The effectiveness of the English Language/Field Teacher Preparation program at Yarmouk University in Jordan as perceived by its students

This study had three main purposes: (1) To investigate the effectiveness of the English Language/Field Teacher Preparation program at Yarmouk University in preparing qualified English language teachers for the Basic Educational Stage (grades 1–10). (2) To evaluate the role of the practicum teaching program in its efforts to improve the English language/field teacher students' abilities in language teaching. (3) To provide decision makers with objective information about students' abilities in teaching English.; The sample of the study consisted of the students of the fourth year of the English Language/Field Teacher Preparation Program at Yarmouk University in the second semester of the academic year 2000/2001, the whole academic year 2001/2002, and the first semester of the academic year 2002/2003.; For the purpose of the study, the researcher developed a questionnaire based on the statement of the problem of the study. It consists of likert-type items and some essay questions. The questionnaire was of two parts. The first part dealt with the English Language/Field Teacher Preparation program, and the second part dealt with issues related to the Practicum Teaching Program specifically.; After statistical analysis, the study presented the following findings: (1) There was no significant interaction between the students' gender and their cumulative average at α = 0.05. (2) There were no statistically significant differences among students' responses due to: their gender or their cumulative average at α = 0.05. (3) There were statistically significant differences between the students ratings of the English Language/Field Teacher Preparation Program and their ratings of the Practicum Teaching Program at α = 0.05.; The study also indicated that the English language/field teacher program was just an acceptable one. The findings indicated that the design of the program, its educational courses, its English language courses, the practicum supervision, and the practicum teaching courses, need to be modified and improved. The results also showed that there is a strong need to improve the negative attitudes of the faculty members of the English language department towards the students of the program. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the students still have some needs to be met.; On the basis of the findings the researcher recommended to carry out another study like this one in other public universities in Jordan to establish the reliability of those teachers' preparation programs.