The Change in ELT Pre-service Teachers’ Cognition During Teaching Practicum

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the change of ELT pre-service teachers" cognition during teaching practicum uncovering their beliefs regarding language teaching, being a teacher and dynamics of practicum. To adopt a comprehensive perspective on how the participants" cognition evolved as a result of practicum, qualitative research design with open-ended surveys before and after the practicum process was conducted with ELT pre-service teachers. The findings were evaluated and discussed in terms of a certain framework with change categories of Cabaroglu and Roberts (2000). The results indicated that the practicum is apt to change the pre-service teachers" beliefs through awareness, elaboration, addition, re-ordering and reversal as a result of practicum. As the results suggest the practicum provides a real-life context for the pre-service teachers, they could adopt their grounded beliefs, which were acquired as language learners, and transform them into language teachers" beliefs. As the participants stated the mentor, supervisor and classroom dynamics enabled such transformation, mostly in positive route. However, there are some stable beliefs that did not change during the practicum. The participants kept some functioning beliefs for their teaching practice. The results implied the complexities of the practicum process on the pre-service teachers" cognition.

The Ambivalent Students’ Cognition to Be English Teachers for Young Learners: A Longitudinal Study

“…Slightly different from Hollingsworth (1989) , whose cognition changes for pre-service teachers are only positive. The findings of this study are similar to the results of Yüksel and Başaran (2019) research, which proves that as the learning process progresses, student cognition changes are diverse and dynamic due to various factors that occur from pre-service teachers themselves and also the factors around them during the educational process they undergo.…”

“…Another study on changes in cognition of pre-service teachers was also conducted by Yüksel and Başaran (2019) , where they investigated changes in cognition of pre-service ELT teachers during teaching practicum. Yüksel and Başaran (2019) revealed the beliefs of pre-service teachers about language teaching, the dynamics of teaching practicum in the classroom, and the belief in being a teacher. The results of their research implied the complexity of the practicum process in pre-service teacher cognition.…”

English as a Second Language and English as a Foreign Language Preservice Teacher Cognitions: Research Insights from around the World (2005-2021)

“…After two years of full-time teaching, participants felt that the teacher education program equipped them with useful theoretical tools, but they realized that school expectations limited their autonomy. In contrast, Yüksel and Başaran (2019) found that practicum provided preservice teachers with a real-life experience allowing them to transfer some of their beliefs as learners into their teaching practice.…”

A Qualitative Exploration into Beliefs of Pre-service EFL Teachers about School Experience

“…When pre-service teachers bring their own beliefs into teacher education programs, their beliefs usually guide their actions. In the literature, different aspects of pre-service teacher beliefs have been studied in the Turkish context, such as efficacy beliefs (Eren & Yeşilbursa, 2019), emotional intelligence and beliefs (Öz & Çepik Kiriş, 2018), career development and leadership aspirations (Ölçü-Dinçer & Seferoğlu, 2018), change in cognition after practicum (Debreli, 2016;Kavanoz et al, 2017;Yüksel & Başaran, 2019), and changes in concerns about teaching (Yalçın Arslan & Ilin, 2018) among many others. Still, throughout the teacher education programs, the pre-service teachers' beliefs need to be guided by their actions (Richardson, 2003).…”