A student-oriented teacher education approach in the TESL methods course : student teacher perceptions and implications for professional training and development
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Date
1993-11
Authors
Lucille Shanta, Dass
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Abstract
The professional preparation of teachers is one of the
most important tasks for the future of a nation.
In Malaysia English language teacher education is at a
turning point. There have been and continue to be calls for
efforts towards more innovative and effective
implementation of training procedures. Language teacher
educators are being persuaded to use a more studentoriented
approach based on the concept of experiential
learning and one that is also in keeping with the current
language teaching methodology desired in schools. The use
of the traditional lecture mode is to be minimized. In its
place teacher educators are urged to employ, and thereby
expose student teachers to, a variety of language teachinglearning
strategies in the absence of a single best method.
There is hardly any useful information arising from a
study describing an actual student-oriented process of
language teacher education in Malaysian teacher training
colleges. Such information is considered necessary if
conventional practitioners are to be convinced and
converted for the sake of improving language teacher
education in our country.
The purpose of this study therefore was to design and
implement a series of sessions using a student-oriented
teacher education approach (SOTEA) comprising a variety of
teaching-! earning s tra tegi es in the TESL methods course.
Student teacher perceptions of this approach wer.e obtained using an investigator-designed modified diary- report. The
sample comprised a class of twenty-nine (29) fin~l year
(fourth semester) TESL option student teachers.
Student teacher perceptions communicate a positive and
favourable view of the use of SOTEA as it provided them
with both language content and its pedagogical know-how. In
addition, perceptions intimate the potential in SOTEA for
initiating a capacity for self and professional development
in the beginning teacher. The findings invariably support
educational litera~ure in second language teacher education
which calls for the use of a learner-centred approach.
This study suggests that student teacher perceptions
of the use of SOTEA in the TESL methods course have
important implications for all those involved in the
professional preparation of beginning language teachers.
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Keywords
Education