This study explores cognitions of pre-service English language teachers in relation to dealing with most commonly experienced in-class challenges in foreign language teaching and the influences that shape their cognitions. Adopting qualitative research design, a case study was conducted to provide an account of pre-service English language teachers' cognitions. Data for this study were collected in two main stages. The first stage involved collection of the base-line data through an open-ended questionnaire with a view to identifying in-class challenges experienced by in-service English language teachers. The second stage included scenario-based interviews with pre-service teachers that took place before and after the practicum. Results of the study reveal that (1) pre-service teachers generated various strategies in their pre-and post-practicum cognitions; (2) there were traces of change in cognitions due to practicum; (3) courses in teacher education program, pre-service teachers' own learning experiences, and practicum experiences emerged as influences that shape their cognitions.

It has been suggested that if student teachers formally reflect on teaching dilemmas they confront, it may be possible for them to uncover new understandings of the teaching and learning process. The starting point of this study is to help student teachers be aware of their own conflicts in teaching English and talk about them explicitly, which is thought to lead them to make theory-informed evaluation of their ways of thinking and to stimulate the habit of reflective inquiry. Employing the qualitative approach, this paper outlines and interprets how student teachers in a practicum course in Turkey reflected on their teaching dilemmas just after they completed their teaching practice in their practice schools. The dilemmas student teachers reflected on were on three dimensions of a lesson: planning, managing, and conducting the lesson. The interpretations included conflicting thoughts, values, or expectations of student teachers throughout the teaching process as a whole and the issues that guided them in deciding on their courses of action.

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This review study examines all the master's and doctoral theses completed on teaching English to young learners (TEYL) between the years 2014 and 2020 in Turkey. Eighty theses and dissertations indexed in the Turkish National Theses Database were included in the study. The tendencies in the theses in terms of sub-subjects covered, research designs applied, sampling methods used, research contexts targeted, and overall findings were identified and discussed. This paper provides an account of recent graduate research in TEYL to be a reference for researchers and supervisors in the field by presenting the results of a conceptual and descriptive analysis of the theses. Furthermore, by interpreting the tendencies in research methodology and over/understudied areas in the field, the study reveals possible gaps and research opportunities in the field of TEYL.

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