Jordanian EFL Student Teachers' Views about the Contribution of University and Go-operating School to Their Initial Teacher Education

Abstract

This study attempted to investigate the contribution of the university and co-operating school to the initial preparation of student teachers of English in practical education programmes in two Jordanian universities: University of Jordan and Yarmouk University. Therefore, a questionnaire was designed, validated and distributed to 96 student teachers who were taking the practicum course in these two universities in the second semester of the academic year 2001-2002. A follow-up interview was undertaken immediately after the questionnaire experiment to back up the result of the questionnaire. Four main areas were found out to varying degrees to be contributing to the initial preparation of the student teacher of English. Such areas included contribution of the university's academic programme, contribution of the university tutor, co-operating teacher's contribution and finally the co-operating school community. The findings of the study revealed that in the initial preparation of the student teacher of English in the above-mentioned universities, it is important to emphasize that both university and co-operating