Speaker
Description
Teaching practicum is one of the most significant components of teacher education programs providing pre-service EFL teachers with valuable experience and insights into teaching in a real-life context. For pre-service teachers, professional development during the practicum phase is particularly crucial since it offers immediate feedback and opportunities for reflection. By integrating reflective practices such as journaling, pre-service teachers can critically analyze their experiences, identify areas for improvement, and better prepare themselves for their future roles in education. This paper reveals the initial findings of an investigation into pre-service EFL teachers’ perceptions about writing reflective journals during the teaching practicum and its effectiveness in promoting their future professional development. The participants were 25 pre-service EFL teachers who followed the English language teaching practicum course. They were invited to participate in the pre-survey and then post-survey to measure the improvement of evaluating and teaching skills among the participants after six weeks of conducting reflection based on the researcher’s guideline. The questionnaire was designed to examine pre-service EFL teachers’ opinions about reflective journal writing about practical experience in real classroom settings during teaching practicum, reflection skill and its impact on their teaching skills. After each week, in-depth interviews were conducted with 3 random teacher candidates to gain a deeper understanding into their attitudes towards reflective journal writing, focusing on their real experiences and the perceived professional development in terms of evaluating and teaching skills from this hands-on training. Finally, implications of the results of the study for writing reflective journals in teacher education were also highlighted.
Key words: Teaching practicum, pre-service EFL teachers, professional development, writing reflective journals, teaching skills, teacher education.
