Full Length Research Article A PROPOSED SUPERVISORY PROGRAM TO DEVELOP PLANNING FOR TEACHING SKILLS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPECIALTY STUDENT TEACHERS AT NAJRAN UNIVERSITY Dr. Thouqan Saleem Masadeh English Language Teaching and Curricula faculty of Education, Najran University, KSA ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT The study aimed to investigate the impact of a developed supervisory program on developing student teachers’ teaching skills. The sample consisted of (31) students who were enrolled in the field experience course offered by Najran University for 8 th level students at the department of English language in the second semester of the academic year 2014/2015. To accomplish the aim of the study, a supervisory program of five main aspects, namely writing behavioral objectives, setting for the lesson, organizing the lesson content, presenting the lesson content, and determining evaluation methods was developed. Results proved the effectiveness of such program in developing student teachers’ skills needed for planning for teaching. Effectiveness of the program was due to the training strategy used and to the previous awareness of trainees needs, attitudes, and practices. Finally a set of recommendations were made. Copyright © 2015 Dr. Thouqan Saleem Masadeh. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. INTRODUCTION Harris cited in Tellez (2015) forty-six years ago and mainly in 1969 wrote that the growth of teachers’ professional knowledge and skills has been the topic of policy, research, and even philosophy for many decades. The assessment of English Learners, a more specific concern, has become an interest of the educational community in just the past 40 years. That is, expert teachers require a mix of generalized and specialized knowledge. This means that there are certain elements that affect the success of English language teaching among which is the existence of a well- prepared and qualified teacher whether scientifically, professionally, or culturally to orient the teaching process in the right way. Teacher education institutes have the potential to bring changes in the society, have the potential to shape knowledge and skills of future generation and can play a critical role in preparing quality teachers for the 21 st century. There is no doubt that teachers play a significant role to the success of any ongoing educational reform. Well prepared and well qualified teachers are not only agents of positive societal change but also have a multiplying effect while executing their regular roles and duties. Teachers of the highest quality will lead to education of the highest quality. *Corresponding author: Dr. Thouqan Saleem Masadeh English Language Teaching and Curricula faculty of Education, Najran University, KSA To achieve the goal of training effective teachers, different approaches have emerged in teacher preparation programs. The introduction of practicum was the most highly valued component of teacher education, Tuli and File, 2009). The field experience courses offered by universities to students before graduation is the most important segment in university preparation of its students to become teachers in the future. Not only field experience course offers graduate students an opportunity to become familiar with the teaching process through the observation of master teachers but also enables them to practice it in real contexts before joining the profession of teaching. Field experience course is often considered to be an ideal place to develop understanding of teaching practice through the co- teaching approach that help pre-service teachers to develop competency at effective classroom practices, (Bowen and Roth, 2002). The need for ongoing teacher education has been a recurring theme in language teaching circles in recent years and has been given renewed focus as a result of the emergence of teacher-led initiatives such as action research, reflective teaching, and team teaching. Opportunities for in-service training are crucial for the long-term development as well as for the long-term success of the programs in which they work. The need for ongoing renewal of professional skills and knowledge is not a reflection of inadequate training but simply a response to the fact that not everything teachers need to ISSN: 2230-9926 International Journal of Development Research Vol. 5, Issue, 09, pp. 5581-5587, September, 2015 International Journal of DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH Article History: Received 01 st June, 2015 Received in revised form 13 th July, 2015 Accepted 12 th August, 2015 Published online 30 th September, 2015 Key words: English language teachers; Najran University; Practicum; Planning for teaching skills; Supervisory program. Available online at http://www.journalijdr.com