' language skills systematically. As one such institution, the Centre for Modern Languages (CML) at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) designed a questionnaire survey systematically to research the language needs of its international students of technology after having come across some anecdotal mismatches across faculties in the perception of the students' level of knowledge. International students of technology, their EFL teachers and their subject matter instructors were surveyed on how important they think certain language skills are for the students to succeed in the academic scenario. The results show that skills such as identifying main points in texts, summarising information in speech and in writing, or asking for clarification - all of pertain to the recognition or formation of structural elements in written and spoken texts - are seen as most important by the stakeholders. The results now inform the refreshment of course design and materials development at CML. Limitations are discussed together with future research recommendations, such as the need to thoroughly investigate non-linguistic issues influencing learning achievements, which may include cultural differences in learning strategies or learner-teacher expectations.