A Comparison of Instructors’ and Students’ Perceptions of the General English Program Tertiary Level
The study examined instructors" and students" opinions about a university General English curriculum in terms of its effectiveness by conducting a series of needs analyses. A total of 608 students, 6 native and 7 non-native instructors participated in the survey and the results were compared across the three sets of data. Though the students and the teachers generally agreed upon the goal of improving communicative ability, there were divergent voices as well as conflicting expectations about the General English curriculum by each party: the students versus the teachers and the native versusnon-native teachers. Whereas the students weighed upon the practical component of the program, the instructors put more value on its academic characteristics. The native teachers emphasized the importance of discussion and small group work for in-class activities, while the non-native teachers and the students gave priority to lectures. The findings advocate the critical role of language professionals in balancing between different needs and still accommodating multiple perspectives in the curriculum development and renewal process.