| Abstract: |
This study aimed at evaluating the in-service training programs for teachers of English in technical schools.The essential question of this study was, How can we evaluate these programs?The following questions were:1. What are the objectives of these programs?2. What are the objectives that should be considered in these programs?3. How adequate are these programs for meeting the needs of teachers of English in technical schools?4. What are the suggested guidelines for the following programs?The sample of this study comprised two kinds,1. Teachers of English (N = 76) who attended ’an in-service trainingprogram,”A training program for teachers of English inCommercial, Industrial and Agricultural Secondary schools”It is labeled in the present study as ”Training 1”2. Teachers of English (N = 60) who attended an in-service training program,”English For Agriculture, A Training Course for Teachers” It is labeled in the present study as ’”Training 2”The researcher evaluated two programs as examples of in-service training programs introduced to teachers of English in technical schools because the study was concerned \.vith evaluating in-service training programs and it was important to evaluate more than one program to obtain accurate data for evaluation. To evaluate these programs the researcher submitted them to thecriterion as a de\~ce of evaluation.The significance of the present study is,1. This study may be useful in finding out the teachers’ needs for teaching technical English,thus giving the chance to ESP course planners so that they may tailor their courses to the teachers’ needs.2. TIus study may be useful in improving the ESP teachers’ performance as it suggests a list of guidelines to be taken into account in designing the following programs.3. As teachers of English are the first caretakers of the pupils, so any improvement in their performance will reflect on their students’ achievement.To answer the questions which this study attempts to answer, the researcher reviewed previous studies and the literature related to it. The results showed that these programs are still in need to be evaluated as teachers of ESP play a very important role in such a world full of changes and technology. A list of the objectives of these programs were given.The objectives of the in-service training programs for teachers of English in technical schools were inadequate, therefore a list of the objectives that should be considered was prepared by the researcher as follows,1. Define the ESP teachers’ needs.2. Present the materials that consider these needs.3. Fulfil the teachers’ needs.4. Increase the teachers’ efficiency in,a. the general foreign language skills.b. the specific skills for teaching in technical schools.c. the new trends related to the sector s/be is teaching U1 (Industrial - Commercial - Agricultural ).5. Establish a relation between the teachers and the training centres as sources for information to be viewed at any time.6. Encourage the teachers to take part and give opinions in the syllabus they are going to teach.7. Solve individual problems which teachers meet in class.8. Give much care to the non-specialized teachers of English.9. Enable the teachers to understand the ESP features of the textbooks (vocabulary, functional orientation, special skills, etc.)10. Understand ill theory and demonstrate in practice a restricted number of teaching techniques and methods.To define the teachers’ needs and to know their OpInIOn about these programs, the researcher applied a pre-questionnaire (Pre- T.Q) on the teachers who were addressed to attend ”Training 1” (T.!) and «Training 2” (1.2). Then after attending (T.l) and (1.2), a post questionnaire (Post- T.Q) was used to determine whether the program satisfied the teachers’ needs as conceived by them.The results were significant for the Pre- T. Q in both (1. 1) and (T.2). This indicates that the teachers’ opinion about the programs was negative and the programs did not satisfY their needs as conceived by them.To investigate the improvement in teachers’ performance, an observation form Pre- Post OBF was applied on teachers of (T.2) only because of administrative constraints. The results of the Pre- Post OBF were significant for the Post- OBF as the mean ofteachers’ scores in the Post- OBF was 272.15 while it was 203.13 for the Pre- OBF.(T.1) and (T.2) were evaluated in the light of:I. The basis of the criterion.2. Interviews with the supervisors and trainees.3. Attending the activities.4. The results obtained from the Pre and Post- T.Q and the Pre- Post OBF.The findings of the present study have led to the conclusion that the teachers have negative attitudes towards the programs if they are asked. But if they are observed in class, they show an improvement in their performance after attending the program as what happened in (T.2). This is quite clear in Tables 17a and 18a. This leads to the question:How can teachers establish positive attitudes towards the in-service training programs?On the basis of the findings of the present study a list of teachers’ needs, as conceived by them, was prepared by the researcher as follows:1. Pedagogic skills:a. presenting the new material in class.b. leading a discussion in class.c. self - evaluation.2. As a teacher of English:a. class - management.b. teaching vocabulary.c. techniques of teaching speech.d. teaching reading.e. teaching writing.f. teaching grammar.g. preparation of lessons.h. using teaching aids.3. As a teacher of ESP :a. ability to analyse an area of ESP needs.b. ability to identify the characteristics of an area of ESP needs.c. ability to assign their priorities.d. practice in evaluating ESP materials for specific learners.Finally and on the basis of the findings of the present study a list of suggested guidelines were given to be considered in the following programs.They were as follows:1. Surveying the actual needs of individual teachers before designing the program.2. Identifying the needs according to their priorities.4. Giving the trainees a chance to :4.1 take part in the designing of the program. 4.2 determine the time of the program.4.3 determine the duration of the program. 4.4 define the objectives of the program.5. Shov.ing the difference between the general objectives and the behavioral ones.6. Making it clear for the trainees before attending the program all about the methods that will be used in the program.9. Giving more devices for evaluation process. 10. Encouraging workshops in training.
|
|
|