摘要：Needs analysis is an integral part of ESP courses for syllabus design, materials development, teaching and testing issues. Unfortunately there has been no formal research on needs analysis for postgraduate courses in the Ministry of Health in Iran (MOH). The recent approach to needs analysis, critical approach, is both descriptive and transformative in research method. It emphasizes on the importance of needs analysis by including different stakeholders including: teachers, students and administrators in this process which is a political/subjective activity. This study conducted in 2009 was an attempt to revise the present syllabi of ESP postgraduate courses on the basis of critical approach to needs analysis. The total population of the study was 75 people consisting of 56 postgraduate students, 10 graduates, four heads of departments, four ESP instructors and one executive manager at MOH. Ethical and demographic forms as well as a comprehensive questionnaire and a form of semi-structured interview were the instruments of the study. The questionnaire was based on Likert Scale which was then analyzed through SPSS. The result of the study showed a discrepancy between what the students expressed as their needs and what is actually in the syllabus prescribed by the MOH.
