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Studies have shown that many training programs are relatively ineffective in preparing prospective teachers for classroom teaching. Such findings suggest that teacher training programs might require improvement and that prospective teachers should be more thoroughly assessed during the training period. This study examined the learning process of a group of EFL teachers during their practicum at elementary schools. Our findings indicate that prior language learning experience and peer student teachers play a critical role in this period. Overall, the results suggested that student teachers would benefit from greater integration between field experiences, practicum, and lecture courses, which would enable the students to link teaching theory and practice more effectively.

To investigate the context-related teacher efficacy (TE) of experienced teachers in Taiwan, this study examined elementary English teachers more than a decade after a major educational reform to determine whether their TE levels were affected by school location (e.g. urban vs. suburban). The 438 responses to the adapted Teacher Efficacy Scale revealed stronger efficacy regarding the teachers' personal ability to teach less-motivated students and less confidence regarding the management of school-and government-related concerns. However, school settings did not show a significant effect on the efficacy levels of experienced English teachers. Although caution must be practiced in interpreting results related to school settings and TE, the findings from the current study are generalizable to contexts in which English is spoken as a foreign language. The results also urge much caution when making interpretation on results relating to school settings and TE.

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