Identifying the Role of Student Teachers’ Needs in Improving a Designed Curriculum A case study of SELTI Student Teachers

Abstract

This study aimed at identifying TEFL diploma learners’ needs at Sudan National Centre for languages, SNCL formerly SELTI, batch 39 the academic year 2015/2016, to develop the current curriculum content. This is to help the trainees to improve their skills in teaching English as a foreign language. Through observation, the researcher noticed that the current designed courses do not usually meet the learner’s needs. The study raised three questions: What is SELT student teachers’ English language Proficiency level in English? What are SELTI student teachers’ needs to perform well in TEFL diploma? What is the gap between what the student teachers are able to do and what they need to be able to do? To test the hypotheses and answer the questions the researcher adopted the descriptive and analytical method. The data was collected using a questionnaire with a sample of (60) student teachers, the population of the study is (115) trainees. The collected data was analyzed and discussed using SPSS. The researcher also used the trainees’ entry test result which is designed by TEFL diploma department at SNCL. The study results revealed that; the student teachers have positive impression about the current syllabus that involves the objectives, content and teaching method, but they argue about the sufficiency of the courses, the practice activities, and the teacher centered style. The study recommended that; to support and provide the current syllabus with more practice activities, to form a committee from selected experts to assess the problematic areas in the diploma such as (teacher centered style- practice activities- sufficient of the courses.