Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Probing Current Issues for Student Teachers in EFL Teacher Education Program in Iran

Abstract

The present study attempted to give insight into the features of an effective English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education program by exploring student teachers’ beliefs, ideas, and the challenges they encounter during their teacher education program. The data were collected through several semi-structured focus group interview sessions with a total number of forty-one BA, MA, and PhD students studying teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) at university. The qualitative grounded theory design was used to analyze the data, and the findings of the study were corroborated with interpretations obtained from the informal observation of several university classes in a TEFL teacher education program in Iran. The inductive analysis of the data resulted in developing the following categories: the challenge of developing the ability to move back and forth from theory to practice, the struggle to establish a professional identity, the quest for the ‘self’, less-practiced reflective practice, and the missing connection between teacher education programs and schools. The discussion concerning the challenges and issues culminated in implications for EFL teacher education programs through which they can take the issues that student teachers normally experience into account and help them pave the way for an effective EFL teacher education program.

Dual Identity or Identity Duel: EFL Context Duality Force on Identity Aspects Formation Through Learners’ Self-Reflection

“…Learners reflect on themselves to develop a greater sense of achievement (Graham, 2004), which provides them valuable metacognitive awareness (Sevilla & Gamboa, 2016). Iranian EFL learners learn English in public areas such as schools and universities and private ones, i.e., English language institutes (Karimi et al, 2021). In this study, the Iranian EFL learners with the experience of attending both EFL contexts, i.e., high school and English language institute, reflected on their identity aspects.…”

“…They did not regard EFL contexts as determining factors in identity and identity aspects formation. For example, Karimi et al (2021) found that the student teachers' beliefs about themselves influence identity construction. However, the influence of the EFL contexts on identity formation according to the EFL learners' self-reports remained unresolved.…”

Preservice Teachers’ Envisioning of ELT in the Post-Pandemic Era: An Exploratory Study of Korean EFL Teachers

“…Several studies (Flores & Swennen, 2020;Roman, 2020) called for research focusing on informing curricular decisions of teacher educators and institutional stakeholders in order to prepare preservice teachers for the post-pandemic era. However, few studies (Karimi, Fakhri Alamdari, & Ahmadian, 2021;Kim, 2020;Sepulveda-Escobar & Morrison, 2020;Syafryadin et al, 2021) focused on preservice teachers' perceptions and reflections on teaching and learning experiences during the pandemic. Preservice teachers in EFL contexts expressed mixed feelings regarding experiences during COVID-19.…”