Pre-Service English Language Teacher Readiness Before and After a Practicum Interrupted by the Pandemic

Abstract

With a quantitative research design, the present study aims to explore the teacher readiness of pre-service foreign language teachers during the practicum in terms of their perceived teaching self-efficacies, attitudes towards teaching, and teaching motivations. In order to uncover changes in pre-service foreign language teachers' perceived teaching self-efficacies, attitudes towards teaching, and teaching motivations, two sets of quantitative data from 80 last year English Language Teaching students enrolled in a teaching practice class at a Turkish state university were collected through three different scales before and after the practicum period, which was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings revealed significant increases in the participants' perceived teaching self-efficacies and attitudes towards teaching at the end of the practicum. Moreover, the teaching motivations of the participants appeared to have changed towards more altruistic and intrinsic orientations at the end of the practicum. Considering the unique and unusual conditions emerged during the data collection period, the study sheds light on the cruciality of the practicum period in teacher education even in such crisis situations.