Excellent article! Varying backgrounds really brings a lot to the table in the EFL world.

I agree that the input from students and peers is a tremendous help. It's always great to get another view point as we can only see so much and our perception my be a bit clouded.

It's not that easy for my situation though. I work in Japan and like little sage said, asking for evaluation of your performance is seen as incompetence. It's concidered very American to need that peer approval. And it's never done here, so the value of the information received is a bit sub-par.

I think it can be done, but the questions need to be well thought out for the culture and in the case of Japan simple and direct.

What did you think of the course? (won't fly)
Did you like the textbook? (OK)

- Mark