Evaluating the Undergraduate English Language Teacher Education Program at Eastern Mediterranean University

This study mainly aimed to evaluate the undergraduate ELT program at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU). To this aim, the strengths and the weaknesses of the program perceived by the students, instructors and alumni were identified. The participants’ suggestions for the improvement of the program were also elicited. Finally, the extent to which the undergraduate ELT program meets the needs of the provided students was explored. This case study was a program evaluation study which was designed to evaluate the undergraduate ELT program at EMU and to recommend some suggestions for its improvement. Peacock’s (2009) Evaluation Model was used in the study and the data were collected through a student questionnaire, student interviews, student essays, teacher interviews, an alumni questionnaire, and document analysis. Twenty six third and fourth year ELT students, eight instructors and thirty three alumni participated in this study. The results of the study showed that the undergraduate ELT program at EMU has various strengths and weaknesses which need to be taken into consideration. The major strengths of the program are that the program trains well qualified English language teachers; balances the teaching of English, teaching skills, and classroom management skills; has a clearly stated philosophy and the reflection of this philosophy. The existence of qualified teacher trainers and the open-door policy in the department are the other strengths of the program. On the other hand, the weaknesses of the program perceived by the students, instructors and alumni are that the program seems to not have sufficient practical components and academic events; and includes some unnecessary courses. The number of the courses in the program was also found excessive. In relation to the strengths and the weaknesses, the students, instructors and alumni suggested some recommendations for the improvement of the program such as adding more practice, removing some of the courses, reducing the number of courses, adding courses on teaching culture and sociolinguistics, and organizing more academic events. Overall, the results revealed that the undergraduate ELT program at EMU meets the needs of the students to a great extent. According to the results of the study, some implications for pedagogy and further research are proposed. Keywords: program evaluation, language teacher education, English teacher education program evaluation, Peacock’s (2009) model