Improving Quality in English Language Teacher Education

摘要

English teachers in Europe are educated in a variety of institutions and by wide range of curriculum models. Nevertheless, these institutions face similar challenges and one of the biggest seems to be how to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Teacher education institutions in Macedonia follow the global trends of moving on the way towards a common European Higher Education and Research Area. However, in spite of these positive influences that yielded in a shift from traditional teacher-centered into a modern student-centered English classroom, in Macedonia, on a state level, one very important thing has not changed much: the English language teachers that earned their qualifications 20 years ago and those graduating today seem to lack practical work. This paper seeks to find an answer to the question whether one-month certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages (CELTA) training can make up for the deficit of practical work in the regular teacher training curricula? If this is true, why not incorporate CELTA or elements of it into the curricula? Or why not, modify the syllabuses of some courses that directly prepare future English teachers to be more CELTA like?.