Abstract
Learning the English language for international communication and study abroad has become very popular in recent years. It led to the appearance of numerous online courses to learn English across the country. However, the effectiveness of such courses mostly depends on how well they meet learners’ specific needs. The goal of this study is to observe and analyze learners’ experience, motivation and preferences as well as challenges in learning English in order to improve English language teaching courses. The target audience for the survey comprised 120 participants between the ages 18 and 23 from different cities of Kazakhstan. The study implemented questionnaire, based on Present Situation Analysis theory to investigate needs analysis research for language course design. The analysis of the obtained data was performed by using qualitative descriptive methods in terms of numbers and percentages. The results illustrate that the majority of participants learnt English largely on formal education and have difficulties mostly with practical speaking skills and prefer interactive communication with the elements of involving language teaching techniques that could really help improve language proficiency to grow professionally. Such a pre-course survey can contribute to addressing students’ needs and expectations as well as can be useful for language program developers.