Student Expectation and Perception on Service Quality: Gap Analysis Model

In the competitive market, it is crucial to stand as the market leaders maintaining the current customers offering the satisfying service quality and creating impacts to attract the potential. Hence, this research identifies the gaps between the customer expectation and perception on the academic service quality of an English Department in Yangon, Myanmar through the five dimensions SERVQUAL model. Deductive approach and exploratory research design are applied in the research. The study uses proportional sampling where a definite number of populations is known and the respondents are selected randomly from every batch. Through mixed method, quantitative and qualitative data are collected from 66 respondents attending English Language Programme. The results reveal that there are significant gaps between the customer expectation and perception, and the customers’ expectation level is higher than the perceived service quality. The qualitative data analysis is not merely provided in the research; therefore, it seems weak to identify the detailed opinions of the respondents’ views on the research factors. The customers’ perception and suggestions should be prioritised for the betterment of developmental progress of the academic service quality. The research indicates the prominence of the customer loyalty to maintain the customer satisfaction in the organisation.


Introduction
Education nowadays is regarded as the cornerstone of the development, therefore, the quality of the learning and the field of the study offered to the students get more attention. The private education institutions strengthen the images and market positions to gain competitive advantages in the markets (Azoury, 2014). On this DFFRXQW WKH HGXFDWLRQ VHUYLFH LQVWLWXWLRQV IRFXV RQ WKH VWXGHQWV ¶ needs and wants since the education is a kind of service related to the resources creating the awareness of the students /HJþHYLü 9). Service quality is supposed to be accepted as one of the most important factors in the aggressive competitive education business world.
In Administration, 2018; Ko, 2019). Therefore, the competitiveness in the market becomes higher because every institution is providing the quality services and standardised facilities to adjust with the VWXGHQWV ¶ QHHGV DQG SHUFHLYHG TXDOLW\. In this way, the satisfaction of the students is achievable and sustainable.
Good service quality leads to the impacts of the increased customer satisfaction bringing up to the long-term benefits towards the market share and profitability (Anderson et al., 1994). The other rivalries in the markets are attempting to provide the students the world-recognised additional skills certificates; for instance, the IELTS preparation and Business English as additional courses. These
Most of the private institutions in Myanmar establish their partnership with foreign universities which are recognised as the world ranked universities. Thus, the medium language of the study becomes English because of the management process and quality grantee agreements. Taking

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Is WKHUH DQ\ GLIIHUHQFH EHWZHHQ WKH VWXGHQWV ¶ SHUFHSWLRQ RQ WKH VHUYLFH TXDOLW\ SURYLGHG E\ the English Department of ALC and the expected service quality of the students? Howard and Sheth (1969) define the concept of satisfaction to the customer theory in which the achievement organisational goal is inseparable with the customer satisfaction from both inside and outside. Internal and external customers feel satisfied that the better expectation of needs is perceived when the real performance being offered than the prior one, on the contrary, the dissatisfaction is found when the perception is worse than the expectation (Pascual-Nebreda et al., 2022).

Student Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is a way of emotionally responding towards the experiences gained by the purchased products, service, retail outlets, molar patterns of behaviours and the overall marketplace (Westbrook & Reilly, 1983cited in Woodruff et al., 1983Szeliga-Duchnowska, 2016).
Customer satisfaction can be regarded as the evaluation on the purchase and consumption experience on the products and service at the certain moments (Fornell et al., 1996). Oliver (1999) Parasuraman et al. (1985 cited in Schneider and White (2004) (Mohapatra et al., 2018). Cronin and Taylor (1992,1994) cited in Rodrigues (2013) claim that service quality should be measured only on the performance index through SERVPERF instead of the gap analysis model SERVQUAL. Similar to the SERVQUAL, SERVPERF has five dimensions which are Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Empathy and Assurance (Kasim et al., 2012), but the difference is that SERVQUAL focuses on both perception and expectation of the customers whilst SERVPERF targets the perception on the performance. Hasbolah et al. (2018) investigated that the way students describe the expectation on the service quality based on the five dimensions of SERVQUAL, and Berry (1985) aligned with the academic perspective point of setting. The service quality pays the role of prominence to drive the higher level of the customer satisfaction (Minh et al., 2015). Bomrez and Rahman (2018) (Marathe, 2017). Sudhakar et al. (2011) suggested that if there are significant gaps in the service quality, the organisation needs to take action to do amendment for the better development of the organisation.

SERVQUAL and SERVPERF
In another study, Bomrez and Rahman (2018)    developed SERVQUAL, the gap analysis model, for the purpose of measuring the influence of service quality on the consumer-service product provider in the integrated point of view. The service quality is measured in the framework of five dimensions: tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. When the customers view the service quality, the satisfaction can be fulfilled if the service quality is strongly provided completing the dimensions. The result of applying this theory might lead to the positive customer behaviour.

Service Quality
Like the other service sectors, the services on the educational institutions have the same characteristics in the existence of intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability, and lack of ownership (Zeithaml et al., 1985;Zeithaml et al., 1990;Gruber et al., 2010). Bedner and Reeves (1994) claim that greatness to esteem, conformance, and meeting and surpassing client desire are advanced perceptions descended from the idea of quality. Service quality is the apparent result of the reference for the fulfilment (Spreng & Mackoy, 1996). The quality of service plays the vital role to execute the educational magnificence which is the key variable to acquire the solid customer recognition in educational service industries (Ahmed et al., 2010). Kotler and Armstrong (2011) explain the service quality as the ability to attract the customers in service firms determining the competitive advantage and sustainability of the organisations.

Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Owing to Bitner (1990), Service Encounter Evaluation Model is introduced exposing the empirical evidence of the effect of satisfaction on the service quality. The level of customer satisfaction depends on the evaluation of the service quality provided by the service provider in the measurement of the determined factors (Hurley & Estelami, 1998). The service quality can perform as the antecedent to customer satisfaction investigating the causal relationship between the service quality and the customer satisfaction (Lee et al., 2000). The core concern of the firms and the enterprises become the customer satisfaction to prove their efforts, performance on the service quality for maintaining the customer loyalty in the highly competitive market (Awwad, 2012).

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perception of the service quality. Hence, the measurements through SERVQUAL Model apply descriptive and causal research methods collecting quantitative and qualitative data. However, the purpose of the study is different because of the discrepancies between anticipated and observed results. These results are explained and evaluated.
The study adapted the closeness from the filed study area analysis by critically reviewing the related studies. Accordingly, the resources available and time limitation, the study chose quantitative data analysis and the descriptive research method because the research applies SERVQUAL Model to investigate the existence of the gaps between the customerV ¶ SHUFHSWLRQ DQG H[SHFWDWLRQ RQ WKH service quality.

Hypotheses of the Study
A hypothesis represents what the researcher expects to analyse through the research when the researcher proves the existence of a relationship between the factors raised in the research study (Kabir, 2016). This study aims to prove the following:

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Conceptual Framework of the Study Source: Self-arranged framework based on  8 | International Journal of Academe and Industry Research, Volume 4 Issue 1

Research Design and Method
The research is conducted by the sequel steps of the research onion suggested by Saunder et al. (2012). Six layers of the onion: philosophies, approaches, strategies, choices, time horizons and, techniques and procedures, are systematic set-up procedures to identify the validity and reliability of the process of the research. Cooper and Schindler (2014) explain that the research design represents a series of research techniques to combine the collected data and critically consider the measures of variables so that the research problem is efficiently solved. The type of this research is descriptive because the experiment determines the cause and effect without manipulating, but only observing and measuring the variables in the compliance of survey method and deductive approach.
Research methods or techniques can be defined as the means the researcher applied in the research operation performance (Kothari, 2004). These methods include mono-method qualitative, mono-method quantitative, multi-method qualitative, multi-method quantitative, mixed-method qualitative and mixed-method quantitative (Saunder et al., 2012). The research uses mono-method quantitative because in the numerical form, the data is collected and the quantitative data analysis techniques are utilised.
Qualitative research itself is array of practices such as in-depth interviews, focus groups and the observation of the participants. Initially, it is for the inductive process to formulate the theories or the hypotheses. The exploration on the phenomena and new insights in the limitation of the nonnumerical data is focused on the qualitative research method (Leavy, 2014). Otherwise, in quantitative method, the data are collected through specific measurements and analysed by the statistical inferences (O'Dwyer & Bernauer, 2014).

Sampling
There are two types of sampling methods: probability and non-probability methods.
Probability sampling technique is used when the population targeted for the research is known that every individual in the population has equal chances to be selected. There are five probability sampling methods: simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, systematic sampling, cluster random sampling, and multi-stage random sampling. In non-probability sampling, the respondents from the unknown population are selected having no equal chance for the selection (Babbie, 2011).
Proportional sampling is used in this research because the definite number of populations is known and the respondents are selected randomly from every batch of the English programme having the benefit occupying samples for being well-representative of the total population.

Population
A population is a collection of individuals or groups of people who have the specialised set of characteristics that the researcher targets (Banerjee & Chaudhury, 2010). Among the total student number of 706, 191, students from the English Language Programme of ALC are targeted to conduct in the research; so the population is known.

Sampling Frame
From the population of English Language Programme, the students are randomly selected from every batch according to the number of the students.

Sampling Design
Basically, the groundwork of the research selecting a specific audience is the sampling design. In this stage, the final decision of the data collection method is decided; and the appropriate sample size is calculated (Lohr, 2010).
Since the population is known, Yamane (1967) formula is used using 99% confidence level and 10% of margin of error. The calculated sample size is 66.

Content of Questionnaire
Gender and age as the demographic characteristics are added as the closed-type question in the questionnaire. The rest of the questionnaire is prepared for the five components of SERVQUAL Model which are tangibility, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and assurance.

Pilot Test
Five questionnaires are offered to the respondents who have the previous experience with the research field and were requested to answer the questionnaires after the development of the questionnaire design. According to the feedbacks from the five respondents, the researcher modified the error found with guidance from the supervisor. The final questionnaire was prepared.

Survey Method
Firstly, the researcher asked for the permissions of the university to do survey strategy conducting the valid respondents. After receiving the approval of the management team, the questionnaires were distributed to the targeted population. The data collection was administered by the researcher using the structured questionnaire. Then, the questionnaires were distributed to the 70 respondents and were collected after completion. The researcher stayed back to respond promptly if the respondents are not clear with the aims of questionnaire format.

Response Rate
The collected data are useful having high response rate and it is assumed that the interest of the respondents is matched with the concept of the questionnaire constructed in the simple and understandable ways. To collect the questionnaires, the classroom lecturers in the classes are requested to retrieve completed questionnaires. The response rate is presented in the table 2. The collected data are evaluated if reliable or not; if it is necessary, the data are edited such as collecting the data from the new respondents rejecting the unacceptable ones asking for the advice of the experienced supervisor. Afterwards, the final data is coded using the SPSS statistics tool version 20. As the last stage, the data are inputted as the finalisation.

Ethical Consideration
Ethical consideration is the vital area of the research because it can lead the disruption to the dissertation if this part is missing (Bell et al., 2018;Saunder et al., 2012). The study follows the three rules of ethical consideration which are confidentiality, reliability and validity.
The participants are allowed to quit from the process at any given time. In addition, the researcher asks the organisation the permission for the data collection activity as the part of the study.
The answers and the feedbacks on the questionnaires by the respondents are kept confidential and the respondents can answer the questionnaire as anonymous.
The research makes sure to avoid the bias whilst in the research process and data report. The researcher cares to give credit and mentions the participants and the supervisor who are involved to complete the research project. The discrimination and the irritation to the participants are forbidden as well.

Gap Analysis through SURVQUAL Model
The data analysis by the SPSS statistics tool is tested for the reliability and interpreted to   3.7. Indeed, the perception and expectation mean scores are nearly the same; however, the gaps are found when the customer expectation mean scores are higher than the expectation mean scores in average.

Hypothesis Testing on the differences between Customer Expectation and Perception on the service quality
The paired sample t test is occurred when the certain factors are measured before and after the performance of the action.   According to the t value and two tailed p value, the null hypothesis is rejected because it is greater than the critical value (1.98) and two tailed p value is lesser than 0.05. Therefore, the research hypothesis is accepted. The calculated t value for H2 is greater than the standardised critical value and the lesser two tailed value than 0.05 is found as well. Consequently, the research hypothesis is accepted; alternatively, the null hypothesis is rejected. The mean gap score result of the paired sample test supports the research hypothesis, in addition, the t value is being greater than the critical value and two tailed p value is lesser than 0.05.
In contrary, the null hypothesis is rejected. Agreeably to the paired sample test, the research is approved and the null hypothesis is rejected since the greater t value than 1. 98 and the lesser two tailed p value than 0.05 are investigated.

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The study tested the proposed hypotheses analysing and interpreting the calculated data.
Therefore, it was found that there are significant differences on the academic service quality provided by English Department on account of the application of SERVQUAL Model in the research. The results proved WKDW WKH VWXGHQWV ¶ H[SHFWDWLRQ LV KLJKHU WKDQ WKH SHUFHLYHd service quality provided by English Department of ALC.

Recommendation and Suggestions
Research Objective: 7R LGHQWLI\ WKH JDSV EHWZHHQ WKH VWXGHQWV ¶ SHUFHSWLRQ RQ WKH service quality provided by the English Department of ALC and the expected service quality of the students The service quality is measured through the five dimensions complying SERVQUAL Model.
According to paired simple test and the results shown in Table 3, the perception of the students is lesser than the expectation for all of the dimensions. The lowest perception mean score of 3.6 is received for Assurance on the classroom administration and academic setting arrangement and its mean score of the expectation is 4.16. In consequence, the gap is found for that dimension. Although there is a significant difference between the customer expectation and perception, the highest mean score of perception, 3.93, is recognised for the Tangibility on professional appearance and faculties provided and the expectation mean gap score of the factor is 4.32. The mean scores of the other dimension are approximately the same, but there are still gaps.  state that the differences are found for the customer perception compared to the expectation on the service offered by the service provider. Reflecting the experiences of consuming the product or service office and the emotional response of the clients in the assumption of the comparison to the expected and perceived values, is the relation of the customer satisfaction towards the products or service provided (Biesok & Wyród-Wróbel, 2011).
The study provides the three open-type questions in the questionnaire to hear the voices of the students on the academic quality. The study received plenty of comments but some of those are common, which are combined. Based on the feedback on the academic service, the appropriate recommendation and suggestions are proposed as following.

Assurance on the Classroom Administration and Academic Setting Arrangement
Comment 1 -³We only receive the textbook and prefer to get the audio CD as well so that we can practice listening alone, too ´ Language. Another troublesome issue for the students who have lower levels of English, knowing themselves, they feel demotivated attending the class being mixed with students of higher English language level. Consequently, the students do not want to participate with others during classes. As majority of them like to be treated as grown-up adults, teachers need to be considerate not to treat them as young adults.
Suggestions for Comment 1. In fact, the students are given the copied version of the textbook, thence, the audio CD are not available. If the department would like to provide audio CD, there are two options: provide original version of the textbook which CDs are attached or the audio files would be added when the students are offered the knowledge boxes at the beginning of the first term of the academic year. The first option might entail higher cost as the approximate price for the original textbooks attached CDs is around $35. The second option can save the budget but it has copyright issue as well. However, the school has the strong partnership with Pearson, somewhat supplier of the organisation. Thus, the price can be discussed and hence, the copyright issue can be solved out.

Suggestion for Comments 2 & 3.
The students expect that the classroom management matters. Although the majority of the students are young adults, the teaching methods which are applicable for the young learners are not workable according to the culture adaption of the ALC students. In addition, based on the monthly report evaluation of English Department, the teachers apply different approaches and teaching methods to the students. The teaching methods are adjusted RXJKW WR WKH VWXGHQWV ¶ QDWXUH DQG WKH SUHIHUHQFH RI WKH WHDFKHUV +RZHYHU WKH PDMRULW\ RI WKH WHDFKLQJ 16 | International Journal of Academe and Industry Research, Volume 4 Issue 1 methods should be consistently applied especially in ALC because the levels of the students are mixed. In addition, the teachers have to take care of the different classes alternatively every two months so the students also need to adapt the different teaching styles of the different teachers.
Consequently, it is inconvenient for both the lecturers and the students to build rapport within two months.
The suggested teaching methods for better communication with the students are TCL (Teacher Leaner Care) and PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production) because these methods encourage the involvement of both teacher and students. In fact, the teaching language would be effective if the levels of the students are filtered. The appropriate classroom management and teaching development trainings should be provided to the lecturers occasionally as well. To ensure consistency of the teaching method and arrangement, the supervision of the head of the department is required in decisions and monitoring of teaching practices; however, the position is currently unfilled.
Suggestions for Comment 4. It is highly evident that no interesting activities for the students as arranged by English Department. The students are also willing and keen to take part of the activities, if arranged, like the musical class where an English song is sung together creating network of the students and rapport between teachers and the students. Since the students need to the write assignments, reading and writing skills are a must to complete the tasks successfully. The reading club can help students read subject-related books, reflection can be practiced, and the reading habit can be developed by sharing and exchanging books with speaking session at the sideline.

Responsiveness on the Recognition on Academic Performance and Commitment
Comment 1 -³Teachers cannot be always right. The more chances should be given to share or exchange the knowledge in the class ´ Comment 2 -³Let us speak more ´ The teachers should provide more chances for students to participate to some extent. The PPP method is suggested as this method allows the teacher to give the awareness of the lesson, discuss

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The involvement of the student matters in PPP because they have to self-arrange subject-related project in small or big groups.

Empathy on the Arrangement of the Flexibility in the Classroom
Comment 1 -³Teachers should get aware of the emotional situation of the students before asking to do the activities ´ In reality, making time for the students to discuss about the subject is a must; however, the number of the teachers is not enough to fill the gap because of the tight schedule. The standardisation of the exam system is required because lecturers take time explaining and giving instructions to the students. The appropriate recognition for passing or accomplishing the test should be provided, for example, setting grading system, offering certificate, or taking action to those who are absent or failed the test.

Tangibility on Professional Appearance and Faculties provided
Comment 1 -³I wish library to be bigger to sit around comfortably and provide more English Language Learning related books and make people silent ´ While the library has the same space available, the provision of more books is the best solution. The lecturers should suggest a list of related books and ask the management for budget approval. Accompanied by the purchasing department, the books should be purchased and displayed in the library.

Implication to Management
7KH FXVWRPHUV ¶ opinions and the appropriate suggestions are proposed for better academic service quality of the English Department at Academy Language Center. As to the school management, the research includes the positive and constructive process to support the development of English Department as shown in table 4. The suggestions are only for the betterment of the department in positive ways.

Limitation
Time constraint is the core limitation for the research. With the lack of qualitative data

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The study only targets the student population of English Language Programme, thence; it is difficult to generalize the results as the credible and reliable observation and reflection of the academic service quality at ALC.

Declaration
I hereby sincerely declare that this paper, submitted for the sake of the journal publication, is my own work. The lifted sources and reference are explicitly acknowledged and mentioned in my work and any part of my work has not been copied or written for me by another person. Since the official commencement date of the approval, the result which has been carried out is the content of the study.