Page 246 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

Exploring Prospective EFL Teachers’ Beliefs

and seeding, PTs addressed the nature of teaching as ‘pouring water to the earth/soil to make it grow
and become healthy’ (Melih, Post-M). This definition of teaching was very similar to the definition of
teaching as transmitting in terms of ‘pouring information and knowledge on someone’s life’ (Serap, Int.).
In the second stage of data analysis, the post-images of the PTs were examined (see Table 4). The
metaphors of the PTs were grouped under three headings, the frequencies and the percentages were cal-
culated. When the data of post-images were examined, there was a consistency in the thematic analysis
of the data.
As shown in Table 4, although the frequency of metaphors is the same, the content analysis of the
post-images reveals that the metaphor of PTs as learners has the highest frequency of the analysis. PTs
reflected on their role as a learner and apprentice by not just referring to their role as an assistant to the
cooperating teacher and as someone in a progress of professional learning: They also referred to their
role as a camera and as an observer to ‘record the classroom events and reflect back on them’ (Ayşe,
Post-M.). Each role definition made by the PTs reveals a secondary role during the practice teaching
experience. The second most frequently used metaphors of the post images of self were gardener and
producer. Although gardener has an active role in ‘collecting the seeds’ (Sevim, Post-M) and ‘produc-
ing a film’ (Fulya, Post-M) as output of learning, PTs referred to their role as gardener and producer
to reflect on ‘the number of duties to accomplish’ (Ezgi, Post-M) during the learning process. As PTs
previously mentioned their role as a chef in the early images of self, in the post images, they refer to an
active role to address the number of tasks to be accomplished. PTs considered their role as a camera and
an observer to characterize their secondary role in the classroom during practice teaching. PTs defined
their role in the classroom as ‘a tool to record the events of the classroom’ (Ozlem, Post-M). In addition
as an observer who ‘is not allowed to intervene the classroom events’ (Kadir, Post-M).
In the post-images of the PTs, the roles of the teachers were defined as sun, lighthouse, and compass
referring to the teachers as’ the source of knowledge’ and ‘learning process’ (Soner, Barış, Sema, Gu-
lin, Post-M). The post-images of the PTs are similar to the ones they provided for the early-images as
they considered teachers as the source of information. When PTs reflected on the roles of the teachers,
they used the metaphor tour guide to refer to the teachers’ role as they describe in the early images as
friend. In the early-images, PTs referred to teachers by saying ‘they travel with the students together on
the learning road’ (Kayra, Post-M) as travel mates. In the post-images, PTs reflected on the image of
teacher as a guide rather than a travel mate. As a novel description of the teacher concept, PTs portray
the teachers as candles at its end. With this metaphor, PTs refer to the burnout of the teachers as they

Table 4. Findings of the post-images

Being a PT N % Teachers N % Teaching N %
learner 5 6.1 tour guide 7 8.64 teaching the world 6 7.41
apprentice 5 6.1 gardener 7 8.64 watering 6 7.41
gardener 5 6.1 a candle at its ends 6 7.64 travelling 6 7.41
producer 5 6.1 sun 6 7.41 cooking 5 6.41
camera 4 4.9 chef 5 6.17 art 5 6.17
observer 3 3.7 lighthouse 5 6.17 raining 4 4.94
sun 3 3.7 compass 4 4.94 growing up a child 4 4.94

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