ChatGPT in the classroom: pre-service English language teachers’ perspectives on AI integration in language assessment

The study examines how the pre-service English language teachers at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS)-AL-rustaq perceive the notion of a ‘good language teacher’ before and after they undertake microteaching practices. Qualitative research was employed to answer the main research questions of the study, which is what are pre-service teachers’ perceptions of a good language teacher before and after experiencing microteaching? In order to answer the research question, semi-structured interviews for twelve pre-service English language teachers were conducted before and after the microteaching context. By employing the content analysis, the findings revealed that pedagogical knowledge is the best quality that pre-service English language teachers must possess at the UTAS-AL-rustaq. Personal qualities such as being a motivator, being kind, being enthusiastic and having a sense of humor were also perceived as important features of a good teacher from the participants’ point of view. The powerful influence of the microteaching practice made the participants able to incorporate their background knowledge (the studied theories) into practice. This was clear from their interpretation of the concept of good language teacher from only personal qualities to more into teaching with good personal qualities. This, therefore, emphasizes the importance of this practical course in shaping more practical teaching identities over simply theoretical ones amongst the participants. It is hence recommended to increase the practical courses and allocate them towards the end of the pre-service teacher education programme. It is also recommended that the teachers of these courses focus on post-lesson discussions, and make a balance emphasis on the overall good teacher qualities in order for the pre-service English language teachers to see the importance of all qualities in the language classroom.

In recent times, more attention has been directed towards identifying international trends and ‘best’ practice for assessing pre-service teachers’ classroom performance. Previous attempts to assess Oman’s preservice teachers were based on adopting a psychometric/measurement assessment practice, whereby performance was measured by grades. Such an approach, in recent times, has been viewed as being fundamentally flawed in its attempts to measure pre-service teachers’ classroom practices. This is primarily due to its inability to authentically assess teacher’s learning in the classroom setting. Further underpinning this problem, is that Omani pre-service teachers are expected to undertake an International English Language Testing System (commonly referred to as IELTS), as a measurement of their English proficiency. This approach is problematic, in principle, as it is positioned after graduation and therefore forms no connection to the pre-service teachers’ school experience nor does it add to quality teaching and assessment. This recent shift in thinking, as to the idea that educational assessment should be based on psychometric measurements and grades, has evolved into assessment practices which encourage the integration of assessment into the learning and teaching environment. This thesis is concerned with how the pre-service English Language teacher’s classroom performance is assessed in Oman. Drawing on the work of Gipps (1999, 2002), this thesis adopted a sociocultural perspective to investigate the phenomenon of assessment practices associated with evaluating pre-service teacher’s classroom performance during school-based professional experience (also known as teaching practicum). Understanding assessment practices from a sociocultural perspective and its current practices such as authentic assessment and Assessment for Learning (AfL) assists pre-service teachers to learn so as to become professional, qualified teachers. To achieve the aims of this study, the thesis adopted a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology approach to investigate the assessment phenomenon and to gain a deep understanding from the key stakeholders involved in the phenomenon. To enable this, the data collected from three higher education institutions, namely Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Rustaq-College of Applied Sciences (CAS) and Nizwa University and their participating schools. A range of different data sources obtained: assessment texts which position pre-service English Language teachers; three-series of interviews with the different stakeholders: three pre-service teachers, three cooperating teachers and four university supervisors to reveal their experiences; and observing the phenomenon in situ to triangulate with the aforementioned data. Implementing hermeneutic phenomenology, the obtained data analysed using two approaches: Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) so that the existing practices for assessing pre-service English language teachers’ classroom performance in Oman were captured. The analyses revealed that each institution has its assessment practices influenced by its socio-political structure, yet SQU, unlike Rustaq-CAS and Nizwa University, is distinguished in relation to its pre-determined set of professional standards for graduating teachers; explicit assessment criteria that are shared and discussed with pre-service teachers; collaboration between all stakeholders in the assessment process; a clearly defined role for the cooperating teacher as mentor; effective feedback provided to the pre-service teacher; using portfolios to record and document the pre-service teachers achievements; and effective self- and peer-assessment strategies. These practices are mostly experienced by stakeholders at SQU due to its international accreditation under the influence of the standards based on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The findings suggest that SQU assessment practices are more aligned with the indicators of international best practice, compared to that of Rustaq-CAS and Nizwa University. Similarly, SQU had a better understanding of assessment practices from a sociocultural perspective. This means that within the context of assessing pre-service teachers’ classroom performance in Oman, the findings are not about each higher education institution but about producing quality teacher graduates by reforming the Omani assessment practices. Having SQU as a model in Oman, the key recommendations for policy and practice from this study are to: 1) set a national professional standards for teachers; 2) have explicit assessment criteria that align with the professional standards; 3) share the assessment criteria for success between all stakeholders in the phenomenon; 4) strengthen the collaboration between schools and universities as well as university supervisors and cooperating teachers,5) make the role of the portfolio more explicit in terms of monitoring and enhancing pre-service teacher development and learning; 6) empower the cooperating teacher to provide a more meaningful mentoring role to pre-service teachers; 7) provide explicit training in effective peer and self-assessment strategies for pre-service teachers in the classroom context and 8) provide explicit training in understanding and delivering quality feedback on classroom performance for all stakeholders.

Microteaching, one of the teacher training techniques in-use to help pre-service teachers gain knowledge and experience with teaching, is conventionally provided on-campus. However, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a switch to remote education, thereby moving teacher training practices to online platforms. This novel situation indicated a need to understand pre-service English language teachers’ experiences of their microteaching practices conducted on online platforms. To this end, this study adopted a qualitative research design. Over a semester, 62 pre-service English language teachers provided written reflective papers after they delivered their microteaching online. Thematic analysis of the data revealed that the participants attributed positive qualities to their online microteaching; however, the challenges they met outnumbered these qualities. The most frequently stated qualities involved valuable experience with online teaching, improved technology use and knowledge, and reduced anxiety. On the other hand, the main drawbacks were poor internet connection, low engagement in classes, and limited interaction. The significance of these findings lies in the fact that several courses of action are available to improve the effectiveness of the praxis and highlight its strong sides. Therefore, the findings were discussed in line with the relevant literature, and recommendations were offered for both pre-service teachers and teacher educators.

This article explores the perceptions of pre-service English language teachers studying at Master’s level under Education faculty at Tribhuvan University Nepal towards grammar and grammar teaching employing a qualitative research design. Three pre service English teachers were involved in this study, out of which two were females and one was male. The research participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview technique to collect relevant information to fulfill its purpose. The finding several that pre-service English teachers are in favour of teaching grammar. However, they believe that grammar should not be taught giving rules directly. All of the participants favour the use of inductive method of teaching grammar though they were taught through the use of deductive method at school.

This study explores pre-service English language teachers’ (PELTs) experiences with online microteaching (OMT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a qualitative case study design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six pre-service English teachers to investigate their perceptions of OMT and its influence on their instructional skills and professional development. The findings show that OMT provided valuable opportunities for practice, feedback, and reflection, contributing to their digital literacy and enhanced confidence in using online instructional methods. Participants noted mixed emotional experiences, while some found comfort in the familiar home environment, others encountered significant stress and anxiety because of the lack of face-to-face interaction and technical challenges. The data identify key challenges, including student engagement, managing technological issues, and handling restricted classroom interaction. Despite these difficulties, pre-service English language teachers demonstrated adaptability and problem-solving skills. This study highlights the role of incorporating strong support mechanisms, developing digital literacy, and resilience to prepare prospective teachers for an evolving educational environment. This study contributes to the dynamic discourse on teacher education in the context of online learning and teaching settings. Recommendations for further research might include longitudinal studies on the long-term impact of OMT and comparative studies between traditional and online microteaching to enhance teacher training programs.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching practicum has been conducted in online learning settings in Turkey, which, in return, has made pre-service English language teachers do their practicums online. The lack of research into the effect of distance teaching practicum on pre-service English language teachers’ practices of giving feedback prompted the researcher to carry out this research. This instrumental case study aims to investigate the changes in a pre-service English language teacher’s feedback giving practices in the English lessons she taught in the distance teaching practicum and her views about how the distance teaching practicum affected her skills of providing feedback. The results obtained from the analysis of the data collected from the researcher’s notes on the pre-service English language teacher’s provision of feedback in the four online lessons she taught, post-lesson telephone interviews and end-of-study semi-structured interview indicated her teaching experiences helped her make a considerable progress in her skills in giving effective feedback. The findings pointed to the significance of distance teaching practicum in developing pre-service English language teachers’ feedback giving practices.

<p class="apa">Developing as teachers and optimizing learning experiences for future students is the ultimate goal in technology use in teacher education programs. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of a five-week workshop and training sessions on Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) of pre-service English language teachers. The participants are 59 pre-service English language teachers enrolled in an ELT Methodology Course at a state university. The data is gathered through the TPACK Scale developed by Solak and Çakir (2014) and journal entries of pre-service English language teachers before and after the procedure. The results indicate a statistically significant improvement in TPACK scores of both male and female pre-service English language teachers. The journal entries clearly indicate an increase in several possible applications or websites that can be used in the classroom with more effective and to the point objectives. The pre-service English language teachers have also displayed better performance in manufacturing and tailoring language learning/teaching materials with specific goals.</p>

This article presents an analysis of the narratives written by four pre-service English language teachers (PELTs) during the last semester of their undergraduate program. The study aims to understand the constructions related to being and becoming PELTs and the possible contributions that the English language teacher (ELT) education program provided to shape those identities. The narratives were reconstructed from two narrative frames written by the PELTs and their responses to a narrative interview. The results reveal how participants (re)signify their profession from their experiences in the program, the teaching practicum, and other settings. PELTs construct and consolidate their professional identity initially from a technical perspective. However, their experiences and the guidance of some teacher educators transformed their view of education into a more critical and informed perspective. In conclusion, professional identity could potentially be formed and changed based on the experiences provided throughout the PELTs’ education. Considering this, initial English teacher education programs should establish strategies that contribute to this end from the beginning of undergraduate studies.

The current study sought to investigate Turkish pre-service English language (EL) teachers’ virtual teaching dispositions (i.e., social, pedagogical, expert/cognitive, and virtual/technical presences) and the extent they are related to gender, age, and teaching status variables. The participants were 84 pre-service EL teachers drawn from a Turkish university, and data were collected through Welch and Napoleon’s (2014) virtual teaching disposition scale (VTDS). The results indicated a significant difference between the scores of male and female pre-service EL teachers in both social and virtual/technical presences. However, the participants did not exhibit a significant difference between pedagogical and expert/cognitive presences. Consequently, a one-way ANOVA was run to explore the role of the age variable on the participants’ virtual teaching disposition, with the results revealing a significant difference for only the pedagogical presence and expert/cognitive presence among the participants, whose ages ranged from 18 to 20, those aged 20-23, and those over the age of 24. Finally, the results revealed a significant difference between the scores in the expert/cognitive presence of the participants who teach English and those who do not. However, no significant difference was identified between the mean scores of the two groups in social presence, virtual/technical presence, or expert/cognitive presence.

The field experience in teacher education programs is limited to the formal teaching at assigned schools. However, there is a need for opportunities for pre-service teachers to practice teaching in other learning contexts. This multiple instrumental case study explored the role of an Inquiry-based Teaching-based informal teaching practice at an edutainment center on a group of 23 pre-service English language teachers. The data were collected through one-on-one semi-structured interviews, retrospective reflection papers and focus group interview. Findings showed that pre-service English language teachers gained valuable insights into different ways of managing the classroom and sustaining interaction with children. Furthermore, they increased their teacher awareness and became more autonomous teachers. The findings of this study have implications for teacher education program designers and teacher educators seeking to enhance the field experience of pre-service teachers.

The aim of this study is to find out pre-service English language teachers' ICT self-efficacy perceptions and ICT integration in their lessons. The data were collected from 60 pre-service English teachers in one of the state universities in Turkey via a questionnaire developed by Ekici, Ekici, and Kara. Semi-structured interviews were also carried out with some volunteering pre-service teachers. The questionnaire data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 22). Interview data were analyzed finding emerging themes and categorizing them using constant comparison method. The results showed that they use ICTs in their lessons mostly especially in practicum or macro and micro teaching sessions and they have high self-efficacy on ICT use in language education. Results also revealed some problems they encounter while using ICTs in language teacher education and their suggestions on how to improve their use. Based on the results, certain implications were drawn from the study in order to organize future teacher education programs that utilize ICTs.

Information Communications and Technology (ICT) was first introduced through the Smart School project in 1997. Results from past studies on teachers’ use of ICT were mixed whereby their confidence in using ICT and their use and integration of ICT in their classroom practice were incoherent. Hence, this study intends to investigate the confidence level and skills of current pre-service teachers in teaching the English language through the use of ICT. Forty six pre-service English language teachers were selected purposively from a local university and a teacher training college, based on these few criteria set within the limitations of this study. This atudy adopted and adapted the questionnaires from the ICT Integration Survey (Spazak, 2010) and Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) by Mishra and Koehler (2006). These questionnaires are adopted for the purpose of understanding the pre-service teachers’ technological skills, as well as their content and pedagogical knowledge of English language teaching at the point in time when the data was collected. The data collected were analysed using the Statistical Packet for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Results showed that pre-service English language teachers are confident users of ICT, both for their own personal interests and to integrate ICT in their teaching. However, it is also found that pre-service teachers are skilled in ICT because they have been exposed to it since young. Further results that have emerged from this study revealed that there is no relationship between the time used in ICT and the confidence or skills in using ICT.

In recent years, the potential benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) in language education have garnered increasing interest. Understanding the beliefs of pre-service English language teachers (PELTs) toward the integration of AI in language education is crucial for equipping them with the skills needed to integrate AI into educational practices. Therefore, this paper investigates the beliefs and attitudes of PELTs toward integrating AI into language education. The study involved a sample of 20 PELTs and utilized focus-group interviews to uncover their perspectives. The findings indicate that PELTs hold a mix of positive and negative attitudes toward AI integration. Various factors influencing their views on the use of AI-based tools in language education were identified, with a detailed exploration of each factor providing deep insights into the complexities of PELTs’ beliefs. By delving into PELTs’ perspectives, this study enriches the growing corpus of research on AI-integrated language teaching and offers valuable insights for educators, curriculum designers, and technology innovators.

The study examines the potential educational value of TED (technology, entertainment, and design) Talks as supplementary resources in the form of an assignment for teaching English as a foreign language in a teacher education context. Three questions guided our research: (1) What are English language pre-service teachers’ perspectives on the use of TED Talks in a course for teacher education? (2) What are the problems uttered by English language pre-service teachers on the use of TED Talks in a course for teacher education? (3) What are English language pre-service teachers’ suggestions for improving the use of TED Talks as educational support? The data for this case study were collected by means of an open-ended survey questionnaire prepared by the researchers. Sixty-one first-grade university students majoring in teaching English as a foreign language participated in this study as a part of their regular listening and pronunciation course for a semester. The data were analyzed using a simple thematic analysis. The results revealed a number of factors affecting the pre-service teachers’ perspectives on the use of TED Talks in a course for teacher education. Varying, interesting, and informative content, exposure to various accents, listening and pronunciation practice outside the class, embracing a positive mindset, and being granted the autonomy to choose the video to watch each week were among the most frequently mentioned positive factors, while workload, time constraints, and difficulty finding a suitable video to watch were among the most frequently mentioned negative ones. Implications for integrating TED Talks into language teacher education and foreign language teaching were discussed.

This study was conducted to identify the characteristics of a group of Turkish pre-service English Language teachers’ reflective writing. A mixed method approach was taken in the analysis of their written reflections on a video-recorded microteaching experience at the end of a campus-based methodology course. First, qualitative analysis of the written reflections revealed the modes and themes of reflection. Second, the crosstabulations of the emerging reflective and thematic categories were calculated to investigate how each category interacted. The analyses revealed that while most of the reflection was descriptive and focused on the self, some of the participants engaged in reflection that showed a search for reasons behind and alternatives to their practice. Some also referred to past and hypothetical future experiences. This study contributes to the knowledge base on the reflective writing of non-native pre-service English Language teachers and emphasises the importance of tapping into reflections early on in pre-service teacher education.