A student-oriented teacher education approach in the TESL methods course : student teacher perceptions and implications for professional training and development

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
1993-11
Authors
Lucille Shanta, Dass
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
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.
Description
Keywords
Education
Citation