Pre-service EFL teacher training programmes in Jordan : responding to changing circumstances

Abstract

The need for well trained teachers of English has grown sharply with the increasing importance of English as a Foreign/Second language in Jordan where the acquisition of the language is no longer confined to the social and academic lite. This paper delineates the three major sources of EFL teachers in Jordan, namely, Community Colleges, University English Departments and University Education Departments, and attempts to describe, and critically survey each of these programmes. Pre-service programmes are viewed in this paper to be more promising than the other programmes described here, more able to adjust to changing needs of the English teacher in Jordan, more flexible and more able to create new courses in the light of the latest research by both encouraging research inside Jordan and also by continuing to send some of the most able students to study for higher degrees overseas. What clearly emerges from this article is that there is a continual search in Jordan for improving the certification of qualified teachers of English. This search is unending, and it is confidently predicted that innovation will be part of future responses to staffing and expanding English courses in the schools.