[little sage]

I agree that the more student input a teacher can acquire, the more effective he/she will be in guiding students to their goals and in matching those goals with those of the teacher and the course.

Having spent all of my teaching years up to now working in Asia, I've found it more difficult to acquire input from adult students here than back in the Western world. Asking students their opinions about a course, the effectiveness of such and such an activity, etc., does something to reduce the students' perception of the teacher's authority. Asian students are usually not encouraged to ask questions of their teachers, let alone comment on the teacher's method.

That being said, I do think there must be a way for the Western teacher in Asia to collect this information without diminishing his/her "authority". Collecting anonymous surveys after students have completed a course, for example.

I'd like to read other people's ideas about gathering the beneficial sort of information that is described in this article, while teaching in cultural situations other than North America.