Students' and teachers' ideals of effective Business English teaching

Abstract

Learners’ and teachers’ evaluation of what constitutes useful, appropriate, and goal-relevant English may well shift in view of the globalization of English and its dominance in non-native contexts, business, and new media. Against this background, this study explores the extent to which a specific Business English university programme meets teachers’ and learners’ expectations. We argue that students’ own experiences and goals, including their past, present, and projected use of English, shape their expectations and, consequently, their evaluations of the teaching reality. The results of our study reveal that though learner and teacher beliefs tend to be aligned in most areas, students’ judgements of effective teaching and learning practices are highly dependent on personal motivations and specific language use purposes, and this difference manifests itself most clearly in teachers’ and learners’ divergent views on the value of grammatical accuracy and corrective feedback.