What is it about?
A teacher needs to be interested in the subject they teach, their students and the teaching profession in general in order to be effective. It is such teachers that can positively infect their students with enthusiasm for language learning. Records of perennial mass failure in the subject thus places a question mark on the level of English Language teachers' interest in these three key areas. This study, therefore, sought to determine the rate of English Language teachers' interest in the subject they are being paid to teach, their students and the teaching profession in general. This was against the backdrop of the fact that interaction with many Nigerian teachers would show that most of them opted for the teaching job as last resort at various stages. Many went into teacher education programmes after repeated failure to secure admission to their desired faculties and departments. Many others that did not receive teacher education found their ways into the classroom when their desired jobs for which they were trained remained elusive for years. Of course, the Nigerian government, convinced that keeping untrained teachers in the classroom is an invitation to pedagogic failure, has put mechanisms in place to stop the infiltration of the teaching profession by untrained teachers. However, nothing has been done to make it easy for young Nigerians to find it easy to gain admission to programmes of their interest in the tertiary institutions. So, the possibility of many disinterested people teaching English Language in Nigerian secondary schools is high.
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Why is it important?
It is important to ensure that only people who have a great deal of interest in teaching English Language find their ways into the classroom because the teaching profession in general and English Language teaching in a second language situation of Nigeria can be a daunting engagement. Where the teachers are disinterested, very little pedagogic zeal can be expected and the students cannot be adequately motivated.
Perspectives
I hope this article draws the attention of policy makers to the need to employ stricter measures to ensure only people who are interested in the teaching profession are admitted to English Language teacher education programmes and are eventually employed, motivated with regular in-service training and encouraging remunerations.
Dr Samson O Olatunji
Univeristy of Ilorin
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The place of interest in pre-service English teachers’ choice of occupation: A study of selected Nigerian College of Education Students, IFE PsychologIA, March 2011, African Journals Online (AJOL),
DOI: 10.4314/ifep.v19i1.64593.
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