Learning to Teach English: From Practicum to First Year Teaching

Teacher education is currently the subject of much concern in many countries around the world. There is, however, very little recent empirical research on what actually happens in teacher education programmes and in the first year of teaching. The study reported here provides evidence in relation to student teachers’ experiences during their practicum. It tracks them as they work to gain a wider view of education and professionalism. The data for this phase of the study come from a diary study in which 33 student teachers were asked to reflect on their teaching practice. The second phase of the study has followed 10 of these newly qualified language teachers into their first year of teaching. The purpose is to see how they have developed into language teachers, how they relate what they have learned at the Faculty to real classroom situations. Data are collected from interviews. The analyses of these two sources of data were designed to identify emerging patterns, not to make grand generalizations. However, the findings clearly support the outcomes of other studies, and yield valuable insights into the process of teacher training. 1