Preservice Teacher Learning Research Articles

Pre-service Teachers Learning to Teach English as a Foreign Language to Preschool Learners in Macau: A Longitudinal Study

Language teacher beliefs have received increasing research attention for the past few decades. However, little is known about the beliefs of pre-service teachers in the pre-primary English as a foreign language (EFL) education context. This qualitative case study extends this line of inquiry by investigating the trajectory of student teachers' beliefs about teaching English to pre-primary learners in Macau within a teacher education course. The participants included 60 pre-service teachers taking an English Language Activities course in their third year of a 4-year Bachelor of pre-primary education program. The data comprised written reflections collected at three points in time during the 16-week course: at the beginning of the course, mid-way through the course, and at the end of the course. The findings showed five broad themes, constituted from 15 subthemes, regarding (1) learners and learning, (2) teaching, (3) subject, (4) self, and (5) learning to teach. The major themes have been documented in the literature, but several subthemes were identified for the first time in the context of pre-primary EFL teacher education. More importantly, the findings revealed that some of the subthemes were newly shaped and several subthemes were reshaped as a consequence of taking the course. The findings were interpreted in relation to the content of the course, the experiential learning opportunities, the pre-service teachers' prior experiences of language learning and teaching, and the local language teaching and learning context. Implications for pre-service teacher education programs are discussed.

Flipped Learning for Preservice Teachers in Distance Education: First Results

The article describes an experimental work on training preservice teachers using the flipped learning model in distance education. The study defines the content and essential characteristics of the flipped learning model, highlights the experience of implementing this model in professional training, and describes the possibility and features of using flipped learning to train preservice teachers. The ex-perimental work presented in the article was carried out during one term with full-time students. In the course of the work, a learning and teaching support kit has been developed that contains the nec-essary guidance materials, which is the main means of implementing the flipped learning model in practice. During this work, indicators were noted that show the students' performance, students' ac-tivity during classes, and the need for extra guidance. We also compared the results of students' training using the flipped learning model with the traditional one. The conducted research confirms the great potential of the flipped learning model for teacher training, identifies its advantages, and estimates its efficiency.

Preservice teacher mindshifts: artful stories and transformations

ABSTRACT This paper is an inquiry into preservice teacher learning insights by tracing transformative experiences of becoming a teacher. To do this, the article includes 4th year preservice teachers’ stories in an attempt to highlight the positioning of transformative mindshift learning encounters. Here, preservice teachers describe learning from life experiences that underpin the path to teach. During the quest to become a teacher, preservice teachers often approach their future with confidence but at times with trepidation. Reflections derived from interviews capture and present some significant moments and strategic factors contributing to preservice teachers experiences and identity: (1) the nature of students’ teaching and learning, content knowledge and approaches; (2) moral positioning and social commitment toward education and public good; (3) personal lifeworld experiences, (4) connections to family and habitus, and (5) notions of selfhood. Interviews are undertaken using an ethnographic and artful experimental method, foregrounding embedded reflection. Artful interplay assists the reflections to indicate the complexity of learning and elements of social, historical, political and cultural links traced as preservice teachers’ journey through initial teacher education.

Project-Based Learning and E-Portfolios for Preservice Teachers in Japanese Language Education

This study involved classroom action research that aimed to 1) develop the learning management competency for preservice teachers using the project-based learning approach and e-portfolios and 2) study the reflection of those preservice teachers in terms of learning management using the project-based learning approach and e-portfolios. The target groups for this research comprised 27 fourth-year students of the Teaching Japanese Language Program, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University. I divided the research tools into two categories: (a) tools for learning management (four learning management plans and teaching logs) and (b) tools for collecting research data (the portfolio assessment form and e-portfolios). The research results revealed the project-based learning approach and e-portfolios improved the Japanese language and culture learning management competency in each indicator at different levels; in addition, the results reflected the Japanese language and culture learning management focusing on learners and the use of learning materials stimulated learners’ interest and systematic working and helped them appreciate the efficiency of work and ability to work with others.

Interdisciplinary Learning for Pre-service Teachers

In this action research study, the researchers worked collaboratively to integrate curriculum in four ways: 1. Professors engaged students in an interdisciplinary project, 2. Students performed a real-world task, 3. Students worked in small cooperative learning groups, and 4. Students engaged in helping young students experience a positive holiday season. The purpose of this study was to review how these integrative principles effected the preservice teachers academically, socially, and emotionally. Two cohorts of preservice teachers were enrolled in the same three courses during this study. One cohort of physical therapy (PT) majors were enrolled in a course developed to assist PT professionals with their communication skills, understanding of basic psychology, and special needs principles. The preservice teachers were learning how to teach: (a) penmanship, (b) letter writing, and, (c) promotive small group social skills for their future students. Seventy-nine students (54 pre-ervice teachers and 25 physical therapy students) participated in this action research project by engaging in a Santa writing experience. Young students in four schools wrote letters to Santa, and the university student participants responded to the letters of young students. Four professors collaborated in this project. The teachers included: a language and didactics professor, a curriculum professor, a writing (penmanship) professor, and an adjunct professor working with first year physical therapy students. Results of the study indicated that students: 1. found the process to be more difficult than they first thought; 2. appreciated the opportunity to help young students celebrate their holiday dreams; 3. felt they learned more deeply the goals of their classes; and 4. were proud to help young people enjoy their holidays. This process was fairly complex and, in spite of that complexity, the majority of students found the experience worthwhile from a teaching and learning perspective and from an existential perspective.

The Influence of Web-Centric Course in Learning Basic Mathematics toward the Digital Literacy Skills of Preservice Mathematics Teachers

This study aimed to improve digital literacy skills through web-centric course learning for preservice teachers of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University. The method used in this study was a quasi-experiment through a pre-test and a post-test group design. The instrument used in this study was a digital literacy skills test in the Mathematical Profession English course, which was in the form of 20 essay tests. The material tested was the result of learning basic mathematics. In the process of learning mathematics, the preservice mathematics teacher had been introduced to number operations using English as opposed to the usual medium process of learning mathematics in the Indonesian Language. Furthermore, the instrument was tested on 20 preservice mathematics teachers of the said university. The average N-gain result for preservice mathematics teachers was 0.56 which belonged to the moderate category. So, it can be concluded that digital literacy skills in learning mathematics can be improved through the course.

Connecting preservice and inservice teacher learning: Communities of practice

Connecting preservice and inservice teacher learning: Communities of practice

Investigating Prospective Teachers' TPACK and their Use of Mathematical Action Technologies as they Create Screencast Video Lessons on iPads.

The increasing number of technological devices available in schools, aligned with curriculum guidance, set an expectation for mathematics teachers to incorporate these devices into their teaching. This qualitative study investigated prospective teachers’ use of TPACK and mathematical action technologies as they created screencast video lessons using iPads. Results showed prospective teachers’ effective use of pedagogical techniques and the screencast app as an amplifier tool, according to the amplifier-reorganizer metaphor. Half of the participants used mathematics technology to confirm and expand the results they had found without technology. The other half had mathematics technology integrated into their solution exercising the balance among TPACK components. For some, their use of the mathematical tool had the potential of expanding the mathematical repertoire of virtual students. We conclude by making recommendations for teacher educators to implement cycles of learning for pre-service teachers to design, enact, and reflect upon the creation of screencast video lessons.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11528-020-00578-1.

Initial teacher education after the Bologna process: possibilities and challenges for a renewed scholarship of teaching and learning

ABSTRACT We present the perspectives of Portuguese pre-service teachers about a formative strategy developed to promote learning about language and literacy education. The strategy was underpinned by theories about the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), rehearsed (or simulated) agency, the epistemology of reflective practise and assessment for learning. It was implemented during a whole semester, after which pre-service teachers answered to a questionnaire focusing on their perceptions about their learning and the learning experience. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the collected data reveal positive and critical perceptions about the construction of PCK and agentic identities, evidencing the role of curricular analysis, rehearsed practice, reflection and assessment in the learning process. The final discussion, which highlights the possibilities and challenges of the strategy, aims to contribute to the construction of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning of pre-service teachers after the Bologna Process.

Pop-up loose parts playgrounds: learning opportunities for early childhood preservice teachers

ABSTRACT Play is a cornerstone of early childhood education. However, recent trends of schoolification and school readiness have meant that academic learning and adult-guided play are often privileged over free play. The aim of this study was to explore how a service-learning experience, in the form of organising and running a pop-up playground for young children and their families, would promote learning about and advocacy for play among early childhood preservice teachers (PSTs). Thirty-six PSTs enrolled in a second-year early childhood education unit in an Australian University were required to advertise, organise and facilitate a loose parts playground at a local park as part of their coursework. PSTs were asked to reflect on their learning from the event. Findings suggest that a service-learning pop-up playground was highly successful in promoting PST learning about children’s play, loose parts and the adulteration of play. Learning about advocacy for play was less evident.

Investigating pre-service teacher learning: transformations and artful mindshift

PurposeThis research explores the ways in which a pre-service teacher (Deidre) reflects on experiences to develop transformation into a professional educator. This study investigates how pre-service teachers engage in dialogue and art to elaborate and reflect on learning experiences, which provide evidence of mindshift and emergent knowledge and teacher identity.Design/methodology/approachOften difficult to measure and trace, this work presents the emerging transformation of a pre-service teacher through ethnographic methodology, stories and artful practice.FindingsAs part of a larger study, the design reveals transformative mindshift from pre-service teacher reflective stories. Data from interviews and artful practice reveal evidence of moments of pedagogical impact, which contribute to identity and professional practice (Clandinin et al., 2006; Loughran, 2006).Social implicationsFocusing on “what”, “when” and “how” transitions occur is explored to further understand the professional development in initial teacher education.Originality/valueBuilding on research undertaken by Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1999), this investigation draws on artful reflections and stories to evidence elements of powerful pedagogical learning in order to teach in the world of professional practice.

The Role of Assessment as Learning to Support Pre-service Mathematics Teachers in Designing Mathematics Test Instruments Based on ESD

This study aims to describe the role of Assessment as Learning for pre-service mathematics teachers in designing mathematical test instruments. Assessment as Learning is useful as a quality control tool for the designed mathematics test instrument. This is qualitative research with a phenomenological approach, involving four pre-service mathematics teachers. Data were obtained through the design of mathematical test instruments and in-depth interviews with the participants. The test instruments designed was then adjusted to the results of the interview. The research results reveal that Assessment as Learning is important in supporting students to monitor the results of their work; environmental aspects are the most difficult aspects to be integrated into mathematical problems; students have more difficulty in completing Peer-Assessment than Self-Assessment; the problems raised in the economic aspects are only around prices, and Self-Assessment and Peer-Assessment are very helpful in detecting errors and deficiencies in the questions designed. It is concluded that Assessment as Learning helps and supports pre-service mathematics teachers in designing mathematics test instruments to create good quality mathematics test instruments. This research contributes to pre-service mathematics teachers conducting the Assessment as Learning to minimize errors in the mathematical test instruments.

Fostering pre-service teachers’ knowledge of ‘teaching games for understanding’ via video-based vs. text-based teaching examples

ABSTRACT Background A topical research question is how pre-service teachers develop professional competencies with regard to game-centered approaches such as ‘Teaching Games for Understanding’ (TGfU). In this context, research on teacher education assumes reflection on teaching examples – including real-life classroom practices – to have positive effects on teachers’ professional development. The role of media used in such examples is unclear, however. While text-based teaching examples might be more favorable for novice learners due to a step-by-step presentation of information, video-based examples that capture the complexity and reality of teaching situations might better foster the learning of advanced pre-service teachers. Method In a field experiment, we taught principles of TGfU to 136 undergraduate physical education (PE) pre-service teachers and randomly assigned them to three conditions: they either reflected by themselves on a video-based or on a text-based teaching example or completed an open-ended planning-task. For the video-based example, a PE teacher and his class staged different scenes of a teaching unit following a script that focused on ‘badminton-like’ games considering steps and pedagogical principles of TGfU. The video-based example was transcribed and converted into a text-based example. Before the intervention, we assessed the pre-service teachers’ knowledge of game-centered approaches. After the intervention, we measured their knowledge of TGfU and affective-motivational variables (interest, challenge, enjoyment, annoyance). Results The participants had a (rather low) comparable knowledge before the intervention. After the intervention, we found that reflecting on the video-based example had increased the knowledge of TGfU more than reflecting on the text-based example or completing an open-ended planning-task (medium effect). We found no interaction effect of prior knowledge and condition on the knowledge of TGfU at posttest. Participants with a video-based example reported higher interest and enjoyment after the intervention (medium effect). All other affective-motivational variables did not show significant differences. Discussion Other studies concentrating on teaching in classrooms found that text-based examples fostered pre-service teachers’ competencies better than video-based examples if they had rather low prior knowledge. One explanation for the present finding could refer to the specific field of study: For novice PE pre-service teachers the supposed benefit of text-based teaching examples does not advance the learning process more than the supposed benefit of video-based examples (realistic display of constitutional aspects of PE). Since interest is closely related to (intrinsic) motivation, and the learners’ motivation is fostered by realistic and authentic context, our finding regarding the condition effect on interest and enjoyment is consistent with assumptions of situated learning theory. Higher motivation, in turn, could lead to a more elaborate analysis of the video-based example, which may ultimately explain the higher level of knowledge, too. Conclusion The current findings indicate that video-based examples are a very promising means for PE teacher education. This refers in particular to autonomous work in teacher education because in the present study the pre-service teachers reflected on the teaching examples by themselves.

What Do You Do When You Don't Know How to Respond? Supporting Pre-Service Teachers to Use Picture Books to Facilitate Difficult Conversations

In this paper, the authors – a preservice teacher (PST) and a teacher educator – consider how teacher education might better prepare PSTs to use picture books to facilitate difficult conversations in elementary classrooms. They share missed opportunities from their own experiences in a fourth-grade fieldwork classroom and in a graduate-level elementary literacy methods course where they felt unprepared to respond to students’ comments about “controversial” topics. They reimagine how these experiences might have been transformed to be more educative for PSTs, first by considering how they could have responded more thoughtfully in the moment and then by thinking about how they could have built upon these particular moments to deepen PST learning. Lastly, authors share ideas for how current assignments in a literacy methods course could be revised to more intentionally support PSTs to use picture books to engage with content that may be difficult to address with elementary learners.

Supporting Pre-Service Teachers in Becoming Reflective Practitioners Using Conversation and Professional Standards

A significant goal of teacher education is to support the development of reflective practitioners. This intention, however, is not easily achieved when after-the-fact recall and reporting are key features of pre-service teacher learning rather than critique and contemplation. This research reports on a small-scale pilot study evaluating a novel approach to help pre-service teachers develop reflective skills in order to both understand and address the requirements of the profession. The approach involved a set of Conversation Cards with a series of question-based prompts directly linked to the APSTs and designed to enhance reflective conversations. Focus group interview discussions unveiled the surprising ways in which the pre-service teachers used the question prompts, not only as tools for reflection but for planning lessons and preparing for professional discussions with mentors. This research provides insight into a creative and meaningful approach for integrating reflection, professional standards and classroom practice through professional experience.

Reexamining Faculty Roles in the Supervision of Pre-Service Teachers: Responding to the Call for Clinically-Rich Teacher Education

In an effort to integrate university coursework with field-site experiences and bolster pre-service teacher learning, national teacher education organizations have charged teacher education programs with embedding teacher preparation within clinically-rich experiences. These reforms have resulted in expanded and increasingly complex conceptions of pre-service teacher supervision and the university supervisor, which have affected not only traditional supervisors but all university-based teacher educators. This paper presents a framework that maps the shifting roles of four university-based teacher educators: program administrators, research faculty, teaching faculty, and adjunct faculty due to changing notions of clinically-rich pre-service teacher supervision. This framework demonstrates how faculty roles have become more inclusive of supervisory tasks, more integrated with school-site learning, and faculty are in closer communication with each other regarding pre-service teacher growth. Supporting new faculty roles within clinically-rich supervision requires adequate training for all faculty, appropriate institutional recognition for supervision, and rethinking departmental organization and culture.

Preservice teachers’ transformative learning through field experience with emergent bilinguals in a dual language school

ABSTRACT This qualitative study investigates the transformative learning of preservice teachers vis-à-vis reflective practice in field experience with emergent bilingual (EB) students. Teacher candidates in an elementary education program in the Midwestern United States worked with EB students and their teachers in a Spanish-English dual language school as a part of a TESOL methods course requirement. Using qualitative research data, such as reflections, language autobiographies, and focus group interviews, the study explores whether and in what ways preservice teachers experienced transformative learning in an unfamiliar educational environment. The findings reveal how teacher candidates underwent transformative learning in a dual language setting that caused them to initially experience discomfort and anxiety while working with EB students and their teachers. The importance of context as well as relationships with others in transformative learning is reaffirmed in the study. The researchers alert teacher education programs to provide preservice teachers with field experience in an unfamiliar context where they can experience transformative learning.

Community Math Stations as a Learning Opportunity for Preservice Teachers

This paper describes a project that sought to simultaneously facilitate the mathematical learning of both preservice teachers (PSTs) and schoolchildren. The project involved the organization of community Math Stations related to research-based number sense activities and was integrated within two university-level courses. This article describes strategies for addressing the challenges associated with organizing such a project and shows how the project contributed to the learning of PSTs with respect to content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and general pedagogy. Suggestions for organizing a similar project in other settings are also discussed.

Preservice teacher learning about parent involvement at four universities

ABSTRACT A study of differences in the implementation of the Parent-Teacher Education Curriculum (PTEC) by four geographically and culturally diverse universities on preservice teacher (PST) learning about parent involvement has implications for teacher education practice. Participants included 1,948 PSTs from the four universities who studied and completed knowledge and attitude pre- and post-tests related to one or more PTEC module based on Epstein’s six types of parent involvement. Quantitative analysis using two-way mixed ANOVA with repeated measures showed significant changes in knowledge and attitudes towards family engagement. Qualitative study of documents exposed associated differences in implementation of PTEC at all universities. The most successful implementation involved embedding the six modules in a common online course taught to early childhood/elementary PSTs. Other successful practices included supportive field experiences, teaching cultural competence, and in-depth discussion of case studies. Findings support continued study of the effect of curriculum based on Epstein’s model.

Pre-service English teachers’ reflective engagement with stories of exploratory action research

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how reading and reflecting upon research published by other teachers could impact pre-service teachers in a language teacher education programme at a university in the west of Turkey. Adopting a holistic single case as the qualitative research approach, the study involved 53 first-year pre-service English teachers who were taking the course Reading Skills at the time for the current research and used data collected through written reflections and think-aloud protocols. We analysed the data through thematic analysis which revealed two major impact-based themes including conceptions of being a teacher and exploring teacher self. These helped us qualify the dimensions of the impact of reading and discussing stories of exploratory action research on the process of learning and development of pre-service language teachers. Drawing on our study, we offer implications for English language teachers and educators in pre-service language teacher education programmes.