Evaluation of Mentorial Interventions to Support English Student-Teachers during Practicum/Teaching Practice (With especial reference to Dessie CTE and five Partner Primary Schools)
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2012-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa Universiy
Abstract
The main concern of this study has been evaluating the mentorial interventions to suppori the English S-Ts at
Dessie eTE during the practicum in five selected pariner primary schools. It was conducted to let the EMoE,
the ANREB, Dessie eTE, the pariner primary schools, and the "mentors" in them; and those trainees realise
that practicum and the process of SBEM really demand on them some basic roles to carry out to get wellqualified
EFL teachers. Evidently, mentoring in education is not a new idea even in Ethiopia. For example,
the study by Solomon Geda (2001) investigated the insights into the mentoring roles of high school English
teachers. However, nothing was mentioned in his study about any organised mentoring training given to any
EFL teachers. This could mean that the term "mentor" has been used to designate any EFL teachers who
simply work as mentors without taking any related training. That is why, one of the focus areas of this study
was to find out whether the EFL in the primary schools have had the knowledge and skills to carry out their
mentor roles just being "acculturator," "educator," "support," "sponsor," and "model". Equally, how much the
Eng S-Ts themselves were aware of their own roles was the other focus area. To investigate these core
issues, both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. The data-gathering tools used in this study
were Eng S-Ts questionnaire to 40 Eng S-Ts; school "mentors" questionnaire to 23 school "mentors" which
were both piloted; structured interviews with 10 Eng S-Ts; 5 school "mentors," and 5 school principals.
Moreover, to back up the data-gathered with those tools, personal structured observation, and document
investigation into the written documents of the10 randomly selected Eng S-Ts' porifolios, and the assessment
reports of all the 40 Eng S-Ts were also treated. Addressing the basic questions of the study, the findings
have shown that there were shoriages and lapses which made accountable all the responsible bodies
mentioned earlier. The school "mentors' " insufficient suppori to the Eng S-Ts with proficiency and teaching
strategies was one of the significant discoveries. This finding reminds us Hailom's (1993) study results that
disclosed the problems that the Eng S-Ts who were practicing teaching had in language proficiency and in
teaching. Even now almost 9 years on, it is not untrue that the problems have been surfaced. Another useful
finding of my study was the lack of SBEM training for the EFL teachers in those schools which resulted in the
lack of awareness of their respective roles during practicum. Similarly, some of the Eng S-Ts were found to
be not clear about their roles. Some implications drawn from the data analysis also indicated that bodies like
the school principals, the college, the ANRE, and the EMoE at the top, were found to be responsible for
failing to strengthen the practicum through creating favourable conditions. That is why, giving mentoring
training both to the EFL teachers and the Eng S-Ts is one of the practical suggestions forwarded by the
researcher. To conclude, the study showed that the mentorial interventions to suppori the Eng S-Ts were
inadequate against the theoretical expectations. Thus, implementing all the recommendations is worihy of
consideration for all respective bodies in charge of practicum and mentoring so that they can redress the
shortages and fill the existing gaps.
Description
Keywords
Evaluation of Mentorial Interventions to Support English