ERIC Number: EJ803874
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Jun
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0346-251X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Demographic Distribution as an Influence on Course Content in Distance and Campus-Based TEFL Programmes
Shortall, Terry; Evans, David
System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics, v33 n2 p341-352 Jun 2005
This paper looks at the demographic distribution of campus and distance students of an MA TEFL/TESL course offered by a British University. An examination of the mother tongue of all students between 1994 and 2003 shows that non-native speakers on campus have increased from 60% to 90%. At the same time, native speaker campus students have decreased from around 40% to around 10%. On the distance programme, native speaker numbers remain consistent at over 60%, while non-natives remain below 40%. A more detailed investigation of a smaller sample of students shows the typical distance student in Japan to be a male native English-speaker with considerable teaching experience. The typical campus student profiles as a female non-native English speaker with fewer years of teaching experience. The results of this investigation lead us to believe that the different demographics should result in different, but parallel syllabi: the campus programme could readily include a teaching practicum and a language development component, while the distance programme could place stronger emphasis on exploiting teachers' considerable experience by encouraging more empirically-based research assessments. (Contains 4 figures and 8 tables.)
Descriptors: Course Content, Foreign Countries, Teaching Experience, Native Speakers, English (Second Language), Language Acquisition, Distance Education, Geographic Distribution, Masters Degrees, On Campus Students, College Students, Higher Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Japan; United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A