Page 241 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

Exploring Prospective EFL Teachers’ Beliefs

1. What are the perceptions of PTs on self, teachers and teaching before attending the practice teach-
ing course?
2. What are the perceptions of PTs on self, teachers and teaching after attending the practice teaching
course?
3. What change, if any, did they experience in their professional perceptions of self, teachers and
teaching throughout the course?
4. What factors might explain such change or lack of change?

The findings of the study will offer insights into PTs’ beliefs about themselves, teachers’ role and the
profession and practices of EFL teaching in a real school setting.

BACKGROUND

The unprecedented spread of English as a global language has been widely acknowledged by many
scholars over the past four decades (e.g., Crystal, 2003; Kachru, 1986). Similar to many other countries
whose official language is not English, Turkey has responded to the status of English by making adjust-
ments to its language policy at a macro level, and to instructional implications at a micro level (see,
e.g. Doğançay-Aktuna & Kızıltepe, 2005; and Kırkgöz, 2007, 2009 for more details). Briefly, with the
reforms of 1998 which increased compulsory education from five to eight years by combining the primary
and lower-secondary tiers, EFL was introduced into grades four and five with the aims of increasing
exposure to the language. In methodological terms this reform was significant, because the concept of
the communicative approach in ELT was introduced into the Ministry of National Education (MoNE)
EFL curriculum for the first time (Kırkgöz, 2007). The more recent educational reforms of 2012 (see,
e.g., MoNE, 2013; OECD, 2014) resulted in the separation of the single eight-year primary tier into a
four-year primary tier and a four-year lower secondary tier. The consequence of this reform on ELT has
been that EFL has been made part of the grade-two curriculum.
With the establishment of the Council of Higher Education (henceforth, CHE) in 1981, full respon-
sibility for teacher education was given to the Faculties of Education, which currently offer four-year
undergraduate degree programs (see, e.g., Çakıroğlu & Çakıroğlu, 2003; Grossman, 2013). At present,
the only route into these programs is via the centralized two-phase University Entrance Examination
(Kilimci, 2009). In order to increase the quality of teacher education, the content of which had largely
been left to the preferences of the academic staff, in 1998 CHE decreed that teacher education programs
for all domains (e.g., English Language Teaching, Primary School Teaching) be centrally developed
(CHE, 2007). The current ELT program (CHE, 2007) requires PTs to take a number of field-specific
courses (e.g., Teaching English to Young Learners) in addition to general pedagogical courses (e.g.,
classroom management). In the final year, there are two 10-week Practicum courses, School Practice
and Teaching Practice, during which PTs are assigned to local state-run primary and secondary schools
to conduct observations and teaching under the guidance of a cooperating teacher from the school and
a university supervisor (Rakıcıoğlu-Söylemez, 2012). Following completion of teacher education, new
teachers are appointed to state schools by means of a centralized selection examination (Yüksel, 2012).

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