Graduate Program

Educational Administration

Degree Name

Education Specialist (EdS)

Semester of Degree Completion

1985

Thesis Director

Harry Merigis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the opinions of senior students of National Kaohsiung Teachers' College in Taiwan concerning practice teaching and to provide suggestions for the authority of educational administration and teacher training institutions to emphasize the process of practice teaching.

It was hypothesized that this study may serve as a stimulation of empirical study pertaining to pracrice teaching in the future.

The related research and literature were reviewed.

A practice teaching questionnaire was developed to gain information concerning the time assignment, the senior students' feelings about the junior high schools in which they did practice teaching, the effectiveness of instructional methods, and the pre-practice teaching curriculum. The questionnaires were completed by 216 senior students of National Kaohsiung Teachers' College. The percentage and "chi-square" methods were utilized to analyze the data.

Based upon an analysis of the survey results, the findings were presented as follows:

1. An appropriate period for practice teaching was three or more consecutive weeks during spring semester of the senior year.

2. Senior students perceived an earnest attitude toward practice teaching from the administrators and class teachers of junior high schools. Those prospective teachers also considered that junior high school students were satisfied with their teaching, and were willing to teaching any kind of classes.

3. During practice teaching, the lecture and heuristic methods were used frequently in the classroom and the instructional aids were often made by senior students. The methods of evaluation which senior students used mostly were paper-pencil and oral tests. In additional to the above, senior students seldom encountered severe problem of student discipline.

4. With regard to the pre-practice teaching curriculum, senior students indicated that courses in their majors were beneficial to their practice teaching, but also expressed the opinion that education and professional sense coureses should be strengthened.

The following recommendations resulted from the study:

1. The period of practice teaching should be extended and maintained with consecutive weeks in the spring semester of the senior year.

2. The practice teaching responsibilities of administrators and class teachers of junior high school should be described clearly, and the supervisors of Teachers' College and cooperating teachers should keep in touch with each other during practice teaching.

3. The senior students should be encouraged not only to employ various instructional methods but also to apply a variety of valid evaluation techniques for enhancing the effects of teaching.

4. The junior high schools should purchase more instructional aids to help prospective teachers improve their practice teaching.

5. The attributes of a class taught by the senior students should be analyzed before practice teaching begins, in order to increase the confidence of senior students.

6. Educational administrators and officials in charge of teacher training in Taiwan should examine and compare the studies of practice teaching in other countries and conduct more empirical studies of such teaching in Taiwan.

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