Bridging the Gap: Unveiling Business English Needs through a Needs Analysis of Malaysian Polytechnic Students

Abstract

The skills to communicate effectively in English language are crucial in the business industry. However, employees still experience communicative apprehension despite being exposed to the language from an early age. By employing descriptive quantitative method, this study aims to explore English language needs of business students in Malaysian polytechnics. The needs analysis includes their current English language proficiency, areas of improvement, preferences, and training needs. The findings indicated that polytechnic students have an average proficiency in English, with a strong desire to enhance their speaking skills, vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. There were some challenges identified when learning business English such as difficulties with business terminology, expressing opinions, using tenses correctly, and building communication confidence. The polytechnic students showed a keen interest in English for Specific Purposes courses tailored to practical workplace scenarios such as client interactions, business vocabulary usage, presentations, and negotiation skills. This study provides recommendations that include emphasising speaking skills in ESP courses, aligning course materials with students' proficiency levels, and introducing a Situational Syllabus to address specific linguistic requirements for the business field. The study highlighted the significance of catering English language needs of business students to improve their employability and success in the business sector.