Prospective English teachers' views on the physical environment, human resources, and program of their departments


ERET E., OK A.

ASIA PACIFIC EDUCATION REVIEW, vol.11, no.4, pp.533-540, 2010 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 11 Issue: 4
  • Publication Date: 2010
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s12564-010-9100-6
  • Journal Name: ASIA PACIFIC EDUCATION REVIEW
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.533-540
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The quality of teacher education, in general, is affected from a number of variables such as physical environment of the institutions, instructor quality, the curriculum implemented, administrative support, and others. As the input of the system, the perspectives of the students on those variables also influence the direction and the quality of the education taking place in the colleges of education. Regarding this, the purpose of the present study is to identify and compare the perspectives of fourth-year English Language Teaching students on the physical environment, human resources, and the program of three ELT departments at three different state universities. As part of the survey research design, the questionnaire was administered to totally 278 prospective English Teachers from the ELT departments at state universities in Ankara. The results of the study, unlike the past research on the issue, presented that the prospective English teachers had positive views on the instructors and program generally; however, they stated problems on the physical environment of their departments. Moreover, there were significant differences in students' views on the physical environment, resources, and its sub-dimensions. The students from the institution, which was renovated before the study, had more positive views on their department than the others. The results suggested it might be useful to reevaluate and reconsider the current conditions of the English language teacher education in relation to the departments' human resources, program and especially the physical environment.