The Influence Of Workload Of College Students In Pre-Service English Teacher Training Major On Their Professional Orientation---A Case Study

With the development of educational reform in China, one of the representative teacher education universities (University A hereafter) has introduced a two-year curriculum reform among students from the first grade in the major of pre-service English teacher training since 2012. The purpose of this reform is to add academic courses to the original curriculum and cultivate students’academic skills. The curriculum reform started from having one class as an experimental one which had its unique curriculum different from the other three ordinary classes. Compared with students in ordinary classes, those in the experimental class had to take some new courses involving academic skill training. Consequently, their workload increased, and "burnout" evidenced itself among the students. This burnout negatively affected students’learning interest and motivation.With this background, the present research was conducted to investigate the influence of the workload level on the professional orientation of the college students majoring in pre-service English teacher training. The Research subject is the experimental class (class 1) in University A. Students are required to take more academic courses and they felt an increase of workload. The other ordinary class (class 2) in University A is a control group. Class 2 is not included in the reform of curriculum and there are no added academic courses in the curriculum of class 2. The author also selected some students from another teacher education college, University B. This group of students serves as a reference in this study. Through a comparison of class 1 and the other two groups, this research aims at investigating whether the increase of workload has an impact on professional orientation in class 1 of University A.The research instrument includes an interview and a questionnaire. The interviews were conducted from June of 2014 to June of 2015, one in each term and three times altogether. The questionnaire was administered in January of 2015. The questionnaire intends to collect students’feedback regarding curriculum reform and their professional orientation, including evaluations of curriculum, teaching methods, learning outcomes and identification of English teacher, etc.Interview results show that the workload of students in class 1 University A is heavier than that of students in the other two groups. Compared to the students in the other two groups, students in class 1 have longer hours of study, and more academic assignments. Students in the experimental class spent a lot of time learning academic courses, and some of them complained that these courses did not benefit their future professional development. Therefore their motivation was affected:interest decreased and burnout appeared. Two students of minority nationality with low level language ability found it difficult to study in the experimental class, so they transferred to an ordinary class. Questionnaire results show that although the level of workload of students in class 1 University A is much higher than that of students in the other two groups, the difference in their professional orientation is not significant. The increase of workload of students in class 1 University A does not have a significant influence on professional orientation. Students still choose English teacher as their future job. The workload increase is a negative effect of curriculum reform. This study should be considered in evaluations of the ongoing educational reform in the universities and its impact on students majoring in pre-service English teacher training in China.