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There is some controversy on the issue of the type of English course for undergraduate students whether it should be of general purposes or specific purposes. This study attempts to address this issue. It first looks into the present English course, and then conducts a needs analysis of the students and faculty´s management, and finally proposes a course design on the basis of the needs analysis.

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Ismail Petrus teaches English at Sriwijaya University, Indonesia. He holds a Graduate Diploma of Arts in Interpreting/Translating (English-Indonesian) from Deakin University, Melbourne, an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Essex, UK, and a doctoral degree in English Education from Indonesia University of Education, Bandung, Indonesia.

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