One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Echoing Students and Instructors’ Voices for English Course Improvement

บทคัดย่อ

        The primary aims of the research were, firstly, to explore first-year students’ and instructors’ opinions on the fundamental English 1 course  a university in Bangkok, Thailand, and, secondly, to examine their suggestions for course improvement.  The research was conducted employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. The secondary data of 3,314 responses of the first-year students from the university’s Likert-scale questionnaire survey were analysed using SPSS. Since students were allowed to write their additional comments in the questionnaire survey, thematic analysis was also used to analyse the data. In addition, semi-structured interviews with six course instructors were conducted to obtain instructors’ opinions on the course. Thematic analysis was employed for instructors’ interviews. The statistical findings revealed that overall, students held positive views of the fundamental English 1 course (Overall course information: M = 4.27, Learning Outcomes: M = 4.11, Course Objectives: M = 4.13, Instructors: M = 4.49). However, students’ comments provided greater insights of mixed views regarding the course in general, course content and materials, assessment and evaluation, and teaching and learning methods, and these opinions pose challenges for the course providers. In the same vein, the findings from the interviews with the instructors provided positive perceptions towards the course in terms of the course in general, course content and materials, assessment and evaluation, and teaching-learning methods. Useful suggestions were obtained from both students and instructors. The findings demonstrated that there is still some room for course improvement based on the opinions of these two key stakeholders. Based upon the findings, implications and suggestions for the improvement of the fundamental English 1 course are provided.