The reality and needs of EFL teacher-preparation programmes in Saudi Arabia

How have Saudi English teachers been trained in the past?  The training of Saudi teachers of English began in  Studying one academic year and sit afterward for a comprehensive exam.  Studying in some British universities for 100 weeks.

How are they currently trained?  From the early 1980s to the present time.  Studying at English departments in various Saudi university colleges in four-year English programmes.  Preparing them to English at elementary, intermediate and secondary schools.  A Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

What are the courses that the English programmes include? Prospective teachers are required to undertake the following:  Take basic education courses to fulfill university or college requirements.  Take courses prescribed by the department of English, including those of skill-building courses, general linguistics courses, applied linguistics courses, and English literature courses.  Take elective courses of their choice. * The offered English teaching-methods courses represent no more than 10% of the total courses offered by English departments in colleges and universities.

 First and second year courses focus on developing language skills.  Third and fourth years courses include more advanced subjects, such as English literature courses linguistics courses and translation courses.  The final semester is a practicum.

What are some of the factors behind the inefficiency of the current EFL teacher-preparation programmes?  These programmes lacks of disciplinary knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge.

 Disciplinary knowledge includes, for example, the history of language teaching methods, second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, phonology, syntax, discourse analysis and applied linguistics.  Pedagogical content knowledge includes curriculum planning, assessment, reflective teaching, classroom management and teaching the four skills.  Technological pedagogical knowledge involves the ability to effectively integrate the available technological recourse into language teaching.

The competence of Saudi teachers of English  They do not have a firm grasp of the methods of teaching language elements.  They do not possess enough theoretical background knowledge pertaining to the main factors that affect second language learning, such as motivation, attitude, aptitude and age.

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