Teaching Practicum During COVID-19: Pre-Service English Language Teachers’ Professional Identities and Motivation

Abstract

As the pandemic has brought in a paradigm shift in the way we educate and interact with our students, it has also had profound impacts on the practicum of pre-service teacher education. Focusing on the case of 14 South Korean student teachers who completed their teaching practicum in Spring 2020, this paper explores how the new form of teaching practicum, triggered by the current outbreak, affected student teachers’ professional development and their views on teaching practice and profession. In particular, it examines the ways by which teaching practicums conducted under unpredictable circumstances negatively or positively affect student teachers’ professional identities as teaching practitioners and their motivation to become a teacher. The findings of this study show that the teaching practicum conducted in times of crisis enabled pre-service English language teachers to develop a positive image toward teachers and teaching profession, and realize their potential as innovative and inspiring teachers in the post COVID-19 era.

Post-Pandemic Teacher Education: Opinions of English Teacher Educators on Hybrid System

“…According to Berces (2022), being deprived of opportunities to practice teaching, pre-service teachers experienced the feeling of unpreparedness along with "a feeling of guilt, lack of confidence, and dissatisfaction" (p.71). With a different perspective, Choi and Park (2022) claim that contrary to the concerns of teacher educators, attending practicum within entirely or partly online settings caused teacher candidates to have a positive attitude towards the teaching profession, develop teacher identity, and "realize their potential as innovative and inspiring teachers in a post COVID-19 era" (p.7).…”

Exploring the dilemmas and their influence on teacher identity development during practicum: Implications for initial teacher education

“…Teacher identity1 is a self‐image of teachers or self‐understanding of who they are and who they want to become (Akkerman and Meijer, 2011; Beijaard et al., 2004). Identity is not constant or steady but rather unstable and fluid that keeps on constantly shifting (Choi and Park, 2022; Qiu et al., 2021). The shift, as Rodgers and Scott (2008) believe, is negotiated by social, cultural, political and historical forces.…”

Online Learning and Experiences in Higher Education during COVID-19: A Systematic Review

“…Several lessons can be obtained from the experiences recounted in the reviewed papers. First, relationships between schools and universities should be strengthened to provide students with more flexible teaching experiences so that in emergency contexts, they can be effectively involved in the decision-making process, thus allowing them to decrease the levels of anxiety and uncertainty they may experience [71].…”