Preservice English Teachers’ Preparedness to Teach: Stakeholders’ Perceptions in Teaching Practicum

Abstract

Preservice English language teachers (PSTs) realize and shape their perceptions regarding preparedness to teach during their education. However, being prepared to teach is complex and multifaceted and requires individual factors and interaction with context and other people. Therefore, understanding it from stakeholders’ lens is needed. Within a descriptive and exploratory design, one-on-one, semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 faculty advisors (FAs) and 11 cooperating teachers (CTs) supervising PSTs in primary, secondary, and high schools in a northwestern city in Türkiye. The data collected in teaching practicum stage of field experience was coded and categorized via constant comparison method of analysis. The FAs, except for few issues, regarded the PSTs as unprepared to teach, while the CTs did as prepared to teach. The emergence of a perception gap could show lack of common understanding and mismatch between the stakeholders’ perceptions regarding their standards of and approaches toward high-quality teacher preparation.