Evaluating Textbook Based And Needs Analysis Based Curricula In Developing EFL Learners’ Communicative Competence

Abstract

This study examines the relative effectiveness of textbook-based vs needs analysis-based Curricula in developing communicative competence in EFL students. Despite the enduring authority of textbook-based teaching in numerous educational settings, it frequently focuses more on pre-determined grammatical arrangements than the actual communicative tasks that students face in educational and work settings. Whereas needs analysis-based curriculum design focuses on ensuring that instructional content is tailored to their actual communicative, occupational, and situational needs. To determine the influence of these two strategies, 20 learners were enrolled in the study with an intermediate level, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) intermediate education level, grouped in two groups, the first one were taught using the Headway textbook and the second one taught from a curriculum formulated through a structured needs analysis based on hospitality and tourism communication in Makkah. Data was collected through A communicative competence assessment and an instructor's questionnaire. The findings have revealed that the needs analysis group attained significantly greater overall communicative competence, especially fluency and lexical resources. The instructor's opinions also confirmed the superiority of the needs analysis program regarding suitability, genuineness, and performance on learner's engagement. These results showed evidence to support the possibility of needs analysis-based curricula as a more efficient as well as context specific means for the teaching of communicative competence in the EFL context.