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Abstrak
Motivasi dan tujuan belajar mahasiswa sangat dibutuhkan oleh para dosen yang ingin
mengembangkan materi pembelajaran bahasa Inggris yang efektif. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk
menganalisis kebutuhan mahasiswa akan keterampilan bahasa Inggris berdasarkan bidang
studinya dan menentukan bahan hukum mana yang dibutuhkan. Penelitian ini difokuskan pada
Program Studi Hukum di Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Barat, dan menggunakan
metode penelitian deskriptif kualitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa keterampilan
berbicara dan memahami kosakata hukum sangat dibutuhkan oleh mahasiswa. Hal ini
menyiratkan bahwa keterampilan berbicara dan kosa kata harus disertakan ketika dosen
mengembangkan materi pembelajaran bahasa Inggris untuk Program Studi Hukum.
Kata Kunci:Analisis Kebutuhan, Bahasa Inggris Hukum, ESP

Abstract
Students' motivations and objectives of learning are needed by the lecturers who want to develop
an effective English learning material. This research aims at analyzing students’ need of English
skills based on their field of study and determining which legal materials are needed. This study
is focused on the law study program at Muhammadiyah University Sumatera Barat, and
descriptive qualitative was used. The research results show that speaking and understanding legal
vocabulary are needed by the students. It implies that speaking skills and vocabulary should be
included when the lecturers develop an English learning material for law study program
Keywords: Need Analysis, English for Law, ESP.

INTRODUCTION
English language teaching (ELT) has changed as a result of the growing demand for
English, particularly in the last several years. This necessitates a fresh examination of English
for Specific Purposes (ESP), a component of English language teaching. This is so because the
focus of ESP is on content-based education in fields like economics, physics, law, medicine, and
so forth.
The content covered in English for Specific Purposes should prepare students for their
future careers. Since English is so necessary, students are automatically expected to be prepared
for the globalization period after completing an English course. As a result, the information
should be arranged to best suit their needs and preferences. The resources made available to the
students are crucial to ESP. The resources might make it easier for the teacher to impart
knowledge or skills to the students. Teacher also can create an excellent learning process for
pupils using materials (Muharram, 2020). This implies that the effectiveness of the ESP
teaching and learning process is determined on the materials.
It is crucial to study since ESP offers students a learning experience that is suitable for
their requirements and preferences in their future careers. Depending on their major, the

1
English Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education at Muhammadiyah University of West
Sumatera.
2
Islamic Teaching Department, Faculty of Islamic Teaching at Muhammadiyah University of West
Sumatera.
3
Tourism Department, Faculty of Tourism at Muhammadiyah University of West Sumatera.
email: [email protected]
1
,[email protected]
2
,[email protected]
3

Susi Susanti
1

Desna Fauziah
2

Sri Ariani
3


STUDENTS’ NEED ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH
FOR LAW SUBJECT AT MUHAMMADIYAH
UNIVERISTY OF WEST SUMATERA
Jurnal Review Pendidikan dan Pengajaran
http://journal.universitaspahlawan.ac.id/index.php/jrpp
Volume 7 Nomor 2, 2024
P-2655-710X e-ISSN 2655-6022
































































Submitted : 28/02/2024
Reviewed : 26/02/2024
Accepted : 08/03/2024
Published : 13/03/2024

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majority of Indonesian colleges provide their students English for certain objectives. This
indicates that one of the required disciplines that students must take is English. In
Muhammadiyah University of West Sumatera, especially in Law Faculty, studentstakes English
once only. The name of the subject is English for law (English Specific Purpose).
The establishment of an ESP course involves multiple processes. The first step in creating
an ESP course is determining who will be engaged in the process and other related questions.
Why is it important for students to learn this? Where will the instruction be conducted? When
will the learning occur? Is it of a certain person or circumstance? (Jalil & Kamarudin, 2009).
The method known as English for Specific Purposes (ESP) or leading approaches must
center on putting learning needs first. Scholars have defined the concept of "needs" based on
different viewpoints. In (Wigati & Iman, 2018), Richards defines a needs analysis as the
processes and actions that gather data regarding students' requirements, validate those needs,
and rank those needs as the basis for creating and modifying a curriculum that meets those
needs. Before any subjective data can be gathered and examined in order to establish and verify
the "language" that the students must learn, a needs analysis must be conducted. This study aims
to explore the learner's goals and the collection of communication needs that stem from those
goals.
While it is often known that language proficiency is important when teaching ESP
courses, a lot depends on the needs and preferences of the students. English language teaching is
combined with subject content in ESP courses. The goal of this course is to improve
comprehension and skill sets related to particular legal specialties. Finding references to use as
sources for legal English course material is difficult, and even when you do, there aren't many
of them. The education is nonetheless ineffective due to the lack of material because what is
presented has little bearing on the student's major. Consequently, depending on their
justifications and objectives, it is required to use English language education for particular
purposes (ESP) by doing a need analysis.
A needs analysis for the airline staff program on learning English was carried out by
(Hidayat, 2018). His research revealed that as English is an international language used in the
airline sector, pupils must study it. Four skills are required of the students: speaking, listening,
reading, and writing. Speaking and communication abilities, however, are their top priorities.
Another study was done by (Samsudin & Sukarismanti, 2020) about need analysis in learning
English for law faculty students at IISBUD Samawa Rea. This study shown speaking and
listening are considered by the majority of students to be the most challenging English language
skills. Speaking is the next ability that needs to be taught in English classes. Teaching speaking
is more important than teaching any other skill. In addition, legal-related materials that are
deemed essential for instruction include games that involve English law, law vocabulary,
meeting people, Indonesian custom law, and experience using the language during general
elections. Based on this research, it is anticipated that law students will be able to enhance their
English language proficiency.
According to the previously mentioned research, need analysis is a necessary step in the
material design process because it's the goal of the process to give students the resources they
require. Creating material refers to any work that authors or educators perform to offer language
input sources, information about the language, and/or experiences in ways that is suitable to
what is used in the field. However, the content presented to the students in English learning
materials in the market is not always in agreement with this context (Amalia, 2018). Moreover,
(Wahyono et al., 2021) mentions that the content of English learning material did not refer to
the higher education curriculum in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It means that it
doesn’t meet the students’ need yet.
Therefore, the ultimate goal of this study is to provide guidelines for the creation of an
English for law course for law students at Muhamamdiyah University of West Sumatera by
examining their language demands. There are two main goals: (1) identifying the language and
skill components that students need master most urgently, and (2) identifying the appropriate
English content for a law course. The perspectives and expectations of educators and learners
will form the basis of the study. The study's conclusions can assist the involved practitioners in
creating English for Particular Purpose course that focuses on English for Law.

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METHOD
This research used qualitative design with descriptive approach. The informants in this
research are 5 Law lectures and 106 law students in Muhammadiyah University of West
Sumatera 2023/2024 academic year. The data were taken through interview and questionnaire.
The interview was used to get data from law lecturers. They were asked about what topics/
materials should be mastered by students in English related to law field. Students were asked
about skills and material needed in learning English for law though questionnaire. The
questionnaires were distributed through Google form. The data then analyzed and result is
described.
The qualitative method used in this data analysis involves the use of descriptive and
interpretive language. Three methods are used in the analysis: data reduction, data display, and
data verification. While the researcher drew findings from primary and secondary data
throughout the reduction phase, the researcher provided descriptive and comprehensible data
during the data presentation stage, outlining the analysis of the requirements of the English
language study program for Legal Studies. The final phase is data verification, when the
researcher created a reliable and valid verification using primary and secondary data. The main
data, which takes the form of a questionnaire, is then descriptively examined to understand the
research respondents' answers.
This study's data analysis results are given utilizing both qualitative and quantitative
descriptive techniques. In order to make it simple to describe the various pieces of information
that the informant has provided, descriptive quantitative analysis is performed by computing the
data collected via questionnaires. The final phase is to make recommendations, specifically
about the English language content that should be included in English language classes at
Muhammadiyah University of West Sumatera's Faculty of Law.

RESULT AND DICUSSION
Important Skills and Components of English
There were 106 respondents filled down the questionnaire on Google form. According to
the questionnaire result, 98% of law students think that English is important for them. 79 % of
students mentioned that they even want to take course or additional lesson to master English
related to law materials. About 7 % said that they don’t want to have extra material and lesson
and 20% had no idea whether to have additional lesson on English or not. The questionnaire's
results also revealed that, in comparison to other skills, the majority of students believe that
speaking is the most important one to master. They said that they need speaking for their job,
for travelling, for presenting materials, for arguing, for giving opinion and debate. Some also
mentioned that they need to master reading. However there is much knowledge can be gotten
though reading.


Picture 1. Skills of English in English for Law course

The result of questionnaire shown that 100 of 106 students mentioned speaking is most
important skill to be understood. They said that speaking is needed in their job for example for
getting the job, job interview, for travelling, for shopping, and for presenting materials. Some

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students also mentioned reading skill as important skill to be mastered. They want to read news,
magazine and text about law. 5 students want to have listening part in learning English. They
want to listen to news or about daily activities. Writing is the last skill the want to study and
none of the students choose this skill as important point to be studied in English for law subject.
In the questionnaire, the students also asked about component of English they need to
master. There are three language components in English, namely: grammar/structure,
pronunciation, and vocabulary. The students identified vocabulary as the most crucial aspect of
language, followed by pronunciation then grammar/structure. The following figure displays the
data;

Picture 2. Important Language components in English for Law

The respondents also asked about the time allocation for English for law subject. 44 of
106 students thought that the time allocation for English lesson was not enough. They need
additional time since they think that there are a lot things to be learnt in English. They said that
they need to learn English from Basic, they have limited vocabulary and they need to master
English for their future Career. Meanwhile, the rest of the students are sure that the time
allocation is fair enough for them. They assume that the lecturer had given clear explanation and
taught them patiently, so that they don’t need extra time for English. Some other said that it is
enough for learning English because they do not like English. So, giving additional time is not
important. Some other believes that the time allocation set by the faculty is enough for them.
English material that is considered important and needed in English for Law Subject
In order to gather information about materials that is needed by law students, the data
were gathered though questionnaire to 106 students and interview to 5 Law lecturers and one
dean. The data from the questionnaire shown that the materials that are considered to be
important by students are: law terms, debate, trial in the court, law and acts, law public
speaking, reading news and text in law field, dialogue /speaking with international clients, job
trip, job preparation and daily life. The following chart shows the detail answer.
The accompanying graphic shows that the majority of students want to get knowledge
about Law terms in English. Some other students want to discuss about job life like how to find
a job, job interview and task in job. They also want to study some topics in law like doing trial
in the court, debate, laws and acts, reading English or text in law and having dialogue with
international partner. Besides studying about law, students also want to master about daily life
English. Only 20 of 106 have no idea what to learn in English for law subject.

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Picture 3. Topics of English for Law
Discussion
Law students at Law faculty at Muhammadiyah University of West Sumatera think that
speaking is the most important skill for success in their major. This outcome was consistent
with the research that was done by (Nurie, 2017). Analysing the English Language Needs of
Law Students was the topic of his research. The study's findings suggest that speaking and
writing are more important than reading and listening when it comes to productive abilities for
both students and teachers. Speaking is a necessary language skill that is needed by human.
Speaking is a cricial part of communicating with others (Ramadani et al., 2023). Everyone
should have be able to speak, so that they are can communicate information to other people in a
correct and good way at any time. The findings also show that instructors' and students'
perceptions of the requirements for learning English, particularly in reading and writing,
differed. Similar research revealed that students typically rank speaking as the most crucial
English language skill for a given purpose (ESP) based on the results of need analyses from the
macro skills of listening, speaking, writing, and reading (Rahmawati, Septi & Anindhyta, 2022).
Hakim and Riyani's studies (Hakim & Riyani, 2021) also corroborate this conclusion.
They stated that speaking and listening are two essential English language abilities, and that law
faculty students should acquire them by being exposed to more texts that explore the subject of
law. To prepare the students for entering the legal profession after earning their undergraduate
degrees, the subject matter expert in this topic needs to give careful consideration to this
phenomena. Another investigation by (Herlina & Said, 2022) discovered that every responder
concurred that ESP is essential since it may help law students become more fluent in English
speakers. It was also underlined that because of their differing English proficiency levels, law
students need more than one ESP class per week. Students need to work on improving their
reading skills because they will be utilizing a lot of English-language instructional materials.
The study's conclusions are crucial because ESP instructors can use them to inform their lesson
plans, materials, and syllabus designs, and students can use them to reflect on their own needs,
desires, and shortcomings. All departmental professors have expressed their enthusiasm for ESP
classes and their desire to continue supporting these kinds of programs in the future.
Meanwhile, according to this study, vocabulary is the most crucial language skill that
learners need to acquire. This conclusion against the research finding by (Wigati & Iman, 2018).
They discovered that in order to equip themselves to assist their clients, the expected resources
for the ESP in Law Faculty are communication skills, particularly in speaking and writing.
Additionally, they believe that active learning exercises are more engaging than grammatical
focus and pronunciation drilling.
Still, the findings of this study differ from Samsudin's. In his study, participants were

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asked to rank the most challenging abilities they had to learn in order to become proficient in
basic English. Students contend that the two hardest basic English abilities for them to grasp are
listening and grammar. This was corroborated by students' responses on the questionnaire, who
stated that they had trouble listening to speakers with accents and that they hardly ever used
English for communication with one another as the reason why they were having trouble
learning the three fundamental skills. Grammar is among the hardest to learn because there are a
lot of rules that need to be understood and committed to memory in order to be proficient in
grammar skill (Samsudin & Sukarismanti, 2020).
Furthermore, this study found several materials that might be needed by students in
learning English for Law, namely Law term, Law debate, law public speaking, reading text or
news about law, in the court, job life, and dialogue with international and daily life.
Meanwhile,(Samsudin & Sukarismanti, 2020) found that there are some materials that
need to add to this English subject such as general election, Indonesian law, customary law in
Indonesia, practice daily English, and games relating English for law. In another study about
English for law: need analysis for specific purpose at Law faculty in University of Nahdatul
Ulama Indonesia was conducted by (Rahmawati & Anindhyta, 2022). They found the material
that considered important for English for law namely: In the court, talking with client, talking in
daily life, talking in professional life and asking and answering questions in English in the
classroom.
This finding is almost similar to finding in this research. The students requested to have
the same topic like: talking to client, in the court, daily life, and job environment. Another
researcher like Jalil dan kamarudin (Jalil & Kamarudin, 2009) did a research on “Elap Needs
Analysis For Law Students”. They found that students are hoped to practice English in their
future career such as to talk to clients, colleagues, other professionals and in the court.

CONCLUSION
Since students will be focused on their future goals, particularly with regard to their
English language proficiency, learning a specific subject is crucial. Among the four skills,
speaking seems to be most essential skills for law students compered to any other skills. The
students need speaking skill to talk to international client, to talk to people in the court, to do
debate about law and to talk about job and daily life. The next skill they need is reading. They
want to be able to read news or text in law. After doing this research, the lecturers who taught
English for law are expected to be able to design suitable and meaningful materials in teaching
ESP course for English for Law.
Studies about need analyisis on students’ need in English for law subject are still limited.
Many researchers are still trying to find students’ need in legal field. This study focused on
skills, language components and materials for English for law subject. Future authors are
suggested to investigate about the detail materials and strategies in teaching English for law
subject.

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