A Scoping Review on Practicum of Turkish Pre-Service EFL Teachers during COVID-19

Abstract

The practicum period is a crucial component of teacher education as it embodies the first phases into "real" teaching and thus provides a leap into professional transformation and growth on the side of preservice teachers. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic jeopardized this period and placed the educational contexts at stake in providing that reality. Within this frame, the present study focuses on the research conducted on the practicum period of Turkish pre-service teachers of English during the pandemic. More specifically, the research question that the article addresses is "what is the nature of studies conducted about Turkish pre-service EFL teachers' practicum period during the COVID-19 pandemic concerning their characteristics, methodologies and contributions to the field?" With the aim of answering the research question, the seven studies conducted in Turkey regarding the practicum during the pandemic were collected and analyzed as to their bibliographic features, methodological orientations, foci and context, with a scoping review methodology. This scoping review demonstrated both positive/beneficial and negative/challenging aspects of the pandemic period for the English language teacher education context of Turkey. The results of the present study displayed a wider lens in perceiving the English language teaching and teacher education settings during both such emergencies and transition from existing to 'new normal'.

“Thinking about drinking tea but not drinking tea”: Pre-service English teacher education during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish EFL context

“…Distance education during the pandemic has the potential to pave the way for hybrid settings for teacher training institutions in the long run to increase readiness of pre-service English teachers in case of unexpected circumstances ( Kızıldağ and Tuncer, 2022 ). Thus, providing training seems to be the backbone of transition to distance education as it can facilitate adaptation of stakeholders.…”

Online teaching practicum procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish EFL context

“…A long-lasting outcome of online teaching practicum experiences during the pandemic period can pave the way for hybrid settings for teacher training institutions in the future because such experiences can shed light on how to incorporate online platforms into face-to-face settings in the long run ( Kızıldağ and Tuncer, 2022 ). However, based on the relevant literature and the current study findings, the general impression is that although both face-to-face and online teaching practicum possess unique opportunities, face-to-face teaching practicum appears to be superior.…”

“…Due to the limited number of studies in the relevant literature, Kızıldağ and Tuncer (2022) stressed the need for more research studies to investigate perspectives of pre-service English teachers upon online teaching practicum experiences in Turkey. Also, there are some inconclusive research results about the effectiveness of online teaching practicum procedures during the pandemic.…”

“…These reasons, in turn, formed the starting point of the current study. In a nutshell, it is voiced in the relevant literature that there is a need for more research studies on pre-service English teachers’ perspectives on online teaching practicum procedures during the pandemic especially in EFL contexts ( Kızıldağ and Tuncer, 2022 ; Sepulveda-Escobar and Morrison, 2020 ). Therefore, this study aimed to reveal the reflections of pre-service English teachers on online teaching practicum procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish EFL context in terms of course requirements, observation tasks, mentor-supervisor feedback, and benefits and challenges of online teaching procedures.…”

“…The participants indicated that they did not find these experiences effective for their professional competencies and added that face-to-face teaching practicum could not be replaced by distance teaching practicum. In addition, Kızıldağ and Tuncer (2022) investigated research studies conducted on pre-service English teachers’ practicum experiences during the COVID-19 period in Turkey. For this purpose, the authors analyzed seven studies on School Experience and Teaching Practice courses in terms of their methodology, focus and context.…”