English-as-a-Foreign-Language Teacher Preparation in China: Issues in Curriculum and Design

• In Event: Preservice English-as-a-Foreign-Language Teacher Education in Asia: Issues and Perspectives

Abstract

Objectives and perspectives:
In this presentation, I will take one national university and one provincial university as cases to examine how English teachers for secondary schools are prepared in China. The objective of the study is to scrutinize the curriculum and courses offered by these two universities and present the designing features of the English teacher training program. My presentation will mainly answer two questions: 1) How does the present pre-service teacher training program get aligned with the needs of the talents in a globalized context? 2) How do the insiders (teaching faculty, pre-service teachers, and course administrators) and outsiders (graduates, headmasters and teachers from secondary schools) view the pre-service teacher education curriculum? In addition, this study point out the drawbacks and challenges the present English teacher training curriculum in these two universities encounter.

Methods and Data Sources:
This study is qualitative in nature and case study method is the main research method. Two English teacher education programs are selected as cases for analysis. Case A is a key national university specializing in teacher education while Case B is a provincial university specializing in local pre-service teacher training. In addition, other research methods such as questionnaires and online interviews are used for research validity and reliability.
The data of the study was gathered from two main sources which are university level (documents of the teaching files like curricula, course syllabi and teaching plans), and secondary school level. At both levels questionnaires and interviews are used for data collection (including personal email communication and telephone conversation, etc.)

Findings:
An examination of the courses offered by the two programs reveals that courses in these two universities are made up of three areas: the General Knowledge Education area (20.1%, 34 credits including Ideological and Political Education, Physical Education and Health, and Military Training and Military Theory, and so on), the English Major Education area (62.2%, 89 credits including Intensive Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing, English Culture, Literature, and Linguistics, and so on), and the Teaching Practice area (17.7%, 32 credits, courses including Teaching Pedagogy, Teaching Practice, Research Thesis, and so on).
My analysis indicates that there is an imbalance between courses in language skills and teaching practice and teacher’s development: too many courses on language skills competences and personal ideological training whereas less attention has been paid to the teacher identity and professional development. According to Feng (2004), this is due to the misconception that the qualification of EFL teachers relies more on their language proficiency and less on their teaching pedagogy. Moreover, my analysis shows that there is a disconnection between EFL pre-service training program at the university and the teaching environment at the secondary schools (see also, Cheng & Sun, 2010).

Significance
This study provides some insightful perspectives for the present pre-service English training program both at a globalized context and at a local context. The present study also has some pedagogical implications for the curriculum reform in China to better meet the needs of the students in a globalized world.

Author

• Yanjiang Teng, Michigan State University