Title

: The Evaluation of Foreign-language-teacher Education

Programmes

Author

: Matthew Peacock

Publisher

: http://sagepublications.com

Source

: Language Teaching Research 2009 13:259

The researchs main purpose was to design a new procedure for the
evaluation
programme

of

EFL

teacher-training

evaluation

and

programmes

based

foreign-language-teacher

on

(FLT)

principles

of

education.

It

evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the programme and how far the
programme meets the needs of students.
Regular internal evaluation is important in order to assure the content and
procedures of FLT evaluation programmes meet the need of the field in teacher
education. There must be a balance between received and experiential
knowledge. Need of a teacher in the aspects if linguistic competence so that
teachers can adapt the knowledge to meet the difference of students need in
teaching. Reflection is another emphasis in the evaluation of a programme.
Teachers should be able to reflect and self-evaluation continuously in the learning
of learning to teach and to promote future reflective practice. Readiness of a
teacher should be included in a programme as it is essential to expand views of
the knowledge-base of foreign-language teachers to include the knowledge of
the social context of learning which refers to a dynamic social activity.
Robinsons definition of programme evaluation is adopted by the writer as
the aims of evaluation are to provide information on the value of a programme,
measure whether they meet the objectives and provide feedback to the course
providers for further improvements.
A new evaluation procedure is created to increase the accountability of the
programme to the stakeholders and to contribute to programme improvement.
Thus, the professionalization of English-language teaching can be emphasized.
The objectives of the research are:
a. Design a procedure for evaluating FLT training programmes

b. Test the new procedure through a global internal evaluation of one

programme
c. Evaluate the new procedure and assess its value for use in other
contexts.
The research is done in a qualitative and quantitative method. It was done
by reviewing the literature on what others recommend regarding the content and
procedures of FLT education programmes. This is aimed to collect data in the
assessment of the programme of how far they match those recommendations.
The effectiveness of one TEFL programme is evaluated and then the system also.
Subjects in this research were the students and teachers on the BA in
TEFL, those responsible for education in Hong Kong, the Government and the
University. There were 166 students who are all trainee teachers, 8 programme
teachers, the coordinators of all 35 courses in the programme and those
programme alumni who responded to a posted questionnaire. Six data collection
methods involved are:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Student interviews
Student questionnaires
Teacher interviews
Student essays
Evaluation of course materials
Alumni questionnaires

For data analysis, student interviews, teacher interviews and alumni

questionnaires were analysed qualitatively. However, student essays data was
quantitatively analysed and statistical analysis was used to acquire the data.
As the results of the program evaluation, the researcher has divided
student essays into two main categories: strengths and weaknesses of the
programme. The students commented the programme was useful in preparing
them to be a teacher. Teaching theories which had been included were helpful to
them too. On the other hand, weaknesses of the programme such as different
programme should be adapted, more English enhancement courses are needed
and educational technology or IT courses re needed also.
Student questionnaires have modest correlations between some items in
which the items show strong relationship and were statistically significant.
During teacher interviews, they commented that there was a balance between
teaching theories, language proficiency, methodology and others which in turn

help them to promote the spirit of being a teacher.

Despite the strengths,

teacher gave comments on the weaknesses. There are too little practice
teaching and more linguistics knowledge and language awareness is needed.
Student essays analysis showed that there is a poor balance among the
subject matter competence, skills and programme awareness. It shows that
there is no balance between teacher-centred and student-centred training. There
is inter-rater reliability in the evaluation of course materials and unsuccessful in
collecting data of alumni questionnaires as the return rate was very low.
Therefore, the instrument was not valid and reliable for this research as there
was only 20% return rate.
The research is not considered as a good programme evaluation as there
are weaknesses identified in the research, especially student questionnaire and
alumni questionnaire. The research could not be generalised as the competency
of student was not fully fulfilled in the questionnaire. Then, there were
constrained students in collecting data in the student essays. Besides, due to
changing address and lack of interest, alumni questionnaire was failed.
Lastly, for future research, the researcher recommended having more
students in collecting questionnaires and there should be similar questionnaires
to teachers and students and teacher results are to be compared. From the
interview, more teachers should be involved in the interview. Content and
process of lessons need to be focused in conducting the lesson observations.
More data from alumni are to be collected, for example, by school visits,
extensive interviews, essays and a better questionnaire.