THE INVESTIGATION OF EFFECTIVENESS AND PRACTICALITY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN TAIWAN:
RETROSPECTIONS AND INTROSPECTIONS

Abstract

This present follow-up mixed methods research aims to investigate the effectiveness and practicality of the English language teachers’ (ELTs) initial education programs in Taiwan. In terms of effectiveness, the comprehensiveness of the training contents, the trainees’ learning achievement, and the trainees’ satisfaction rate of the training are investigated, whereas the applicability of the trained knowledge and skills in real teaching is examined at an attempt to probe into the practicality of the trainings. To meet the research objectives, a competency framework, consisting the suggested types of knowledge and skills as well as personal traits for contemporary ELTs, termed FRPC, was proposed and then used as the criterion of the investigation. The FRPC was established based on the findings from both the literature reviews and the analysis of the social contexts in Taiwan, and then further consolidated by the results from the Expert’s Opinion Survey. Three groups of trainees, each representing one training channel in Taiwan, were selected. Three types of data were gathered for analysis: the trainees’ opinions at the pre- and the post-training stages, the trainers’ interview data at the post-training stage, and the trainees’ interview data at the post-practicum stages in both 2008 and 2011. In short, the data were products of the trainees’ and trainers’ introspections, in which the transformations of the trainees’ competencies, beliefs and attitudes are centred.
The quantitative data reveal four main findings: (1) the trainees value all the professional competencies (PCs) in the FRPC with different degrees, (2) most of the trainings of the suggested PCs are provided in the training programs, (3) positive progressions of the trainees on most of the trained components are indicated, and (4) despite the progressions, most trainees are satisfied with only half of the training contents. This may imply that even though progressions are made in the trainings, the degrees of progressions are generally considered insufficient for dealing with the complexity in teaching and learning. On the whole, the qualitative data reveals the trainees’ positive confirmations of both the importance of the PCs in the FRPC and the practicality of the trained knowledge and skills in their authentic teaching settings. One point, however, is implied in the trainees’ data: though the importance of an ELT’s personal traits are emphasized, since they are neither evaluated nor trained, their emphasis in the FRPC should be reconsidered.