Linguistics Knowledge Importance in Teacher Education

Abstract

Teacher education refers to any training undertaken by teachers to prepare them to meet the requirements of the profession and face EFL teaching/learning challenges. The importance of linguistic theory in teacher education was highlighted by Halliday (1981) when saying that teachers are requested to develop their knowledge in linguistic theory in case they want to comprehend how the teaching/learning process takes place and explain what is going on when it does not. Linguistics theory, then, offers solutions to language related problems, mainly those concerned with how English as a Foreign Language is taught in the classroom and how students learn it. The Ecole Normale Supérieure of Constantine (ENS-C) provides future-to-be teachers a four to five years theoretical training crowned by a practical training before their graduation. The aim of the practical training is to enable teacher-trainees put into practice the sum of the acquired pedagogical theory and test the utility of the theoretical training. The main objective of this research is to investigate pre-service teachers’ awareness and insights about the importance of linguistic knowledge during their practical training and in their career as EFL teachers. To reach the study objective, a descriptive analytic based research design was carried on fifty EFL pre-service teachers, BAC+4 or BAC+5 EFL university students. The participants responded to an online questionnaire addressing the research main issues. Results revealed an elevated awareness certifying the importance of linguistics theory knowledge in teacher education. To create a safe teaching/learning environment that improves rather than hinders students’ learning, the respondents expressed a strong need for in-service language training programs in the future.