Early Field Experiences of PTEs in ELT Programme of a State University in Türkiye

Year 2024, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 128 - 145, 28.06.2024

Mustafa Serkan Öztürk , Eda Ercan-demirel

https://doi.org/10.54535/rep.1445771

Abstract

Teaching programs in Türkiye consist of a 4-year process. Internship practice takes place in the last year of this process, each in two separate terms. Prospective teachers observe, evaluate, prepare course content, and teach under the guidance of in-service English teachers in public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education and with the support of supervisors at the faculties and complete their internship. However, the timing of the process is thought to be too late, which is carried out during the 4-year education period and where prospective teachers will be actively involved in schools/real teaching environments and gain experience. "Early Field Experience" (EFE), which is also found in the world literature and has exemplary applications, has been implemented in some private universities in Türkiye today but has not yet found its place in state universities. This current research studies the subject of “Early field experience”. The present study focussed on the effects of "Early Field Experience" practice in a state university in Türkiye. The study analyses the reflections of EFE on prospective teachers' anxiety and makes the voices of prospective teachers heard. In this convergent mixed method study, STAS (Student Teacher Anxiety Scale - Hart, 1987) was used as a quantitative data collection tool, and a semi-structured interview form consisting of open-ended questions was employed for the qualitative part. In the study, prospective teachers of English (PTEs) had an EFE implementation process covering 10 weeks of observation and internship. The results of the quantitative data showed that there was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores for the level of anxiety of PTEs (t=4.16; p< .05) in favour of the post-test. Findings of interviews revealed that the prospective teachers' concerns were in the areas of teaching, students’ background, classroom management, readiness to teach, and burnout before the EFE; and after the EFE, they experienced improvements in classroom management, appropriate language use, readiness to teach, experience and teaching content.

Keywords

Early-field experience, Teaching anxiety, Prospective teachers of English

Ethical Statement

This study was ethically approved by the ethics committee of Necmettin Erbakan University, with the date and decision number of 08/04/2022 - 2022/126.

References

• Cirillo, M., LaRochelle, R., Arbaugh, F. & Bieda, K.N. (2020). An Innovative Early Field Experience for Preservice Secondary Teachers: Early Results from Shifting to an Online Model. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 28(2), 353-363. Retrieved March 1, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/216305/
• Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
• Evans, H. L. (1986). How do early field experiences influence the student teacher?. Journal of Education for Teaching, 12(1), 35-46. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260747860120104
• Fleener, C. E. (1998). A comparison of attrition rates of elementary teachers prepared through traditional undergraduate campus-based programs and elementary teachers prepared through centers for professional development and technology field-based programs by gender, ethnicity, and academic performance. Texas A&M University-Commerce.
• Freeman, G. G. (2010). Strategies for successful early field experiences in a teacher education program. Srate Journal, 19(1), 15-21.
• Hart, N. I. (1987). Student teachers' anxieties: four measured factors and their relationships to pupil disruption in class. Educational Research, 29(1), 12-18.
• Herold, W. R. (1977). Gaps in the preparation of foreign language teachers. Foreign Language Annals, 10(6), 617-622.
• Horwitz, E. K. (1988). The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students. Modern Language Journal, 72(3), 283-294. https://www.jstor.org/stable/327506?seq=2
• Hos, R., Cinarbas, H. I., & Yagci, H. (2019). A Head-Start to Teaching: Exploring the Early Field Experiences in Pre-service EFL Education in Turkey. International Journal of Teacher Education and Professional Development (IJTEPD), 2(2), 68-84. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/IJTEPD.2019070105
• Huling, L. (1998). Early Field Experiences in Teacher Education. ERIC Digest. (https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED429054).
• Jorstad, H. L. (1975). Pre-student teaching experiences in second language teacher education programs (Vol. 14). Arlington, Virginia: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics.
• Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT press.
• Lux, N., Obery, A., Cornish, J., Cornish, J., Grimberg, B.I., Grimberg, B.I., Hartshorn, A. & Hartshorn, A. (2017). Reflecting on the challenges of informal contexts: early field experiences with technology in teacher education. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 17(2), 250-267. Retrieved March 1, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/173652/
• Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Rodriguez-Arroyo, S. (2009). Early field experiences in language teacher education: An ecological analysis of a program implementation. [Ph.D Dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University]
• Wilson, S. M., Floden, R. E., & Ferrini-Mundy, J. (2002). Teacher preparation research: An insider’s view from the outside. Journal of teacher education, 53(3), 190-204. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487102053003002
• Wing, B. H. (1975). Free to become: Preservice education. Perspective: A new freedom. ACTFL review of foreign language education, vol. 7. New York, NY.: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
• Young, D. J. (1991). Creating a Low-Anxiety Classroom Environment: What Does Language Anxiety Research Suggest? The Modern Language Journal, 75(4), 426-439. https://www.jstor.org/stable/329492?seq=14
• https://www.yok.gov.tr/Documents/Kurumsal/egitim_ogretim_dairesi/Yeni-Ogretmen-Yetistirme-Lisans-Programlari/Ingilizce_Ogretmenligi_Lisans_Programi.pdf as retrieved on 22 Feb 2024 19:42:20 GMT.
• https://www.yok.gov.tr/Documents/Kurumsal/egitim_ogretim_dairesi/OgretmenYetistirme/ingilizce_ogretmenligi.pdf. as retrieved on 22 Feb 2024 19:42:20 GMT.