The perspectives of teacher educators about the 2018 English Language Teaching Education Program

Since English is the most widely spoken communication language in the world, it is presented as courses from the early ages of childhood internationally. Governments in countries take particular attention on English language teaching in order to make individuals a successful communicator globally. Teachers who manage the classrooms are one of the key elements of education system. To achieve desired goals in education, it is vital that teachers must have some qualifications regarding to field knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and general culture knowledge. Pre-service teacher education is the phase where future teachers shape their beliefs and attitudes toward professional identity. An education program which meets the necessity of present-day standards are an important. Deriving from this knowledge, this study aims to find out opinions of teacher educators in English language teaching department about English Language Teaching Education Program (ELTEP). Participants of the study are academicians who teach courses in English language teaching departments across state universities in Turkey. Study was conducted electronically in 2020. Firstly, academicians in respective departments were invited via e-mail then a reminder e-mail was sent two weeks later to ensure announcement of the study. 80 participants who have different academic titles were agreed to take part in the study. As data collection tools, a questionnaire based on Peacock's evaluation model and follow-up semi-structured interviews were performed. Findings of the study present the parts where teacher educators in English language departments are satisfied, dissatisfied and neutral on the education program. Teacher educators mostly find program successful about up-to-datedness, teaching materials, testing and evaluation in foreign language and covering modern issues of English, on the other hand, they mostly find program unsuccessful about setting of course hours, training opportunities, promoting self-awareness, improving classroom management skills, balancing different language skills and preparing student teachers for teaching at different stages. Teacher educators mostly reflect a neutral position on parts like connection through courses and overlapping between courses. Further, the study reveals that teacher educators consider need analysis as a must in program development. The study includes discussion of findings and recommendations for future researches.