What Do Teacher Education Students Tell Us about the Teaching Performance of English Language Lecturers?

Abstract

The pressing need for greater improvement in teacher education is a major concern amidst recent public debates on the quality of school teachers today. Although there have been countless discussions and debates related to effectiveness of teacher training, the issue has yet to be resolved. Thus this study aimed to investigate students’ evaluation of the teaching performance of English language lecturers. This study employed a quantitative research methodology using students’ end of semester evaluations to assess teaching performance of English language lecturers in one of the teacher education institutes in Sarawak. A total of 1060 evaluation forms were collected and 18 English language lecturers were evaluated. Analysis of the data showed that none of the aspects surveyed on English language lecturers’ teaching performance was given an ‘excellent’ rating by the students. Instead, empirical data revealed that the performance of English language lecturers was perceived as either ‘good’ or ‘very good.’ The findings showed that these English language lecturers performed better in four aspects which were related to providing awareness on the development of human capital; the ability in conducting teaching learning activities in accordance to the course pro-forma; commitment towards teaching and learning; and monitoring and giving feedback. However, the ratings towards the English language lecturers’ performance dropped in six other aspects: engaging active participation in learning; providing thought provoking activities; motivating students to pursue learning activities; implementing course assignments aligned to topics taught; effective management of teaching and learning activities and presenting clear presentations. In terms of gender differences, the study found that female English language lecturers were perceived as better performers than male lecturers and the differences were found to be statistically significant. Implications and recommendations of the study were also included in the paper.