Foreign Language Teaching Practicum Beliefs of Student Teachers

Abstract

Abstract

This study to be conducted with English Language Teachers at the secondary education in our country during the first semester 2014-2015 academic year, aims to explore the beliefs of these in-service ELT teachers during the micro teaching sessions by the prospective ELT teacher candidates. This study aims at reporting the progress in-between the feedback sessions provided by the mentor teachers for micro teaching practices to be performed by about 120 student teachers attending the ELT department at Hacettepe University. The goal of the micro teaching is to provide the student teachers with the opportunity to practice the teaching skills and evaluate themselves concerning these skills before their future roles as teachers. In the study, the participants are asked to comment on the micro teaching practice in terms of positive and negative sides of it, its difficulty, and the gains of it. The data of the study are collected through a survey designed by the Ministry of National Education for this aim 4 sections, namely (1) Content Area Knowledge, (2) Planning, (3) Assessment, and (4) Other Professional Competencies. The data to be obtained will be analyzed through descriptive analysis method and discussed based on the quotations from the reports of the participants. The findings to be obtained are considered to show that the micro teaching practice is useful for student teachers to reduce their deficiency in teaching skills and help these teacher candidates to develop much more positive attitudes towards their future professions.

Keywords: ELT, micro teaching, teacher education.