scholarly journals Exploring Preparation of Pre-Service Teachers’ English Proficiency and Pedagogy: Stories from an EFL Teacher Education Program

Author(s):  
Abdul Hadi

Many English teachers today are non-native speakers of English graduating from Pre-service English Teacher Education (PETE) programs in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. They undertake their teaching career in a strategic but challenging linguistic and educational situation. This paper reports findings from such a situation based on a qualitative case study of a PETE program at an Indonesian university that aimed to explore the nature of curriculum provision in preparation to develop pre-service teachers’ English proficiency and pedagogy. Data were collected from pre-service teachers, teacher educators, and program administrator using interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations. Results of data analyses revealed a nature of curriculum provision that is inadequately supportive in preparing pre-service teachers’ English proficiency and pedagogy. It is represented in three emerging themes: inadequacy of English proficiency in learning to teach English, lack of balance between theory and practice, and inadequate facilitation for contextual and integrated learning experience.

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrik Mørk Røkenes

Hensikten med denne studien er å utforske hvordan bruken av digitale fortellinger i lærerutdanningen kan bidra til å utvikle lektorstudenters digitale kompetanse og fremme innovativ bruk av IKT i engelskundervisningen. Gjennom bruken av kasusstudie og en design-basert forskningstilnærming beskriver denne studien to gjennomføringer og design-sykluser av et verksted med bruk av digitale fortellinger ved en norsk lærerutdanning hvor det overordnede målet var å vise innovative og hensiktsmessige måter å integrere IKT i engelskundervisningen. En digital kompetansemodell er brukt som linse i dataanalysen hvor datamaterialet kommer fra en kvantitativ spørre-undersøkelse, feltobservasjoner, refleksjonslogger, digitale artefakter og semi-strukturerte intervjuer. Studiens funn viser en rekke tilnærmingsmåter som kan tas i bruk i gjennomføringen av verksted i digitale fortellinger, slik som modellering av integrering av IKT og vurdering med IKT, stillasbygging ved studentaktive læringsopplevelser med IKT, og brobygging mellom teori og praksis gjennom refleksjon. Implikasjoner for lærerutdanningen blir diskutert.Nøkkelord: profesjonsfaglig digital kompetanse, digitale fortellinger, lærer-studenter, lærerutdannere, lærerutdanning, engelsk fagdidaktikkAbstractThe purpose of this study is to examine how the use of digital storytelling (DST) in teacher education can help develop digital competence in secondary school English as a second language (ESL) student teachers, and promote the innovative use of information and communications technology (ICT) in ESL teaching. Following a case methodology and a design-based research approach, the study reports on two iterative design cycles of a DST workshop held at a Norwegian teacher education program where the aim was to promote secondary ESL student teachers’ digital competence and showcase innovative ways of integrating ICT into ESL teaching. A digital competence model is used as a research lens for the data analysis where data come from a quantitative survey, participant observations, reflection logs, digital artifacts, and semi-structured interviews. Findings point to a number of approaches that can be used in the workshop design such as modeling ICT integration and assessment, scaffolding student-active learning experiences with ICT, and linking theory and practice through reflection. Implications for teacher education are discussed. Keywords: professional digital competence, digital storytelling, student teachers, teacher educators, teacher education, ESL didactics


Author(s):  
Holli Schauber

For many pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and their mentors, the theory and practice driven European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL)3 occupies a prominent and practical role in their preparation programs as a delivery system of core pedagogical skills and knowledge. Interest in the role that dialogical reflection plays in this process is studied in an EFL teacher education program at a Swiss university that relies heavily on the EPOSTL for the professional development awareness-raising. While the EPOSTL contributes valuable core knowledge to the processes of dialogic and mentored-reflection, certain program components provide more opportunities for scaffolded reflection than others.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Mara E. Culp ◽  
Karen Salvador

Music educators must meet the needs of students with diverse characteristics, including but not limited to cultural backgrounds, musical abilities and interests, and physical, behavioral, social, and cognitive functioning. Music education programs may not systematically prepare preservice teachers or potential music teacher educators for this reality. The purpose of this study was to examine how music teacher education programs prepare undergraduate and graduate students to structure inclusive and responsive experiences for diverse learners. We replicated and expanded Salvador’s study by including graduate student preparation, incorporating additional facets of human diversity, and contacting all institutions accredited by National Association of Schools of Music to prepare music educators. According to our respondents, integrated instruction focused on diverse learners was more commonly part of undergraduate coursework than graduate coursework. We used quantitative and qualitative analysis to describe course offerings and content integration.


Author(s):  
Fariba Haghighi Irani ◽  
Azizeh Chalak ◽  
Hossein Heidari Tabrizi

Abstract The critical role of teachers suggests that assessing teacher identity construction helps teacher educators understand the changes in teachers and design materials in harmony with their needs in teacher education programs. However, only a few studies have focused on assessing pre-service teachers’ identity in the long term in Iran. To address this gap, the contribution of a pre-service teacher education program consisting of three phases, namely engage, study, and activate to the professional identity construction of eight pre-service teachers in an institute in Tehran was assessed. Pre-course and post-course interviews, two reflective essays, ten observation notes, and two teaching performances were gathered over a year and analyzed as guided by grounded theory and discourse analysis. Findings revealed two significant changes in the participants’ identities when they transitioned from engage to study and from study to activate phases that yielded study phase as the peak of the changes. Overall, three major shifts were identified in the participants’ identities: from a commitment to evaluation towards a commitment to modality, from one-dimensional to multi-dimensional perceptions, and from problem analysis to problem-solving skills. Current findings may facilitate teacher identity construction by designing local programs matching the needs of pre-service teachers. It may also assist teacher educators by assessing the quality of teachers’ performance and developing teacher assessment tools.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Liv Gjems ◽  
Inge Vinje

<p>In several European countries, teacher education is regulated by national plans that emphasise pedagogy as the central subject. Pedagogy shall include research-based knowledge, as well as having a strong connection between theory and practice. We have interviewed teacher educators about what they emphasise about theoretical and practical issues in the subject of pedagogy. Though they have to follow the curriculum, they express that they have different conceptions and emphasise different issues both in theoretical and practical pedagogy. Their answers point to the challenges between the establishment of a professional autonomy and the control the national curriculum imposes them The teacher educators were quite vague about their teaching about research-based knowledge. They expressed that they need support, time and possibilities to discuss the content in the curriculum and how to educate high qualified teachers.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Nafiye Cigdem Aktekin ◽  
Hatice Celebi

In this study, we direct our focus to identity construction in an English language teaching (ELT) teacher education program. We explore the teacher roles in which student teachers are struggling to position themselves comfortably and the teacher expertise domains (subject matter, didactics, and pedagogy) that they are dedicating themselves to improving. To address our research focus, we have collected reflections and survey responses from 18 student teachers in an ELT education department. Our findings indicate that ELT student teachers find it difficult to position themselves as experts in and about the English language and that they feel a need to be equipped with expertise first and foremost in the subject matter, and then in didactics, followed by pedagogy. These results imply that in ELT teacher education, certain language ideologies are still prevalent and need to be dealt with by teacher educators for transformative outcomes in education.


Author(s):  
Pauline Goh

Preservice teachers can no longer be prepared using conventional teaching approaches as these are inadequate to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills they require to perform the tasks of teaching effectively. Teacher educators need to use new pedagogies, and narrative pedagogy is seen as a teaching method which can better prepare preservice teachers for the challenging classrooms of today. My study explored nine preservice teachers’ experiences after the enactment of a narrative pedagogical approach in one of their courses within their teacher education program. I used Ricoeur’s framework of the prefigured and configured arena of education to analyse the rich interview and reflective data which emerged. Three themes for the prefigured arena emerged: (a) feeling the sense of responsibility, (b) feeling anxious, and (c) feeling the lack of experience and confidence. Similarly, three themes were found for the configured arena: (a) learning through emotions, (b) learning through insights, and (c) learning through discussion. The preservice teachers have interpreted and discussed “lived” stories and this has shifted the way they think about teaching. The results do offer teacher educators and educational stakeholders a stepping-stone to further pedagogical insight into using narrative pedagogy in teacher education.


2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael James Anderson ◽  
Kelly Freebody

Teacher education in universities is under pressure. In many new education policies there is a renewed focus on teacher quality, and therefore quality initial teacher education. In some countries this renewed focus has led to a resurgence of “alternative approaches” to teacher education such as Teach for America / Australia. One of the most persistent complaints about pre-service teacher education is that educational theory presented in these programs does not relate sufficiently to the real work of teachers. In an attempt to overcome these real or perceived divides, tertiary drama educators at the University of Sydney constructed a professional experience program based on both the community of practice model (Lave and Wenger, 1991) and Frierean notions of praxis (1972). The community of praxis approach emphasises the importance of integrating theory and practice to support the development of beginning teachers. This article outlines the development, implementation, and evaluation of this approach, including the reasoning behind its foundation and the theoretical and practical significance of such an approach for teacher-educators.


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