An Evaluative Study Of A Pre-service English Teacher Education Program In CCNU From Students’ Perspective

Program evaluation (Brown1989:223) was defined as a systematic process of colleting and analyzing information necessary to improve a curriculum, assess its efficiency and determine participants’attitudes within a context of a particular institution. Due to the implementation of an increasing number of oversea language programs and the worldwide popularity of FLT reform in the past2decades, program evaluation, as a new field in Applied Linguistics, has been more and more emphasized especially in FLT. Program Evaluation can give us a better understanding of the efficiency and effects of a program, the strengths and weaknesses in its implementation, all of which can further benefit program stakeholders in the process of decision-making and also contribute to the improvement and continuity of a program.The study was carried out in English Department in Central China Normal University (hereafter referred to as CCNU), where a2-year postgraduate teacher education program, which has been in implementation for3years, is in its beginning. Similar teacher education programs have been carried out in other normal universities. Although recent years have seen an increase in full-time teacher education programs, they are still new and insufficient considering the need of qualified teachers. Due to the significance and innovativeness of those programs, it is highly necessary to evaluate the program concerning its efficiency and its implementation to guarantee continuity and improvement of the program. However, literature abounds with program evaluation of FLT and ELT, but evaluation of teacher education program, though significant, has not been given its due attention.The present research aimed to investigate students’perspectives of the2-year English teacher education program delivered in Central China Normal University and their opinions about the strengths and weaknesses of the program features. In this research, the adapted version of Peacock’s questionnaire and semi-structured group interviews were adopted for the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The data in this research was collected in the following3steps:1) Semi-structured group interviews were conducted on4randomly chosen postgraduate majoring in English teaching in Central China Normal University;2) Adjustments were made of Peacock’s questionnaire based on the earlier pilot interviews to localize the questionnaire; and3) A sample of8students, representing students from different backgrounds, were chosen for further semi-structured group interviews.It was found that the students generally felt positive about the program except those entrance examination exempted students, most of whom felt disappointed about the program. In addition, it was found the curriculum in the program had, on the one hand, the following strengths:the theoretical component of the curriculum; the cultivation of reflective thinking (about both language teaching and language learning); the appropriate time allocation; the cultivation of pedagogical competence; the assessment methods; and the placement of students from different backgrounds into one class. On the other hand, there also emerged a number of limitations concerning the curriculum:the lack of teaching practicum, the lack of selective courses; the unbalanced ratio between theory and practice; insufficient language development courses and overlapping in certain course content. With regard to the assessment in the program, a majority of students were satisfied with term paper as a way for course assessment and the redistribution of scholarship. However, the scholarship redistribution system was also criticized by students for its lack of a clearly specified grading criteria and its lack of informing beforehand about the criteria.It was also found that practice arose as an important component and students argued for the modification of the scholarship redistribution system. Some suggestions given by the students were:1) teaching practicum should be included in the present English teacher education program,2) students have access to more practice-oriented courses and language development courses and3) a clearly specified grading criteria for the redistribution of scholarship be provided and the students be informed of the criteria beforehand.