Teacher Training in Distance Education and the Practicum Process

Abstract

Distance education has long been used both in pre-service and in-service teacher education programs to provide wider opportunities to people who are not able to attend face-to face courses. Since teacher education is a wide topic with participants having quite a wide range of needs, there is still a need to get information on different models, especially on the practicum part of teacher education. Within the realm of this topic, this chapter aims to describe an innovative model, the design of which is based on a need in Turkey, and discuss it in the light of available literature. After a brief terminology clarification, major models and trends in language teacher education are brought forth and discussed. Then, the model developed by Anadolu University, Distance English Language Teacher Training (DELTT), is explained and further suggestions on the issue are made.