A follow-up study of students who completed a course in the teaching of secondary English at Memorial University of Newfoundland between 1962 and 1972

Gosse, Gertrude Winnifred Evelyn (1974) A follow-up study of students who completed a course in the teaching of secondary English at Memorial University of Newfoundland between 1962 and 1972. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was two-fold:- to ascertain the location of all the students who between 1962 and 1972 completed a particular course in the teaching of English at the secondary level, with a view to finding out if they are presently teaching in the field of English; and secondly to determine the impact which this course has had on the teaching of English at the high school level. -- Questionnaires were mailed to 304 persons. The information received was compiled in the following manner. Questions pertaining to the respondents’ personal and professional background, present position, and plans for the future were set out in tabular form using frequency and percentages. The responses to the second part of the questionnaire which asked the respondents to express their opinion of the course were set out in contingency tables and a chi square was computed. Eighteen hypotheses were formulated and the significance level was set at .05. All recommendations which respondents made for made for improvement of the course were placed in an Appendix and those recommendations which were mentioned most frequently appear in the main body of this report. -- Findings revealed an acceptance of the null hypotheses in all but two cases. Both of these concern the effectiveness of the course. There was a significant difference in responses given by those who teach English only and those who teach English and other subjects, and also between responses given by the respondents who took the course during a summer and those who took the course during an academic year. -- In addition to the mailed questionnaires, 23 of the subjects were interviewed at Memorial University during the Summer Session of 1973. Nine of these were non-respondents. In the case of the 14 respondents a rank order correlation coefficient was computed in order to find out the relationship between responses given in May and those given the second time. A ρ (rho) of .82 was determined. Answers given by non-respondents were comparable to those of respondents. -- One of the major criticisms of the course was that too much material was included and therefore not enough time was available for in depth study of each main topic. Reading was a topic which 107 respondents said needed greater emphasis. The phonology of English was least understood by 72 respondents. A reason given for this was lack of linguistic background. -- The main point which comes through in this study is the necessity for a revision of the preparation program for teachers of English. A single methods course is not sufficient. More required courses must be made part of the student’s program. Among these should be included Reading in the high school, Adolescent Literature, and two basic courses in Linguistics. -- Further research has been suggested in the field of English as well as other subject areas. Such projects as comparative studies, in-service training for English teachers, and Junior High School programs could reveal very worthwhile information.

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