Perceived Learner Needs: A Multi-Stakeholder Study of Grade 11 EFL Education in Oman

Abstract

English education at the secondary level is expected to support success in school examinations while also preparing learners for further study, employment, and communication. These purposes, however, may be understood differently by learners, teachers, and educational leaders. This study examines stakeholders' perceptions of the purposes and adequacy of Grade 11 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in Omani public schools through the broader construct of perceived curriculum–needs alignmentIt addresses a gap in research by connecting students' and teachers' perceptions with educational leaders' interpretations of the purposes of Grade 11 English and its adequacy in relation to students' current and anticipated academic, professional, and communicative needs. The study adopted a cross-sectional, multi-stakeholder design combining questionnaires administered to 982 Grade 11 students and 64 English-language teachers with structured interviews involving four English-language supervisors and three heads of department from four educational regions in Oman. The findings indicate that examination success and further study were salient in the recoverable student purpose data, whereas teachers and educational leaders also emphasized employment and broader future utility. Teacher responses and educational-leader accounts indicated that perceptions of programme adequacy were not uniformly shared and that stakeholders differed in how they understood the relationship between Grade 11 English and students' current and anticipated language-related needs. The findings suggest that Grade 11 English is understood through multiple and sometimes differently prioritized purposes across stakeholder groups. The study contributes an evidence-bounded account of perceived curriculum–needs alignment by examining how stakeholder perspectives converge, diverge, and complement one another in relation to the purposes and perceived adequacy of secondary EFL education. The findings concern stakeholder perceptions and reported experiences and do not constitute direct measures of language proficiency, objectively determined language needs, or objective curriculum effectiveness.