The place of interest in pre-service English teachers’ choice of occupation: A study of selected Nigerian College of Education Students

Abstract

The study was carried out on the basis of the fact established in extant literature that the impact of well motivated teachers right from the Universal Basic Education level can stop to the evil of perennial mass failure of Nigerian candidates in English language examinations. Two hundred pre-service English language teachers were randomly sampled from four colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria. A self-constructed thirteen-item questionnaire was validated and used to collect data. The analysis of the data revealed that (i) a much greater percentage of the pre-service teachers in the colleges of education in the southwestern part of Nigeria do not see teaching as a profession (ii) most Nigerian pre-service English teachers in colleges of education found themselves in teacher preparation programmes as a result of frustration rather than interest (iii) majority of the English language teachers would opt out of the profession at the next available opportunity (iv) the pre-service teachers do not believe in their prospective students (v) most of the pre-service teachers do not have adequate interest in teaching English language. These imply that when such people get into actual classroom practice, they cannot effect the much-needed positive change.