Prospective Language Teachers Research Articles

The effect of the 4 + 1 planned writing and evaluation model on creative writing: An action research study

Writing is an important part of creative thinking as it is the reflection of a person’s thoughts and reasoning. The aim with this study was to create a comprehensive and effective educational model that combines the teaching and practice of writing as a process and creative writing in a collaborative environment in the education of prospective language teachers. The study was designed with the convergent mixed method design. Quantitative data were obtained from the scoring of the first and final texts that the students were asked to write as part of the action plan implemented to improve the students’ writing skills. Qualitative data consisted of the opinions of the participating students and the observations of the teachers who implemented the model. Through the aggregated analyses of these 2 types of data, the effect of the 4 + 1 planned writing and evaluation model (PWEM) on developing students’ writing skills was determined. The results indicate that the model was useful, functional and improved the participating prospective language teachers’ creative and process writing skills. The model enabled inexperienced writers to acquire metacognitive strategies, self-regulation, and self-efficacy that they would need in the writing process. This was supported by the opinions of the participating students and the observations of the teachers who implemented the model. The model may be used with any student population to help them to become self-sufficient in writing.

Lesson Study: Does it work for personal development of pre-service ELT teachers?

This study is intended to document Lesson Study experience of six preservice English language teachers studying at a state university in Turkey and investigates its impact on their personal development as prospective language teachers. The large volume of data collected through unstructured interviews, semi-structured interviews, learning journals, classroom observation records and focus group interview during seven-month period was subjected to thematic and categorical analysis using qualitative analysis software. The results revealed that Lesson Study intervention contributed to the personal development of the participating preservice teachers significantly in variety of aspects especially in making critical teaching judgements and ensuring adaptable teaching in the classroom. The results further indicated that Lesson Study also led to the development in creative teaching, establishment of rapport with students, self-awareness, and self-confidence of the participants.

WEB 2.0 ARAÇLARI YOLUYLA DİL ÖĞRETİMİ: İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ TUTUMLARI

The purpose of this research was to investigate how gender, socioeconomic status, and year of study influenced the perspectives of prospective language teachers on the use of Web 2.0 technologies in language teaching. This research is an example of descriptive survey model. The participants consisted of 1st and 4th grade pre-service ELT teachers from a state university in Turkey. The data was gathered using an adapted version of the "Web 2.0 Attitude Scale" by Hartshorne and Ajjan (2009). The findings showed that although there were no statistically significant differences between the groups with respect to gender or family income, there were disparities in the outcomes related to the students' academic year of enrolment. As a consequence, neither gender nor socioeconomic status had any impact on how students felt about adopting Web 2.0 technologies in foreign language instruction, but that students' attitudes towards this trend changed for the better throughout the course of their academic careers. It was suggested that Web 2.0 technologies be introduced into the classroom at earlier stages of university education.

Analysis of 31 Taiwanese EFL undergraduates’ designs and implementations of contextualized language instruction as service learning: A case study

ABSTRACT Service learning can enhance prospective teachers’ instructional practice through designing English lessons and tasks for real purposes based on the local context. This study analysed 31 Taiwanese EFL undergraduates’ lesson designs and implementations of contextualized language instruction as service learning in a language teacher education programme in Taiwan. Based on the thematic analysis of lesson plans, self-evaluations, peer-evaluations, stakeholders’ feedback, teaching videos, and interviews, this study reached the following major findings. First, through the investigation of the textbooks and local features, undergraduates designed topic-based lessons with contextualized dialogues as the features of contextualized language instruction. Secondly, the TESOL method course, instructor’s modelling, and collaborative lesson planning purposefully prepared 31 English majors for the lesson designs and implementation as service learning. Thirdly, the undergraduates’ knowledge was constructed, particularly knowledge of learners, teaching contexts, educational ends as well as content and curriculum knowledge of contextualized language instruction. Finally, participants, their peers, and stakeholders (learners and tourists) regarded these lessons relevant to their lives. Suggestions on effective integration of lesson designs and implementations of contextualized language instruction into service learning for prospective language teachers were provided.

Practice Teaching Experience of Prospective Korean Language Teachers

Practice Teaching Experience of Prospective Korean Language Teachers

Chilean English as a Foreign Language Teacher Educators’ Conceptions and Practices of Online Assessment

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, online assessment has become pivotal to allow evaluation of the knowledge and competences of teachers-to-be. In this context, this study explored language teacher educators’ conceptions and practices of online assessment and the implications of this type of assessment for language teacher education. Forty-six language teacher educators working in Chilean English language teaching programmes completed an online adapted version of the Abridged Conception of Assessment inventory. From this group, 16 volunteered to take part in a follow-up semi-structured virtual interview. The results indicate that teacher educators’ conceptions of assessment remained unaltered despite the online context. Their conceptions relied mainly on the purpose of online assessment for improving teaching and learning and checking off student teachers’ language proficiency against standardised criteria. Their assessment practices, however, had to be adapted and modified to fit the online environment, which triggered participants’ concerns about the reliability and authenticity of the assessment methods to evaluate prospective language teachers. These findings suggest that there is a need to enhance teacher education programmes that are remotely delivered in order to shed light on reliable, valid and authentic tools to assess future English language teachers.

The Impact of Student Teachers’ Pre-Existing Conceptions of Assessment on the Development of Language Assessment Literacy within an LTA Course

The paper proposes the preparation of a new generation of assessment literate teachers. The issues of student assessment literacy and, more specifically, prospective language teacher assessment literacy have not been sufficiently investigated as of yet, although research into the topic seems to have gained momentum. Recent studies state that the assessment literacy of teachers is essentially affected by their pre-existing conceptions of assessments), and teacher education should integrate shaping such conceptions into courses; the process of shaping conceptions is quite long and, because it is time-consuming, it may deter assessment literacy building. The current study explores the conceptions of the assessments shaped by prospective teachers within a general English course. The two major conceptions of assessment, relevant for the framework of teaching general English to second-year student teachers of English, are the understanding of feedback and knowledge of assessment construct and criteria. The findings of the study in this cohort of students of the particular course in language assessment shows that the students’ progress was considerably higher than that of a comparison group in the previous 2020 study. The author suggests two types of AL, i.e., student and prospective teacher assessment literacy.

An Overview of Dominant Approaches for Teacher Learning in Second Language Teaching

The current review offers an analysis of the prevailing literature on teacher learning in language teaching from an international perspective. We initially revisit several contributions from a general education perspective. Then, we focus on three dominant approaches, identified through the literature, to understand teacher learning from a language teaching perspective. Finally, we provide implications for teacher educators to consider in the preparation of prospective language teachers. These include acknowledging future teachers’ prior cognitions and learning experiences, highlighting the benefits of collaborative work and communities of practice, and adapting and innovating within the social constraints of their teaching context.

Swedish and Finnish Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Summative Assessment Practices

Summative assessments are an exercise of authority and something that pupils cannot easily appeal. The importance of teachers being able to assess their pupils correctly is consequently both a question of national equivalence and individual fairness. Therefore, summative assessment is a paramount theme in teacher education, and we aimed to investigate the perceptions and competence of student teachers regarding common summative assessment practices. The study was conducted at three universities, two in Sweden and one in Finland involving prospective language teachers responding to an online survey (N = 131). In addition, interviews were carried out with 20 Swedish and 6 Finnish student teachers. The analysis of the data indicates that student teachers value practices that enhance communication and collaboration as well as the curricular alignment of summative assessments. With respect to perceived competence, the respondents in general felt most confident with deploying traditional forms of summative assessment, while they were more uncertain about process evaluation and oral skills. Regarding significant differences in the participants’ perceptions of competence among the three universities, Finnish university students reported higher levels in all variables. However, room for improvement was found at all universities involved.

‘What Kind of Teacher I Wish To Be’: Exploring Prospective English Language Teachers’ Future-oriented Identities

Studies on identity has shown that future-oriented thinking could be a useful framework for studying teacher identity development and in the contexts of language teacher preparation; however, research into the future-oriented dimensions of teacher identity is still rather limited. Therefore, in this case study, how prospective English language teachers envision their possible selves as future teachers were explored. Writings from the 56 participants were used as a method of data collection to provide a more profound analysis of the context-sensitive nature of their future-oriented identities. Following an interpretive analysis of qualitative data, the findings revealed two patterns in the participants’ future-oriented identity work: highly developed and (under)developed possible selves as L2 teachers. Both groups of participants appeared to be quite diverse in the nature of their hopes and fears as well as in their exercises of agency and response to tensions and challenges of language teaching. Also, participants’ possible language teacher selves seemed to be classified into three primary categories (i.e., L2 teacher development, L2 teacher competency and L2 teacher proficiency). Based on the findings and discussions, how future-oriented perspective may inform teacher identity development and teacher preparation in the context of language teaching was discussed. Several recommendations for further research and preparation of prospective language teachers were made.

Online language Classes: Perceptions and Challenges of Prospective Language Teachers

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many activities to be halted including education. Educational institutions are now closed and operating online to ensure the safety of the students and the teachers. Students are now learning online and modular mode. Thus, it has caused the students and teachers to encounter bumps in learning. Hence, this led the researcher to find out and examine the perceptions and challenges that prospective language teachers experience when learning online. The researcher utilized the thematic analysis method to reveal the perceptions and challenges experienced by prospective language teachers in online learning. The data for this study were obtained from the interviews that were conducted with the respondents. It was revealed that there were a number of challenges that the respondents experienced which include poor internet connection, physical distractions, lack of motivation and power interruptions.

Enhancing the Cross-Cultural Competence of Prospective Language Teachers

In the twenty-first century, education does not merely focus on information exchange; additionally, it does so on various abilities and living in harmony. To materialize such acquisition among students, cross-cultural competence is an essential vehicle in a rapidly globalizing world. This calls for integrating comprehensive cross-cultural education as an independent subject into teacher training programs alongside the applied practices that go with it. Against this backdrop, the current study aims to determine the cross-cultural competency capabilities of Turkish language teacher candidates studying at one of the major universities in Turkey. In this article, initially cultural dimensions, scope of culture, and aspects of cross-cultural competency are addressed on a theoretical basis. In addition, learning materials are developed by the candidates, based on the instructions provided by the researcher, and analyzed according to their content of cross-cultural competency. The paper also discusses the cultural background of the candidates and their cross-cultural competency capabilities. The findings show that the participants have major difficulty presenting sufficient information or content in developing their cross-cultural competency. In the end, there are recommendations for enhancing the cross-cultural competency capabilities, while shedding light on the inadequate focus devoted to improving these skills within the training programs.

Short-term study abroad: Designing an intercultural induction program to prepare prospective language teachers

ABSTRACT Short-term study abroad programmes can help prospective language teachers develop intercultural competences, vital when working with socially and linguistically diverse language learners. However, participating in such programmes does not necessarily lead to a more advanced level of interculturality. Induction programmes before mobility periods can help prospective language teachers develop a more advanced intercultural mindset. This article focuses on a curriculum design project for an intercultural induction programme that aims to prepare short-term study abroad candidates from Turkey. The programme’s primary goal, which was informed by three in-depth qualitative studies, was to help candidates reflect on cultural essentialism, ethnocentrism, multiplicity and intersectionality of identities, English as a lingua franca communication, and native/non-native English speaker binary/hierarchy. Guided by a systematic and contextualised curriculum design process and suggestions based in (critical) interculturality literature, this induction programme attempts to offer a critical, reflexive, and experiential preparation period. Such systematic and contextualised preparation efforts can contribute to the growing literature on intercultural preparation and the design of other intercultural induction programmes or refinements of existing programmes.

Psychosocial Factors that Shape the Professional Identity Crisis in Prospective Language Teachers

This case study, framed in the Socio-critical paradigm and following a narrative approach, describes the role psychosocial factors play in shaping the professional identity crisis in a group of prospective teachers in the Language Teaching Program of a private university in Medellín, Colombia. We developed three data collection techniques to conduct this study. First, participants in the stage of professional practicum were to write a narrative about their first experiences as prospective language teachers. Our objective was to describe the psychosocial factors shaping the identity crisis. Then, we conducted semi-structured interviews with the intention of defining the role these factors play in shaping the crisis; and finally, a focus group with the objective of relating these psychosocial factors with the identity crisis. Findings revealed that prospective teachers perceive themselves very vulnerable to fail, they tend to avoid frustration and their lack of self-confidence inhibits their class performance. We also found that the lack of career guidance during high school years, the social status of the teaching profession, and the idealization of the teaching profession as well as the social conditions of school contexts, played an important role in shaping the identity crisis in our prospective teachers. We find it advisable for Language Teaching Programs to develop psychosocial support strategies that bring prospective teachers’ voices to be heard in favor of constructing strong and resilient identities able to respond to current school demands.

예비한국어교원의 교안 분석을 통한 교안 작성 지도 방안 연구

예비한국어교원의 교안 분석을 통한 교안 작성 지도 방안 연구

THE EUROPEAN POLICY ABOUT TRAINING STUDENTS OF LANGUAGES

The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union which comprises 28 member states primarily located in Europe. It works for its members to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens. Offer freedom, security and justice without internal borders. It also aims to enhance economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity among EU countries. Consequently, education becomes one of the most important issues in Europe that is urged on. Especially, language education has a key position. Learning language means developing a multicultural identity and knowing about different cultures. In order to provide a better language education, training prospective language teachers in accordance with current educational principles has a significant role. European Commission has introduced several documents for teaching, learning, assessing and teacher training in Europe according to the European Educational Policy. This study examines the documents developed for prospective language teachers in order to identify the European policy about training European language teachers. In the study, qualitative method based on document analysis was used. The results of the study showed that …………..
 Keywords: European policy, training language teachers, language teaching, European documents

Environmental education and disaster mitigation through language learning

This study aims to determine the knowledge of the environment, attitudes towards the environment, and skills in designing learning that contains the environment of prospective language teachers. In addition to the environment, this research also links environmental learning with disaster mitigation. This study uses a survey method. The instrument used was a questionnaire in the form of a question sheet consisting of twelve questions relating to the attitudes and knowledge of prospective teacher students regarding environmentally charged learning and disaster mitigation. The results of the study indicate that students still need to improve knowledge about the environment and disaster mitigation to be able to design language learning with environmental education and disaster mitigation. When becoming a teacher, scholar have been able to integrate environmental education and disaster mitigation to provide students with an understanding of it and foster an attitude of environmental awareness and care for the environment.

Intercultural Sensitivity Orientations Prior to Short-Term Study Abroad: A Qualitative Study on Prospective English Language Teachers

Short-term study abroad programs can contribute to the multidimensional development of prospective language teachers. However, participants’ intercultural sensitivity orientations prior to the mobility period can significantly influence the quality and quantity of the outcomes gained from such programs. Therefore, in this qualitative case study, we explored the intercultural sensitivity orientations of a cohort of prospective language teachers from Turkey who prepared to study at three different universities in Italy. We also explored the participants’ perspectives regarding the potential contributions of short-term study abroad to their ongoing language teacher education processes. Following an interpretive analysis of qualitative data, our findings revealed that the participants aligned largely with ethnocentrism although there were individual differences concerning the levels of intercultural sensitivity. Their intercultural perspectives generally lacked complexity and reflected popular, unwarranted discourses surrounding study abroad. Based on these findings and discussions, we made several recommendations for further research and preparation of future participants.

İngilizce Öğretmen Adaylarının Topluma Hizmet Uygulamaları Hakkındaki Görüşleri

Community service applications is a course provided by faculties of education in order to give the prospective teachers the chance to identify social problems related their field, develop project focused on social problems, analyze general needs of the society, become acquainted with public institutions, debate social problems, and develop positive attitude towards participating to community service practices. The aim of this study is to find out prospective language teachers’ teaching experiences and opinions about their community service applications. 20 prospective teachers from an English language teaching department of a state university participated in this qualitative study. The participants were given a semi-structured questionnaire with questions related to their teaching experience at a kindergarten. After 10 weeks and 10 hours of teaching experience the participants’ reports were analyzed according to content analysis approach. The results indicated that most of the participants developed positive attitudes towards teaching in such a public service and reported this activity as inspiring for their future teaching. The study concluded that more importance should be given to community service appliances since it is much helpful for prospective teachers’ teaching experiences and at the same time it provides opportunity for students to identify social related issues and hence develop a bridge between the university and the society.

Encouraging student teachers to support self-regulated learning: A multiple case study on prospective language teachers

The present multiple case study looks closely at how pre-service teachers of English come to understand what facilitates and what impedes language learning in themselves and others. A set of data was gathered from students’ work, following a lecture on theories of self-regulation. Among those who agreed that their data could be used for this research – 25 out of 27 – six participants were selected from pairs who were successfully managing deep observation of each other’s self-regulated language learning. Qualitative analysis of the data confirmed the beneficial effect of collaborative work on the development of self-regulation, but it also found that effects varied from pair to pair, suggesting the need for teacher educators to be proactive in providing scaffolding for pairs requiring support.