EFL Pre-service Teachers’ Enactment of Agentic Capacities in their Online Pedagogical Practicum

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed how education is delivered and accessed. In the evolving landscape of pre-service teachers’ pedagogical practicums within teacher education programs, both teacher educators and school supervisors continue to follow traditional national bilingual policies and curricula. These frameworks, often marked by discourses of accountability, control, and prescription, fail to address the post-pandemic realities faced by second and foreign language student-teachers. Factors influencing the pre-service teachers’ capacities to take initiative and make decisions in online pedagogical practices have not yet been thoroughly explored. This case study aimed to explore how 16 pre-service teachers exercised their agency in their online EFL pedagogical practicum classes and the factors that influenced their actions. Data were gathered through surveys, focus groups, recorded class observations, whole-class discussions, and teacher’s journal. The findings suggested that an intermediate competence on educational software enabled EFL pre-service teachers’ agentic capacities, which were manifested in transformative online teaching strategies centered on learners. Likewise, the lack of computer-mediated communication literacy, bad perceptions towards online teaching, unstable connection, and unequal power relations with school practicum teachers related to textbook coverage and impossibility to address social issues critically restricted their agentic capacities. These findings urge teacher educators, practicum supervisors, and curriculum developers to incorporate innovative, teacher agency-based policies, designs, and practices in both face-to-face and online instructional environments. Doing so will raise pre-service teachers’ awareness and empower them in decision-making processes during their pedagogical practicum, ultimately contributing to societal transformation through remote education.