New challenges in Designing Second/Foreign Language Programs in a Networked World

Several scholars have acknowledged the centrality of needs analysis in course esign. However, while Second Language Acquisition authors have extensively written on needs analysis applied to primary and secondary education, very few studies are available as to how needs analysis can be applied to tertiary education. Different approaches to needs analysis exist, yet, to the best of my knowledge, none of them alone attempts to investigate the needs of learners in second/foreign language programs based on computer-mediated communication in a networked learning setting. This paper aims at filling this gap. This study contributes to complementing current literature with three additional building blocks of needs analysis, which can be used to integrate the information gathered from a traditional needs analysis, and will help teachers to further clarify the purposes of their language programs so that they address the needs of today’s connected learners.