A Study on the Current Quality Status and Improvement Strategies of Undergraduate Theses in English Teacher Education Major

Abstract

The undergraduate thesis serves as a core component of talent cultivation in English Teacher Education programs, comprehensively reflecting students’ language application competence, academic research literacy, and innovative thinking capabilities. Its quality directly mirrors the effectiveness of talent cultivation and the maturity of professional development in higher education institutions. Taking 268 and 254 undergraduate theses from the 2020 and 2021 cohorts of English Teacher Education major at Hubei Normal University as research objects, this study systematically investigates the current quality status and existing deficiencies of such theses through quantitative analysis of indicators including curriculum objective achievement, thesis grade distribution, and research topic type proportions, complemented by qualitative research methods.
The findings indicate that the overall quality of undergraduate theses in English Teacher Education major is satisfactory; however, inadequacies persist in students’ mastery of academic norms, the depth of theoretical application, and the innovation of research methodologies. Drawing on Total Quality Management Theory and Human-Oriented Management Theory, targeted improvement strategies are proposed from four dimensions—students, teachers, curriculum, and institutional systems—providing practical implications for optimizing the quality of undergraduate theses in English Teacher Education major and enhancing the standard of professional talent cultivation.