An Investigation Into English Student-Teachers’ Perception Of Their Teaching Practice Ability In Middle School

Teaching practice ability refers to the professional knowledge and teaching skills that teachers possess in the process of teaching practice,which will not only influence learners’ learning efficiency,but also teachers’ problem solving ability and then impact on smooth progress of classroom teaching.Therefore,the teaching practice ability of English student-teachers should be fully developed in their educational study and practice training.The internship process is the best time for English student-teachers to demonstrate their professional knowledge and skills and to transform theoretical knowledge into teaching practice.The purpose of this study is to explore the following issues: 1)the general conditions of English student-teachers’ teaching practice ability in middle schools.2)the detailed analysis of five in-class dimensions of English student-teachers’ teaching practice ability.3)difference in teaching practice ability between English student-teachers in concentrative practice and substituted post exercitation.4)English student-teachers’ attitude towards their teaching reflection and evaluation ability.150 English student-teachers from different middle schools participated in the study as subjects,and 138 of them were used as valid questionnaire.Then through analysis of the questionnaire and interview,the results of this study are as follows:Firstly,the total mean value of English student-teachers’ teaching practice ability is 3.64 which indicates that English student-teachers reach a moderate and even slightly higher level of their teaching practice ability.And this result also means most English student-teachers hold a relatively positive attitude towards their teaching practice ability.Secondly,among the five aspects of teaching practice ability,the highest mean value of them is teaching design ability(3.71),followed by ability of using professional knowledge(3.70),expressive ability(3.68)and teaching research and innovation ability(3.61).The mean value of classroom organizing and managing ability(3.47)ranks in the last place.Therefore,we can conclude that English student-teachers have higher evaluation of the four in-class aspects of teaching practice ability,relatively lower satisfaction with classroom organizing and managing ability comparing with other four aspects.Thirdly,there is little gap between the mean value of concentrative practice(3.62)and substituted post exercitation(3.74),which proves the higher evaluation of teaching practice ability from English student-teachers in substituted post exercitation than concentrative practice.However,although the little gap of mean value exists between these two kinds of internship,sig.(2-tailed)0.151>0.05 indicates there is no significant difference in the total five in-class dimensions of teaching practice ability between concentrative practice and substituted post exercitation.Finally,through the interview,we know that English student-teachers believe teaching reflection and evaluation plays an essential role in improving their teaching effect and adjusting their teaching strategies or skills in teaching process according to the feedback they received.And they will reflect their teaching through teaching plan,students’ performance and practice diary etc.They take initiative to consult teaching methods with the supervising teachers in middle schools and discuss solutions of solving problems with other student-teachers.Besides,they are also active to apply new ideas to evaluate students’ performance and then to reflect their teaching effectiveness through students’ performance.At last,most of them express that they prefer reflecting on the failure in their teaching.