THE CHALLENGES IN TRAINING PRE SERVICE MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHERS IN CHINA

Abstract

Ever since 2014, the programme called Excellent Middle School English Teachers has been implemented by the China Ministry of Education to improve English teaching quality of the pre service English teachers so 
they become equipped to be excellent teachers at their future employment settings which are the middle schools. However, at present, training of pre service middle school English teachers in China is unable to fully meet the requirements to produce excellent English teachers. The focus of this paper is to shed light on the problems and difficulties faced by the trainers in ensuring that the pre service English teachers meet the standards set by the Ministry in terms of the teaching objectives, curriculum, pedagogy and teaching practice. Recommendations were made to help pre-service teachers become future excellent teachers.

Keywords: Middle school English teacher, Excellent teacher, Teacher education