Putri, Alya Syawalita. 2026. Need Analysis of ESP for the Software and Game Development Department at SMKN 2 Banjarmasin. Sarjana’s Thesis. English Department. Faculty of Teachers’ Training and Education. Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin. The first advisor: Emma Rosana Febriyanti, S.Pd., M.Pd., the second advisor: Inayati Fitriyah Asrimawati, S.Pd., M.Pd.

Keywords: Need analysis, English for Specific Purposes, Software and Game Development, Vocational School

Vocational schools aim to prepare students for work by equipping them with the necessary knowledge and skills, including English language skills relevant to their major. However, English language instruction in vocational schools in Indonesia, including at SMKN 2 Banjarmasin, mostly still uses the General English approach, which is exacerbated by teachers' difficulties in creating lesson plans using the ESP approach. This can have fatal consequences, especially for the Software and Game Development major, where the material is mostly in English and where market demand is largely from abroad. Limited English knowledge and skills will hinder students' programming skills. Therefore, an effective needs analysis is necessary to determine the English language needs of students in the major. This study employed a qualitative descriptive approach using interviews and a questionnaire. The research subjects were the head of the study program, an English teacher, a department teacher, and 67 eleventh-grade students majoring in Software Development.

The results show that current English language learning is not fully relevant to their needs in learning software development. The study also found that students require all four English skills (Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking) in the process of learning software development and preparing for careers in related fields. Students also need to master technical programming vocabulary that is widely used in documentation, tutorials, and product pitches. However, unfortunately, students still experience difficulties, especially in speaking and listening skills, as well as mastering technical vocabulary, which causes obstacles in learning software development. Therefore, it is necessary to transform English learning to be more relevant to majors by implementing an ESP approach and considering student learning preferences.