(Luận văn thạc sĩ) student teachers self reported challenges during the practicum (a qualitative study)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC STUDENT TEACHERS’ SELF-REPORTED CHALLENGES DURING THE PRACTICUM A QUALITATIVE STUDY Nghiên cứu định tính khó khăn giáo sinh thời gian thực tập sư phạm M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC STUDENT TEACHERS’ SELF-REPORTED CHALLENGES DURING THE PRACTICUM A QUALITATIVE STUDY Nghiên cứu định tính khó khăn giáo sinh thời gian thực tập sư phạm M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Lê Văn Canh, M.A HANOI - 2010 iv Table of contentS Page Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Part A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Scope, aims, research design and significance of the study 2.1 Aims of the study 2.2 Research design 2.3 Scope of the study 2.4 Significance of the study Structure of the Thesis PartB: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: literature review 1.1 The Practicum 1.2 The Challenges of the Practicum 1.3 The Roles of Cooperating Teachers (Mentors) in the Practicum 11 1.4 The Practicum Supervisor 13 Summary 15 Chapter 2: The study 16 2.1 The Context of the Study 16 2.2 Participants 17 2.3 Research Methods 17 2.4 Instruments 18 2.4.1 The Diary 18 2.4.2 Interviews 20 2.5 Data Collection Procedures 20 Summary 21 Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion 22 3.1 Data analysis 22 3.1.1 Challenges in students' behaviour 22 3.1.2 Challenges in lesson planning 24 v 3.1.3 Challenges in using the blacboard 26 3.1.4 Challenges in classroom teaching 27 3.1.5 Challenges in the relationship with mentors 31 3.1.6 The need of a college supervisor in the practicum 33 3.1.7 The benefits of the practicum 35 Summary 36 Part c: conclusion 37 Conclusions 37 Suggestions for the Teacher Education Programme 37 Limitations of the Study 38 Suggestions for Futher Research 38 References……………………………………………………………………….39-44 Appendix 1: Guidance on writing diary during the practicum I Part A: introduction Rationale In recent years, the Ministry of Education and Training has paid much attention to raising the standard of learning and teaching English as a compulsory subject from the primary to the tertiary level of education Educational quality depends on the teacher quality, which is dependent on the training quality Therefore emphasis should be on all three training components of learning: subject matter (content) knowledge, pedagogical knowledge (pedagogy), and professional experience (the practicum) For the subject matter knowledge, student teachers are supplied with basic foundation knowledge of the subject they will teach Regarding the pedagogical knowledge, they are provided with theories of language, theories of language learning, and classroom management strategies as well as how to interact with the students in the classroom These two first components of teacher education programmes are carried out in the university or college And then in the practicum, which takes place in schools, they apply what they have learned to the actual classrooms with real students The practicum is, thus, to help the student teachers gain the professional experience needed for their learning to teach The 6-week practicum is the last stage in a teacher education course This is the time for pre-service teacher to transfer the theory into practice During this time they can feel stressful because they may be faced with the unpredictable challenges of carrying out two important tasks at the same time: teaching, and learning to teach They are expected to tasks like: planning lessons, preparing visual aids, teaching in the classroom, interacting with students…In addition, they try to build good relationship with their cooperating teachers (mentors) All of these give them tensions and challenges because what they believe about effective teaching and learning may conflict with the reality of teaching in the school context While there have been studies investigating the different aspects of student teachers‟ learning to teach, however, little has been documented concerning how pre-service EFL teachers prepare for their learning to teach (Gomez,1990; Kelley, 2005), especially in Vietnamese contexts I believe that insights into student teachers‟ challenges during the practicum can inform changes which are to prepare the student teachers better by narrowing the gap between the teacher education programme and the real teaching in the school This study sets out to explore the challenges and tensions of the student teachers through their diaries written during the practicum Scope, Aims, Research Design and Significance of the Study 2.1 Aims of the study The study aims at: - Exploring the challenges of the student teachers through their diaries - Identifying the gaps between the existing teacher education programme and the reality in the school context - Giving some suggestions for the improvement of the existing teacher education programme 2.2 Research Design Given the aims of the study, which are to explore the challenges encountered by the student teachers during the practicum, a qualitative design was employed Data were collected from the student teachers‟ diaries and follow-up interviews, and then analysed qualitatively in order to find common challenges encountered by the student teachers participating in this study In addition to the common patterns of challenges, particulars were also attended to 2.3 Scope of the study The study limits itself to the investigation of the challenges of the student teachers during their practicum Information was collected from a small group of student teachers‟ diaries and the follow-up interviews The study is not intended to look into student teachers‟ classroom teaching practices Nor is it intended to explore the benefits gained by the student teachers in the practicum 2.4 Significance of the Study As stated in the Rationale, this study will contribute to the understanding of the relevance of the existing teacher education programme at Nghe An Teachers‟ College to the real teaching at the lower secondary school, where student teachers are assigned to teach upon their graduation Specifically, findings of the study will identify the space for improvement of the existing teacher education programme in a bid to prepare the student teachers better Structure of the Thesis The thesis is composed of three parts with each part consisting of different chapters Part A is the introduction, which consists of the rational, scope, aims, research design, significance, and structure of the study Part B is the development of the thesis which comprises chapters Chapter reviews the literature relevant to the topic of the research and summarizes some selected studies on challenges of student teachers in the practicum, which serves as a theoretical and methodological foundation of the study Chapter presents the research methodology of the study It provides information about the participants, the resources, the data collection procedure and data analysis Chapter is the main part of the study which reports and discusses the main findings according to research matter Part C is the conclusion that presents the author‟s reflection and limitations of the study and finally gives the implication of the study and some suggestions for further research Part B:development Chapter I: Literature review This chapter reviews the literature on the practicum It first discusses the role of the practicum in the teacher education programme Next, it reviews the challenges of the student teachers during the practicum such as their relationship with the mentors or cooperating teachers, and other challenges Then the roles of mentors or cooperating teachers are mentioned Finally, the role of the supervisor in the practicum is reviewed 1.1 The Practicum If education plays a crucial role in developing the human capital required for the economic and social growth of societies (Anamuah-Mensah, 2002), teachers play a decisive role in this undertaking Teacher quality constitutes a critical factor on which the quality of the human capital depends It is said that “if they [teachers] acquire the professional competence and attitudes that enable them to effectively perform their multiple tasks in the classroom, in the school and in the community, teachers become the single most important contributing factor in ensuring quality educational provision” (Dave & Rajput, 2000) Teachers‟ professional competence is developed first of all in the teacher education programmes of which the practicum is an inseparable part According to Hawes & Hawes (1982), the practicum is considered as a course or student exercise involving practical experience as well as theoretical study It is a “supervised experience in counselling as part of professional pre-service education of counselors” (p.498) For other scholars, the practicum is one of the most important aspects of a student teacher‟s education (e.g Clarke & Collins, 2007; Farrell, 2008) In fact, the importance of the practicum is specified by scholars For example, Collinson, Kozina, Lin, Ling, Matheson, Newcobe, & Zogla (2009) view the practicum as an important induction into the profession “both to improve teachers‟ skills and to extend the body of knowledge on effective teaching practices” For Purdy and Gibson (2008), teaching practice plans a role in education similar to internship or field attachment in other professions such as medicine, law, and engineering by offering exposure to practical classroom experiences in the context of a mainstream school From the perspective of learning to teach, Johnson (1996) has noted that “For most student teachers, the practicum is considered to be one of the most important learning experiences in learning to teach” through reasoning about their practices, supported by their educators (p.30 ) Extended teaching practice could give the student teachers considerable “exposure to practices of experienced teachers” (Zeichner, 2006:333) Especially, the practicum may provide feedback to the teacher education institution regarding the progress to their students and provide a basis as to whether they should be qualified to teach or not It also enables the teacher education institution to identify aspects of their programme to improve (Derrick & Dicks, 2005) Johnson (1996) concludes her study that A better understanding of pre-service teachers‟ perceptions of the practicum may enable the field of second language teacher education to better understand how second language teachers learn to teach and how teacher preparation programmes can effectively enhance this development process (p 47) This is also the aim of the present study, which is to find out the space for improvement in the existing teacher education programme at Nghe An Teachers‟ College It is evident that the practicum provides a useful opportunity for student teachers to learn to teach, to try applying the theories they have acquired from the teacher education programmes into the real classroom It also provides an opportunity for student teacher to learn the practical teaching skills from the experienced teachers in the role of mentoring or cooperating teachers As discussed above, not only the student teachers benefit the practicum, but also the teacher education provider, i.e., the teacher education institution, can also improve the quality of the programme through the feedback and the progress of the student teachers during the practicum Anamuah-Mensah (2002, p 121) has pointed out that the practicum is aimed at:  Strengthening the development of specific teaching competencies;  Providing opportunities for self reflection;  Providing opportunities for sharing experiences with a mentor, supervisor and peers;  Promoting problem solving capacity and team skill in student teachers and an appreciation of the life of the whole school as distinct from teaching in individual classroom;  Encourage formation of learning communities and promotion of team work;  Developing collaborative capacities in student teachers as a basis for successful participation in teaching teams and partnership arrangements at school;  Providing opportunity for student teachers to establish themselves as generative and innovative teaching professionals through authentic participation in school and community activities;  Meeting real pupils/learners and real situations enables student teachers to develop a repertoire of skills in dealing with different learning situations; and  Developing competencies as teacher-researcher through action research projects However, the benefits of the practicum are not autonomous, or come from the vacuum In other words, student teachers‟ gains from the practicum depends on a variety of different factors such as the skills of the mentoring or cooperating teachers, the motivation of the student teachers, etc The most decisive factor to the desired success of the practicum is the organisation and management of the practicum This point has been noted by AnamuahMensah (2002) that: As a major component of the training of teachers, practicum experience for initial teacher education should have in-built flexibility to enable teachers who go through it to be able to meet future demands The role of practicum in any teacher education programme will depend on the structure of the practicum While some have six-week experience others have 16-32 week experience that embraces different activities and different objectives This suggests multiple roles for the practicum experience (p.118) Thus, the practicum is considered an important aspect of teacher education that is getting increased attention of researchers in the field (Ong‟ondo & Jwan, 2009) It is a complex stage which is approached very differently in various parts of the world It is also a central part of student teacher development in many countries and is crucial for implementing EFL education reform (Anderson,2004; Stewart, 2004) These field experiences allow student 31 When I gave instructions in English, the students didn‟t understand They sat still, stared at me and few of them laughed I was very confused then (ST 4, Entry 11 ) In order to address the problem, the student teachers asked their mentor if they could use Vietnamese, but their mentors did not agree There are two issues of concern in this regard One is that the student teachers did not seem to have freedom in deciding how to teach, but instead, they had to teach the way they were told by their mentors In other words, the student teachers had to teach the way their mentors liked them to teach, not the way they thought would be useful to the students The process of learning to teach became a shadow of the mentors In other words, very little learning really happened The second concern is the student teachers did not have the opportunity to apply what they had learned in the teacher education programme to their teaching if the theory did not fit the mentor‟s expectations and teaching styles 3.1.5 Challenges in the relationship with mentors A mentor plays an important role in a student teacher‟s learning during the practicum Mentors can effectively faciliate student teachers‟ learning in many aspects but could also impede the learning process, if collaboration is not well structured The student teachers in the practicum were mentored by teachers at the host school These mentor teachers‟ responsibilities include guiding, helping, advising, as well as encouraging the student teachers in their teaching Therefore, they were called mentors However, one of the student teachers suffered the unproductive relationship with her mentor She wrote that this is her most serious challenge in this practicum She wrote: In my first lesson, the mentor didn‟t help me to correct the lesson plan although I gave it to her two days ago I didn‟t get any feedbacks from her I was not sure about the procedure of the lesson (ST 3, Entry 5) 32 The mentors‟ skills and attitudes either reduce or increase the student teachers‟ tensions Of the five student teachers in this study, one had serious problems with her mentor She felt unsupported and isolated during the practicum because of her mentor‟s uncooperative attitudes I felt a little bit worried because I was not sure if I was on the right way of making that lesson plan (ST 3, Entry ) In another entry, this student teacher wrote: In the next lessons the mentor had the same attitude I submitted lesson plans and she had a quick look though them without any ideas She didn‟t comment if they were good or not but told me to follow what I had planned I wondered why she acted that I was very disappointed with her (ST 3, Entry 9) According to the entries of this student teacher, her mentor not only lacked of cooperation with the novice teacher but she also prevented her from learning from other teachers in the school Following is an extract from one of her entries: I didn‟t get the help from my mentor so I decided to ask other teachers for their guidance on my lessons She [the mentor] was unpleased with that When I phoned her she didn‟t answer This was my big challenge in this practicum (ST 3, Entry 21) Without the mentor‟s help and guidance in teaching, this student teacher gained little from the practicum experience She wrote in her diaries that she did not gain as much as she expected: I was not lucky as my mentor was not enthusiastic I learned little in teaching in this practicum (ST 3, Entry 24) In the follow-up interview, this student teacher explained further the attitude of her mentor 33 After each time I submitted the plan to my mentor, I waited for her feedback so that I could be more confident in my teaching But she only told me to what I had planned (ST 3, Interview ) The problem of uncooperative mentors has been well documented in the pre-service teacher education literature As a result, researchers and scholars have suggested that mentoring programs be designed for mentors to help the student teacher develop pedagogical knowledge and overcome difficulties And effective mentoring programs will give success of effective teaching skills and pedagogical knowledge to student teachers (Arnold, 2006; Woullard & Coats, 2004) 3.1.6 The need of a college supervisor in the practicum As it was discussed in the literature review, the role of a college supervisor is very important in a practicum However, during this time at the secondary school there weren‟t any supervisors from the college Hence, this is another challenge to the student teachers For example, when the student teachers wished to plan and organize some extracurricular activities for the students in the school, they were not daring enough to talk with the school principal about their plan One wrote: We had a chance to attend an English speaking club at a school in the district and we got some experience so our English student teachers group wanted to organize a similar one to the students in the school But our intention was not implemented because we were so afraid when consulting the principal about that (ST 5, Entry 16) Obviously, in this case if they had had a supervisor, the supervisor could have helped them to get the principle‟s permission for some benefits of the club She/he would be a mediator between the administrators and the student teachers in communicating the student teachers‟ ideas or initiatives to the school manager Moreover, she/he could have provided counseling to them about ways to organize such activities 34 In another situation, one student teacher didn‟t understand very clearly the procedure of teaching a target grammatical structure as defined in the syllabus although she had been instructed by her mentor However, she did not dare to ask her mentor for clarification or more detailed guidance She wrote: I was confused with the teaching procedure of the lesson but I was afraid to make questions to my mentor as she may be unpleased with me (ST 2, Entry ) Supposing the supervisor was available during the practicum, she/he would have been a resource person for the student teachers in terms of professional advice Also referring to the need of having a supervisor, another student teacher expressed her idea in the interview: I wished we had had a supervisor in this practicum so that we could have asked her for help (ST 5, Interview 25) The necessity of having a supervisor is clearer in the case of the student teacher who had problem in relationship with her mentor mentioned above The supervisor could have communicated with the mentor to find out the causes for their uncooperating with the aim to improve their relationship better and that student teacher wouldn‟t have been frustrated This was echoed by other student teachers in the interview They all stated that they would have been more confident if they had had a supervisor in the practicum They confirmed her/his important role For instance, the supervisor could help them to find ways out in some dilemmas A supervisor is also a person who does the duty of exchanging the information needed between the college/university and the school The necessity of a college supervisor has been recognized by many teacher education researchers For example, Fayne (2007) claimed that the role of a supervisor was very important in the student teachers‟ learning to teach during the practicum Others (e.g Sandholtz & Shannon, 2000) point out that the presence of a 35 supervisor at school helps student teachers to be more confident, and they can consult him/her when necessary 3.1.7 The benefits of the practicum Despite the challenges they encountered during the practicum, all five student teachers acknowledged the benefits from this practicum For example, one student teacher noted that “I learned much in my teaching from the comments given by my mentor after each lesson.” (ST Entry 28 ) The student teachers‟ learning to teach was experienced through lessons which were assessed by their mentors This is the important thing for them because the assessment, besides the pressure it imposed on them, was useful to their learning to teach One student teacher wrote: My mentor‟s constructive comments after each lesson were precious to me I felt more confident and mature in my teaching I love the teaching profession (ST 1, Entry 15 ) Also referring to the benefits of the practicum, the only male student teacher wrote: It was true that after this practicum my skills of teaching and making lesson plans improved much This made a favourable condition in my teaching in the near future (ST 2, Entry 30 ) The feedbacks in the interviews meant that there was a difference between what student teachers were taught at the college and the demands at the secondary school which caused them difficulty It affirmed that they were unprepared for the demands of English teaching and more effective models for preservice EFL teacher development are required (Butcher, 2003) Findings from this study regarding the benefits of the practicum justify further Richards and Crookes‟s (1988) remarks that the practicum offers the student teachers 36 opportunities to achieve the practical skills and necessary knowledge to become effective language teachers in the near future Summary This chapter presents the findings of the study These findings are also discussed with reference to the literature As presented in the chapter, student teachers had great challenges such as dealing with students‟ unexpected behavior and language proficiency, lesson planning, using the blackboard, classroom teaching, maintaining relationship with the mentor In addition, the benefits of the practicum with reference to student teachers‟ learning to teach according to the student teachers‟ perceptions were also presented Two important issues related to the teacher education programme emerged from the study One is the gap between the idealized image of English language teaching and English language students promoted by teacher trainers on the one hand and the real complexity of teaching and students‟ behaviours as well as their proficiency in English, on the other This gap has created serious challenges to the student teachers Another issue is the absence of the supervisor during the practicum Because of the unavailability of the supervisor provided by the teachers‟ college, the student teachers encountered unnecessary challenges regarding the relationship with the mentors or the mentor‟s lack of mentoring skills The next chapter provides concluding remarks, the implications for improvement of the existing teacher education programme, the acknowledgement of the limitations of the study as well as the suggestions for further studies 37 Part c: conclusion This study was aimed at examining the challenges of the student teachers in their practicum The data were collected from the diaries of the student teachers and the followup interviews This chapter presents the conclusion, implication, limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies Conclusions The aim of the study is to explore the challenges of student teachers in their practicum Findings from the analysis of the diaries and the follow-up interviews with student teachers, show some challenges that the student teachers confronted during their practicum at Quynh Giang secondary school These challenges or tensions include expectations of idealised students, lesson planning, using the board, classroom teaching as well as the mentor-mentee relationship The challenge of the supervisor was also raised by the student teachers Despite these challenges, all five student teachers found that the practicum was useful to their learning to teach They managed to benefit as much as they could from the practicum in terms of teaching skills and knowledge about the classroom and the students Findings of the study also imply some improvement to be made in the existing teacher education programme of the College These implications will be presented in the following section Suggestions for the Teacher Education Programme The challenges encounter by the student teachers in this study show, to some extent the drawbacks of the existing teacher education programme Firstly, the programme fails to prepare the student teachers adequately for the classroom reality of the lower secondary school To be more specific, the programme need to emphasize more on the student teachers‟ skills and competence to be flexible in dealing with the complexities of teaching English as a foreign language For example, student teachers should be able to make on-the-spot decisions on how to adapt their teaching styles, their lesson plans, their use of English to respond more effectively to the reality of the classroom Secondly, there need to be a commonly agreed format of the lesson plan It is evident from this study that the student teachers‟ skills in planning the lesson is not quite satisfactory They were unable to identify the focus of the lesson, and this took them quite a lot of time The difference between the lesson plan format used in the lower secondary school and the one 38 they were taught at the college is evidently a challenge to them Other classroom management skills such as using the blackboard should be emphasized In addition to these professional skills and competences, student teachers need to be trained further in interpersonal skills, which is to help them avoid problems with the mentor Thirdly, the College needs to provide a supervisor, who is an experienced teacher trainer to help the student teachers throughout their practicum Without the supervisor, student teachers had to cope with unnecessary challenges Finally, there should be training for mentors It is evident from this study that student teachers had to follow the mentor‟s teaching styles rather than being given the opportunities to try out new teaching methods they were trained at the college For the increased effectiveness of learning to teach, student teachers should be trained to be reflective practitioners so that they can reflect on their own teaching and learn from their own teaching as well as from others‟ teaching Limitations of the study Although the study has reached the aims set at the beginning, it is not free from some limitations due to:  The small number of participants (5 student teachers)  The absence of triangulated data Because of these limitations, findings of the study should be used with caution Another limitation is that the student teachers were not observed Therefore, it is not clear how the student teachers taught in the classroom and how they made progress during the practicum regarding their professional competence and teaching skills Feedback sessions were not observed so it is not clear how effective mentors‟ feedback was 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Mong em ghi chi tiết xác thực ( điều tốt chưa tốt ) đợt thực tập THANK YOU VERY MUCH ... mentoring teachers, and the pressure from the students and from the school These challenges will be discussed in the following section 1.2 The Challenges of the Practicum The school where the practicum. .. discusses the role of the practicum in the teacher education programme Next, it reviews the challenges of the student teachers during the practicum such as their relationship with the mentors... Scope of the study The study limits itself to the investigation of the challenges of the student teachers during their practicum Information was collected from a small group of student teachers? ??