Need Analysis of English for Pharmacy Students at Medical Vocational High School of Prof. Dr. Moestopo

Abstract

The aims of this study were to investigate and analyse the needs of students in learning English Medical Vocational High School (SMK Kesehatan) of Prof.Dr. Moestopo. The increasing number of vocational schools has contributed to the rapid expansion of English for Specific Purpose (ESP) in Indonesia. The first stage in developing learning materials for ESP conducting needs analysis. It refers to activities in collecting information as the basis for academic development of a particular group of students. The data were collected through questionnaires and interview. The result showed that : 1) Students need materials that meets their needs, particularly in general and medical vocabulary since most of them have difficulties to understand the meaning of words, 2) Students need more practices in speaking compared to other language skills, 3) Students tend to learn English because of their needs to improve language competences than to prepare their professional job in the future, 4) The teacher method that suit to the students were based on the materials itself. It can be teachers or students centred learning. This study recommended that students need more extra times to learn English. Besides, teacher should create supportive learning environment to motivate them in study English.

Exploring Perceptions of Pharmaceutical Vocational High School (VHS) Students toward the Importance of English for Their Future Career

“…Recent research by Natsir et al (2022) sheds light on the English teaching practices in Indonesian VHSs, revealing a need for more emphasis on vocational specialization. It is also stated by Srinawati (2019) that the content of the textbooks requires more contextual relevance and tends to be overly generalized. For instance, at one of the private VHSs in Malang, a school specializing in Industrial Pharmacy, English instruction largely resembles that of SHSs.…”

“…While this study did not specifically focus on the pharmaceutical VHS students, it provides some insights into the perceptions of VHS students towards English and their career aspirations. Another study was conducted by Srinawati (2019) focusing on the needs analysis of English for pharmaceutical students at a medical VHS. This study specifically targeted pharmaceutical students and aimed to investigate and analyze their needs in learning English.…”