Research competence in initial teacher education: Perceptions, orientations, and suggestions

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate student teachers' perceived competence in educational research, along with teacher educators' and graduates' opinions and suggestions regarding research in an initial English language teacher education program at a state university in Türkiye. To this end, this case study employed a mixed-method design to explore data from 70 student teachers, nine graduates, and six teacher educators through surveys and interviews. We observed that the student teachers perceive themselves as competent in designing, conducting, and reporting research, and their competence was also acknowledged by the graduates and teacher educators. All the participants highlighted the importance of research for teachers; however, some had reservations. They found the context too academically oriented and emphasized the need to introduce the inherent link between teaching and research, which seemed to be obscure especially for the student teachers. We conclude that introducing action research early on is an ideal way to address and embrace all the diverse perceptions, orientations, interests, and motivations about research in initial teacher education.