A Program Evaluation Study of the Main Course at a Preparatory Program: A Case Study

Abstract

This study is an evaluation case study and aims to evaluate the English as a foreign language (EFL) preparatory course called Main Course (MC) on the basis of the modified version of Bellon and Handler’s (1982) evaluation model. The purpose of this study is twofold: i) analyze the EFL preparatory course with regard to its four fundamental aspects, a) aims and objectives, b) course content and materials, c) course conduct and d) student assessment and outcomes, and ii) identify aspects to be improved in relation to these four areas. The participants of the study included the course instructors and their students in several preparatory classrooms. The study followed a mixed methods design in which the data were collected through questionnaires, interviews and observations. The results revealed that MC was generally effective with regard to the four fundamental aspects as reported by the course instructors and students. The qualitative and quantitative data used to identify the gaps between the current and expected situation of the course in terms of four aspects corroborated to a large extent. However, the results showed inconsistencies between teachers’ and students’ perceptions especially in terms of the aspects of course content and assessment. For the improvement of the gaps found as a result of the evaluation activities, several recommendations were made such as the inclusion of more practice activities and various types of assessment methods to test student performance in the course and consideration of alignment between the testing and teaching procedures.