The impact of an e-mentoring project on EFL pre-service teachers’professional development: a case study on challenges and benefitsof online written feedback provision practices in the Turkishcontext

In this qualitative case study, considering relatively scarce active learning and professional development opportunities provided for Turkish pre-service teachers in teacher education programs, an e-mentoring project, Myschoolsnetwork, was integrated into practicum courses at a state university. 30 prospective teachers enrolled in the practicum courses in their final year, were asked to provide online written feedback on the written work diverse learner profiles from various countries uploaded to this international online educational platform after a brief feedback training period. The active involvement in online written feedback provision helped pre-service teachers bridge the theory and practice divide in pedagogical terms. The study aimed to investigate the methodological challenges the preservice teachers faced in the e-mentoring project, and the benefits of online written feedback provision practices on their professional development. The data was collected via pre-service teachers' online feedback samples, pre-service teachers' reflective journals, a questionnaire with open-ended items and focus group interviews and was analyzed via content analysis. The results indicated that pre-service teachers faced certain methodological challenges such as the provision of constructive, specific feedback with a feedforward mechanism, and adjusting the feedback language in line with the proficiency level of diverse learner profiles, but managed them relatively successfully. The study also indicated pre-service teachers' positive perceptions concerning e-mentoring practices and the contribution of the project to the professional development of these teachers