Abstract:
This is an ongoing research study to introduce a framework for developing
the communication skills of the prospective English teachers in the National
Colleges of Education (NCoEs) of Sri Lanka. Recognizing the shortage
of skilled English language teachers in Sri Lanka, NCoEs were given the
responsibility of producing competent teachers to teach English Language
in the government schools. The English Language competence, mainly
communication skills are essential for all English Language teachers because
they are the only role model of communication and exposure for majority of
the students in Sri Lanka. However, it was observed that majority of the NCoE
qualified teachers did not have adequate communication skills. Research
studies conducted on the NCoEs in Sri Lanka revealed that the majority
of NCoE teachers did not develop English communication skills due to the
issues in the NCoE curriculum. A preliminary study was also conducted on 25
NCoE teachers of English who have already been employed and identified
the issues and challenges faced by them in the classroom. The study applied
a qualitative dominant mixed design adopting qualitative and quantitative
data collection tools. Informal interviews and classroom observations were
conducted to obtain in-depth data from the prospective teachers while a
structured questionnaire was administered to the employed teachers to
identify their views, attitudes as well as challenges. The statistical and thematic
analysis are used to analyse the data. This study is significant to fill the gap
in the current studies. The findings are expected to provide valuable insight
for developing the NCoE curriculum incorporating efficient communication
practices of the framework for the prospective English language teachers.
