Challenges in ELT Practicum: Views and Perceptions of Pre-Service Teachers

Lona Baiz Karim

College of Basic Education, Department of English, university of Sulaimani

Abbas Mustafa Abbas

College of Basic Education, Department of English, university of Sulaimani

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25130/Lang.8.6.10

Keywords: practicum, practice teaching, pre-service teacher


Abstract

The present study is an extract from an MA thesis that focuses on the challenges that pre-service teachers in the department of English face during their senior year practicum program. The aim of the study is to find out the perspective of pre-service teachers when it comes to the different factors that make the practicum program challenging. A questionnaire was prepared to obtain data from (107) students from three different universities in the Kurdistan Region. The quantitative data collected revealed that most of the pre-service teachers believe that the practicum program is too short to give them real teaching experience and that they do not have time to reflect on their own teaching. Some other challenges observed during the study are related to the school administrators, the school teachers, and the students’ supervisor.


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