Lecturers’ and TESL teacher trainees’ perceptions towards the level of readiness

Abstract

The research was carried out to investigate the effectiveness of the subjects taught to the teacher trainees before their teaching practice and to determine the level of readiness in terms of subject knowledge and subject competence of the teacher trainees. The respondents of this research were 34 and 39 third and fourth year TESL students respectively. The respondents were required to answer the questionnaires. Five lecturers who had taught the TESL programmed and went out to supervise the teacher trainees from the Department of Modern Language (FPPSM) participated in the interview sessions. All the data obtained from the questionnaires and interview sessions were analyzed manually. The findings of this research proved that the exposure to the several subjects before teaching practice really helped the teacher trainees in performing their teaching practice. The teacher trainees were able to apply all the skills and techniques gained in the real classroom context. To conclude, the findings of this research offered some recommendations to further improve the performance of TESL teacher trainees during the teaching practice.