Tasks and directions of elementary English teacher education

Kim, Jae Hyuk

Article

Journal of English Teaching through Movies and Media 2004;5(1):3-20.
Published online June 30, 2004.

Tasks and directions of elementary English teacher education

Jae Hyuk Kim

초등 영어 교사 교육의 과제와 방향

김재혁

Abstract

Success of communicative English teaching depends considerably on English teachers' oral skills. When the teacher provides rich and good language input in the classroom, the learners are more likely to develop the target language better. In this regard, training teachers to be competent English users is more important than anything else in elementary English education. It must be pointed out, however, that very little attention has been paid to how to help prospective teachers develop oral skills in association with teaching English for communication in the classroom. The aim of this paper is to set up some theoretical basis for and a model of elementary English teacher education focused on development of pre-service teachers' English oral skills. To this end, this paper is concerned with looking at the problematic tasks our current elementary English teacher education encounters; investigating the ESL developmental stages of children and suggesting a model of elementary English teacher education.

Key Words: teacher education;elementary English