The Perceived Needs of High School and College Students Concerning a GELP at the Tertiary Level

This paper examines the perceived needs of high school students, a portion of the potential population for a general English language program at the tertiary level and compares those with the perceived needs of college students in order to set a direction for the future development. A total of 187 high school students (juniors) and 202 college students participated in the study. The data of high school students were collected in the period of one month during the midterm exam week of the university whereas the data of college students were collected during the final exam week. The findings showed different views concerning objectives and preferred topics of a GELP. That is, the high school students perceived the objectives should be to understand English cultures and improve language proficiency. The results also showed the high school students wanted a GELP to focus on topics such as English cultures, traditions, and history. On the other hand, the college students perceived that the objective should be the improvement of language proficiency, while expressing a preference for a GELP covering topics of general knowledge. However, both groups wanted a GELP program to focus on the improvement of speaking skills, preferring discussion in English as a class activity. As a preferred type of class, media English class was selected by the majority of students from both groups. In short, these findings provide valuable information which can be taken into account in the revision and development of the curriculum of a GELP.