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"The dilemma of choosing a textbook for second language learners that provides course content appropriate to both student interests and language level is an ongoing one. Is there a course book that provides it all? Or would a source book, a bank with more than enough lessons, tasks, ideas, skill components, etc., be a more useful ongoing resource? For teachers considering developing materials for a specific population, to what extent can they identify their students' needs? This paper presents preliminary results of a survey administered to Japanese medical and pharmaceutical university students. In an effort to establish a clearer picture of learners with specific needs, it reports on students' preferred focus for language skills, preferred course content of general English or medical English and classroom groupings. [Part 2 of this needs analysis will be presented at a later date. It will report on students' perceptions of the degree of usefulness of language functions and their feedback regarding both general English and medical English topics.]