Détails de l’article

Titre : IN-SERVICE TRAINING AND LANGUAGE TEACHERS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CAMEROON: ATTITUDES AND PERSPECTIVES

Auteur.e.s : KUNYUI YVONNE, ATEMAJONG JUSTINA.

Résumé :
In-service teacher training has experienced several challenges in teacher training colleges, one of which is the teachers’ perception of the training course. It is on this base that the paper investigates teacher’s attitudes towards this intrinsic training in Cameroon. Despite government’s efforts to reinforce pedagogic competence in English language teachers through scholarship known as ‟retour sur titre”, most of them show little interest in the course in training colleges. The study takes its roots from the functionalist theory of attitude. To get authentic data on this subject, some fifty In-service student teachers and twelve lecturers drawn from three teachers training colleges in Cameroon were randomly selected. From the analysis of the data gathered from questionnaires, interviews, observation and extant data, it was revealed that in-service teachers have developed a nonchalant attitude toward teacher training in Cameroon. This was confirmed by 75% of the lecturers who complained that many in-service student teachers hardly attend lectures with some deliberately wishing to repeat. Equally, 80% of in-service teachers complained that the training is more theoretical and they only went back to school to facilitate transfer to a new destination after training. Also, 80% considered in-service training as a means to change their grade which does not improve their professional competence and does not resolve the myriad of pedagogic problems they brought from the field. However, 20% affirms a mark improvement in their professional upsurge. Hence, there is need for an upgrade in teacher training colleges in Cameroon to accommodate in-service student teachers and a rigorous follow-up of this category to fully participate and improve the quality of training in these colleges.