Abstract
This case study aimed to reveal the reflections of pre-service English teachers on online teaching practicum procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish EFL context. There were 20 participants, and the data were gathered through an online interview form. The interview items focused on course requirements, observation tasks, mentor-supervisor feedback, and benefits and challenges of online teaching procedures. The gathered data were subjected to summative content analysis and the results indicated that although the participants mentioned various professional gains, the challenges of online teaching practicum experiences outweighed its benefits. In light of the findings, it can be claimed that relevant stakeholders can be offered training about online teaching practices, and the existing infrastructure can be improved in the form of hybrid settings in order to facilitate transition to online educational platforms and to improve university-school collaboration in the future.
Keywords
Introduction
One of the immediate consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic was the replacement of face-to-face learning environments with virtual learning environments (Sepulveda-Escobar and Morrison, 2020). In the same vein, after recording the first case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Turkish government announced suspension of all face-to-face educational activities throughout the country, and educational practices at all levels were moved to online platforms (Eken et al., 2020).
One of the courses conducted via online platforms was teaching practicum course and a number of studies have been conducted upon online teaching practicum courses in different contexts since the COVID-19 pandemic. To illustrate, Brinia and Psoni (2022) investigated online teaching practicum experiences of 45 pre-service teachers via journals and semi-structured interviews. The authors indicated that the participants appreciated becoming familiar with new educational technologies and improving their adaptability and flexibility skills for their future teaching. However, the respondents highlighted unique opportunities of face-to-face teaching in terms of monitoring body language and promoting teamwork, and concluded that face-to-face teaching could not be replaced by alternative platforms. As for Turkish EFL context, Koşar (2021) investigated 25 pre-service English teachers’ opinions about online teaching practicum experiences. The participants indicated that they did not find these experiences effective for their professional competencies and added that face-to-face teaching practicum could not be replaced by distance teaching practicum. In addition, Kızıldağ and Tuncer (2022) investigated research studies conducted on pre-service English teachers’ practicum experiences during the COVID-19 period in Turkey. For this purpose, the authors analyzed seven studies on School Experience and Teaching Practice courses in terms of their methodology, focus and context. It was concluded that these studies centered on challenges and benefits of online teaching practicum experiences and all the studies adopted qualitative research designs such as action research or case study.
Based on the above-mentioned studies, it appears that there is a need for more research to deeply analyze the nature and effectiveness of online teaching practicum experiences of pre-service English teachers during the pandemic. Due to the limited number of studies conducted upon online teaching practicum procedures in Turkish EFL context, this study aimed to reveal the reflections of pre-service English teachers on course requirements, observation tasks, mentor-supervisor feedback, and benefits and challenges of online teaching procedures. In this way, the current paper attempted to reach a more comprehensive picture of online teaching practicum procedures and offer educational implications to prepare pre-service English teachers for their future teaching contexts.
Review of literature
Pre-service teacher education during the pandemic has been a hot topic among researchers in different contexts (Morrison and Sepulveda-Escobar, 2021; Moyo, 2020; Sasaki et al., 2020). Specifically, online teaching practicum experiences of pre-service English teachers have occupied a prominent place in the relevant literature due to its implementation aspect. For this purpose, it is of paramount importance to examine online teaching practicum experiences in different educational settings.
In terms of pre-service English teacher education, reflections of stakeholders on online teaching practicum have been investigated in different countries. To begin with, Sepulveda-Escobar and Morrison (2020) conducted a case study with 27 Chilean EFL teacher candidates to reveal their perspectives upon difficulties and facilities of virtual teaching. The participants mentioned such difficulties as lack of direct interaction with learners, connection problems and sudden change of setting. They also found the virtual teaching experiences unreal due to lack of concrete classroom dynamics.
In another study, Shinta and Aprilia (2020) investigated major problems of online practicum experiences of 57 EFL pre-service teachers in Malang. The results indicated that the problems were related to limited contact with students, classroom management and assessment; however, the participants reported that they improved their teaching competencies and lesson planning skills during the online practicum. Similarly, Hardiyanty et al. (2021) foregrounded benefits and challenges of online teaching practicum during the pandemic. The authors concluded that although the pre-service English teachers gained awareness about digital literacy and online learning platforms, they also encountered some difficulties due to poor Internet connection and lack of participation. Finally, a systematic analysis revealed that online teaching practicum experiences during the pandemic contributed to pre-service teachers’ attitudes, readiness level, and communication skills with stakeholders (Kiok et al., 2021).
As for Turkish EFL context, universities adopted online teaching practicum procedures because face-to-face teaching at state schools was replaced with online platforms for all levels. After this decision, various studies were conducted on online teaching practicum procedures in Turkey. To exemplify, in order to facilitate pre-service English teachers’ adaptation to online teaching, Ersin et al. (2020) developed an alternative e-practicum where 25 participants were involved in a virtual classroom and carried out various microteaching activities via Zoom application. The e-practicum was under the guidance of university supervisors who were in the role of e-mentor. The findings revealed that the participants appreciated this e-practicum to overcome their virtual teaching fears due to reflection and feedback opportunities after each session.
Due to the limited number of studies in the relevant literature, Kızıldağ and Tuncer (2022) stressed the need for more research studies to investigate perspectives of pre-service English teachers upon online teaching practicum experiences in Turkey. Also, there are some inconclusive research results about the effectiveness of online teaching practicum procedures during the pandemic. These reasons, in turn, formed the starting point of the current study. In a nutshell, it is voiced in the relevant literature that there is a need for more research studies on pre-service English teachers’ perspectives on online teaching practicum procedures during the pandemic especially in EFL contexts (Kızıldağ and Tuncer, 2022; Sepulveda-Escobar and Morrison, 2020). Therefore, this study aimed to reveal the reflections of pre-service English teachers on online teaching practicum procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish EFL context in terms of course requirements, observation tasks, mentor-supervisor feedback, and benefits and challenges of online teaching procedures. In this way, the current study attempts to fill a niche in the literature by offering a detailed analysis of online teaching practicum procedures, and contributes to professional development of pre-service English teachers.
Methodology
Research design
The current study was defined by a case study methodology where the researcher studied with a small group of participants in a specific context, namely pre-service English teachers who attended an online practicum course at a state university in Turkey. The reflections of the participating pre-service English teachers on their online teaching practicum experiences were described, analysed and interpreted in light of their reflections.
The underlying reason for implementing a case study is that case studies offer opportunities to obtain a detailed analysis of specific situations in a given setting (Creswell et al., 2003; Dörnyei, 2007; Hamilton and Corbett-Whittier, 2013; McKay, 2006), and gain professional awareness about strengths and weaknesses (Hagevik et al., 2012). Thus, this study adopted a qualitative approach where textual data were gathered through the participants’ written reflections to form a more comprehensive picture about the phenomenon in question (Creswell, 2007, 2012; Dörnyei, 2007), and interpret the phenomenon in its real-world context (Patton, 2002). Finally, the qualitative data gathered through the online interview form were subjected to summative content analysis to interpret the underlying context (Schreier, 2012).
Participants
The participants were 20 pre-service English teachers taking an online teaching practicum course at a state university in Turkey. The participants were recruited via convenience sampling since they were available for the study and within easy reach (Mackey and Gass, 2005). The researcher contacted the academic staff at an ELT (English Language Teaching) Department at a state university to announce the link of the interview with their teaching practicum students. As for the participants’ demographic features, their ages ranged between 21 and 36 (mean = 23, 25). There were nine males and 11 females. Finally, 17 participants stated that they had received distance education before the pandemic period whereas three of them had not experienced distance education previously.
Due to the pandemic period, all the participants were contacted via email and asked to complete an online, semi-structured interview form. Written consent was obtained from the participants via the online interview form. The participants were coded as “S” and represented with a number to ensure anonymity.
Data collection tool
In the study, a semi-structured interview form was employed, and the participants were sent the link via email. The interview form was administered as data collection instrument due to its flexibility in creating more space for revealing opinions (Dörnyei, 2007). The other reasons for employing a semi-structured interview were that there were probing and open-ended questions to gather the participants’ perspectives in detail (Adams, 2015), and the flexibility of semi-structured interviews could enable the participants to elaborate on the topic (Cohen et al., 2007).
The researcher first reviewed the relevant literature and formed the written interview form (WIF) accordingly. Then, expert opinion about the WIF was gathered from three academicians working at an ELT Department at a state university in Turkey. After that, necessary layout, content, wording and editing arrangements were made in light of the expert comments and suggestions. In the final form, there were eight questions in the WIF. In the first part of the WIF, the participants were asked about their demographic features such as gender, age and previous distance education experience. In the second part, they were expected to share their reflections on online teaching practicum experiences during the pandemic.
Procedures
This study was conducted in an online teaching practicum course which lasted for 14 weeks in the Fall term of the 2020–2021 academic year. First, the official permission was granted by the Ethics Committee of the institution where the study was conducted and then the participants were sent the WIF link via email. The data were collected after the academic term ended to ensure that there were no power relations or social desirability issues. In addition, the students were not given any additional marks in return for their participation in order to ensure that participation was on voluntary basis. Finally, real names of the participants were anonymised to protect their confidentiality (Creswell, 2014; Oliver, 2003).
The participants attended English classes at state schools via online platforms during the pandemic. First, they made systematic observations about the given topics and then they delivered online English lessons individually. There were five observation tasks about teaching techniques, lesson management and class control, teacher explanations and questioning, effective use of textbooks, and assessment and evaluation, respectively. For each observation task, theoretical information and guiding questions were given to the participants in the syllabus whose content was strictly followed by the teacher educators to ensure standardization in the department. Thus, the participants attended online English lessons at state schools, made observations about the given topics and wrote their weekly reflection reports accordingly.
In Turkey, pre-service teacher education programs at universities have quite similar contents, applications and outcomes due to the curricula implemented by the Council of Higher Education (CoHE). In these courses, pre-service teachers, namely seniors, are expected to practice teaching in classroom settings. Therefore, they are expected to visit a state school every week for 6 hours. The level of the practice school (primary, secondary or high school) is determined by the department. The pre-service teachers are expected to assist the in-service English teacher with teaching, testing and paperwork. They have a mentor at the state school and a supervisor at university. The mentor and supervisor are required to act in tandem for monitoring attendance, giving feedback about teaching performance and filling out various evaluation forms. For evaluation, both mentors at state schools and supervisors at university first fill out four daily evaluation forms and then a general evaluation form via the online platform called MEBBIS (MoNEIS-Ministry of National Education Information Systems). Mentors and supervisors check lesson plans, materials, classroom management skills, observation tasks and teaching performance of pre-service teachers while they fill out the daily and general evaluation forms. In this vein, after the pandemic, pre-service English teachers were expected to adapt to the changes while conducting their teaching activities since educational activities at all levels were moved to online platforms during the pandemic. They were connected to the online English lessons together with the students, mentors and supervisors.
In the current study, the pre-service English teachers attended secondary schools or high schools which were among the state schools in the city located in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The pre-service teachers made observations in the first few weeks and then delivered online English lessons to gain awareness about online platforms in terms of teaching, material design and classroom management. After those observations, the supervisors and mentors participated in the online English lessons where the participants were teaching so that they could give feedback about their teaching performance. The participants were observed by the mentors and supervisors throughout the term. While the mentors were always together with the pre-service English teachers in all online English lessons, the supervisors participated in those lessons only when they taught English. In addition, the supervisors had two-hour online meetings with the pre-service English teachers every week to inform them about university-school collaboration, observation tasks, how to prepare lesson plans and discuss theoretical underpinnings of teaching profession. Finally, the mentors and supervisors shared the responsibility of managing paperwork, giving feedback about the materials and lesson plans, and evaluating online teaching performances.
Data analysis
The textual data gathered via the WIF were analysed via summative content analysis which requires counting and comparing keywords or content in light of context (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005). The researcher adopted content analysis due to its benefits such as employing retrospective data, having lower costs and revealing trends (Kondracki et al., 2002).
The main feature of an effective content analysis is to reduce the data to concepts which describe the phenomenon in question (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005) via forming codes or categories (Weber, 1990). In this regard, the researcher paid attention to detecting recurring categories, grouping them according to their similarity and forming the emerging themes (Fraenkell et al., 2012). Thus, the researcher began analysis by identifying and quantifying certain keywords and phrases in the WIF data in order to detect the frequency of occurrence. The researcher started data analysis after reviewing the relevant literature so as not to miss any important aspects or end up with irrelevant categories. Due to the fact that qualitative data analysis has an iterative nature, the researcher constantly made comparisons among the written reflections while analysing the data and forming the categories (Dörnyei, 2007).
Findings
In the presentation of findings, the participants were labelled as S and given a number such as S1. S refers to the participant and the number represents the order of participation. The participants shared their perspectives in English and no corrections were made in order not to ruin the nature of the data. The findings of each WIF item are specified with figures, tables, and sample quotations.
Q1: Which observation task was the easiest one or the most difficult one? Why?
It should be noted that the first observation task was related to teaching techniques, the second one was about lesson management and class control, the third one was about teacher explanations and questioning, the fourth one was about effective use of textbooks, and finally the fifth one was about assessment and evaluation. According to Figure 1, the hardest task was the second task about lesson management and class control (f: 7) while the easiest task was the fourth task about effective use of textbooks (f: 6). Two participants stated that all the tasks were equally difficult while none of them found the third task as the hardest one. The reasons for task difficulty are exemplified below. Difficulty level of teaching practicum observation tasks.
According to the participant comments, observing effective use of textbooks was the easiest task due to less effort required. However, observing classroom management was regarded to be the most difficult task due to lack of body language and connection problems. For example, S12 gave some reasons for task difficulty as follows: I think task four effective use of textbook effectively is the easiest because my cooperating teacher uses the textbook very effectively. She spends the majority of lesson by doing the activities in the textbook. It was not difficult for me to observe. The hardest is task observing lesson management and class control. It was very difficult to provide classroom management in online education for my cooperative teacher. Therefore, we had difficulty in observing. The teacher is not able to use expressive elements such as mimic and body movements. Problems and learning difficulties cannot be solved instantly and there are also connection problems. Because of connection problems, students sometimes cannot hear the teacher’s voice or participate in the class.
S12 found the observation task of effective use of textbook as the easiest one since the teacher mostly referred to the textbook during the online lessons, which might result from the fact that in-service English teachers in Turkey are required to follow the textbook offered by the Ministry of National Education. In this task, the participants observed how a textbook was used by the teacher in online English lessons. However, classroom management task was found to be the hardest one due to the lack of physical interaction with the students and paralinguistic elements in online learning platforms. Checking student understanding and providing immediate feedback seemed to be missing issues. Connection problems were also underlined since they negatively affected active student participation.
These reflections suggest that online learning platforms used during the pandemic lacked some unique features of face-to-face learning environments such as paralinguistic elements of communication. Since some physical elements and group dynamics were stated to be missing in the online platforms, the participants mostly encountered difficulties while observing classroom management of the mentor.
Q2: How did the observation tasks contribute to your professional development?
Contribution of observation tasks.
The tasks were found to contribute to different professional domains of the participants. In this vein, S5 noted: For me, observation tasks were like practicing on paper before lecturing because it gave me a chance to understand which technique worked on students, participation of students in the class, how to manage a classroom, and what resources and questions are suitable for students' level.
As it is seen in this quotation, the participant regarded online teaching practicum as a bridge to move from theory to practice since it helped him/her to observe what kind of teaching techniques to use, how to ensure student participation, how to manage class and how to vary educational resources and questions in line with students’ language level. In other words, the participant highlighted how to fine-tune teaching techniques, materials, and questions to cater for different student needs. In a similar vein, S14 described the professional contributions as follows: These observation tasks contributed to my profession in terms of teaching techniques or some rules. For example, I learned that I should make eye contact and when a student reads a paragraph, I should not interrupt her/him in the class.
These two quotations give hints about managing classes and delivering English lessons. S14 appears to be informed about some teaching techniques because s/he labels this experience as a rule to apply in future teaching. S/he specifically stresses the importance of making eye contact with the student and not giving instant feedback during a reading activity. Such a conclusion might result from the need for giving delayed feedback for the sake of sustaining student motivation and preventing fear of losing face.
In sum, the observation tasks appear to guide the pre-service English teachers about how to motivate students, manage the class, give feedback, and build rapport with students. Also, the participants were found to gain awareness about online teaching in terms of choosing appropriate teaching techniques, preparing materials, involving students in activities, getting the level right, using body language and giving feedback during lessons.
Q3: Which online practicum activity was the most/least beneficial for your professional development? Why?
According to Figure 2, nine participants indicated that all the practicum activities were beneficial. Also, nine of them found delivering online English lessons as the most beneficial practicum activity. This is followed by seven participants who valued preparing lesson plans most. However, eight participants found preparing tasks as the least beneficial activity. Views about usefulness of online teaching practicum activities.
All the practicum activities were appreciated by nine participants. For instance, S9 reported: ‘All of them were beneficial for my development because they have all I need for my future.’ However, some participants displayed differences about the usefulness of different practicum activities. As S8 indicated: ‘Preparing a lesson plan was the most beneficial one because I’ve learned time management. Preparing tasks was the least beneficial one because I still don’t know why I have to do this.’ Preparing lesson plans was favoured by seven participants as it helped them to consider various lesson dynamics such as topic, timing and student characteristics. In this way, they had the chance to become familiar with different student characteristics and teaching dynamics through their personal experiences. However, this participant did not appreciate the observation tasks and found them ineffective.
In a similar vein, S18 stated: ‘I think preparing tasks was the least beneficial one. We created quizzes and games with the grammar rules we know and in teaching performance I realized that I developed myself obviously.’ S18 undervalued the observation tasks and emphasized the importance of delivering lessons by preparing materials since personal involvement in teaching helped him/her to develop a teaching style as a first-hand experience.
In light of these comments, it appears that preparing lesson plans and delivering online English lessons were the most beneficial teaching practicum activities because the participants had the chance to learn about time management and got first-hand teaching experiences. However, preparing tasks was not favoured by some participants, which may result from lack of attaching importance to these tasks or the workload required to write observation reports.
Q4: Did you encounter any difficulties while participating in online teaching practicum as an observer? If yes, how did you overcome these difficulties?
Figure 3 demonstrates that 11 participants did not encounter any difficulties while attending online classes as an observer. However, nine of them had difficulties due to network/connection problems, breakdown of the online platform and electricity shortcut. As for their solutions, some of them communicated with their mentors/peers, controlled their Internet connection, or preferred another platform. Finally, two stated no solutions. Problems of attending online classes as an observer.
The participants appeared to hold similar views about the problems and solutions. As S2 complained: ‘Of course, yes. Not only the students but also the teachers suffered a lot because this system is new for everybody. However, we succeeded to overcome these difficulties by communication.’ Since transition to online platforms was new for the students and teachers, both parties came across some difficulties while adapting to the new mode of delivery. In order to solve the problems, the pre-service English teachers and mentors communicated with each other via phones or messages to find possible solutions. Similarly, S18 complained: ‘My problems were mostly based on technical disorders, the Internet and electricity shortcut.’ The participants mostly suffered from the Internet connection problems or technical breakdown. As for other solutions, S11 stated: ‘I tried to overcome this problem by controlling my internet connection’ whereas S15 indicated: “There was no solution for this, so I waited.’ It is seen that at some points the participants felt stuck in case of technical problems and controlled their Internet connection, logged in again or waited for a while to overcome their difficulties.
These comments demonstrate the lack of systematic steps to be followed in case of technical breakdown in order to run the lessons smoothly. The sudden change in educational contexts due to the pandemic appears to have caused confusion among the participants since institutional guidance or clear steps are missing in their quotations. Instead, they were expected to rely on their own solutions such as their own coping strategies and problem-solving skills in case of Internet connection problems, technical disorders and electricity shortcut. The lack of systematic guidance might have resulted from the online education practices which were new for educational institutions and relevant stakeholders including pre-service English teachers.
Q5: Did you encounter any difficulties while participating in online teaching practicum as a teacher? If yes, how did you overcome these difficulties?
It was found that nine participants did not encounter any difficulties while attending online classes as a teacher and delivering online English lessons. However, according to Figure 4, 11 participants encountered some problems due to breakdown of the online platform, connection problems, microphone noise and lack of student participation. As for their solutions, they stated that they used their time management skills, developed coping strategies, put personal effort, got help from the mentors, used another platform, followed lesson plans and/or warned the students. Problems of attending online classes as a teacher.
Among the cited problems, connection problems and lack of student participation occupied a prominent space in the participant quotations. As S3 noted: ‘In the lesson, managing time was difficult since the students could not listen to the listening activities and I had to play a video for the third time. The students could not see my screen because of pausing.’ S3 was mainly concerned about time management due to the technical problems and s/he solved the problem by playing the recordings several times for students to listen and understand, which caused time management issues. Since they acted as the teacher in the online platform, it was natural that the pre-service teachers considered time limitations and became concerned due to the interruptions during the lessons. Another issue was about screen sharing. The participants had to share their screens with the students during the online English lessons and due to the technical breakdown, the students could not see the screen shared by the pre-service English teachers, which might have caused waste of time and concern again. In addition, lack of student participation was another problem cited by the participants. In this vein, S18 stated: ‘Participation was the main problem; as an observer it doesn’t disturb you but when you start to teach, it tires you. The most significant problem was participation for us and we solved it thanks to our mentor.’ For S18, as a teacher, motivating students to participate in the activities was a challenge since the participants were not observing but actually teaching those students so they had to cope with the possible problems during the lessons. However, what comes to the fore as a facilitating factor is the assistance offered by the mentor who was always present in the online platform together with the students and pre-service English teachers. This finding displays the important role of mentors in guiding practicum students during online lessons.
The above-mentioned quotations incorporate the problems of time management, screen sharing during listening activities, lack of student participation and Internet outage. Despite these challenges, the participants found solutions by playing videos several times, following their lesson plan, developing tolerance and getting help from mentors. In sum, it is seen that the participants either relied on their own problem-solving skills or mentor’s assistance to overcome their online teaching problems.
Q6: Did you receive any feedback from your mentor or supervisor about your online practicum activities? If yes, how did it contribute to your professional development?
According to Figure 5, the participants stated that the feedback they got from their mentors and supervisors helped them to enhance their teaching techniques and notice their strong and weak skills. They also stated that the feedback increased their motivation, guided them to speak more English during the lessons, understand student level and control the classroom. Only two of the participants stated that they got no feedback. Contributions of feedback from mentors and supervisors.
S5 expressed various professional gains of supervisor and mentor feedback as follows: I got feedback from my supervisor after preparing reports, preparing a lesson plan and teaching. Thanks to the feedback, I saw the mistakes I made and tried not to repeat them. I can say that this feedback was our guide in becoming a good teacher. I received feedback from my mentor only after preparing the lesson plan and thanks to the feedback, I clearly understood the level of the students.
S5 appreciated receiving feedback from the supervisor and mentor. This quotation highlights the importance of feedback in terms of noticing linguistic mistakes and preparing better lesson plans. Also, getting feedback seems to help them to see their strong and weak aspects and understand student level better. Similarly, S12 touched upon the contributions of feedback as in the following: We got feedback from my mentor and supervisor. The feedback has been very important for my teaching career. For example, we got the feedback that we need to speak English actively in the lesson. I decided to speak English more actively in my teaching career from now on.
The mentor and supervisor feedback were highly appreciated by these participants since it facilitated their transition and adaptation to online educational practices. The participants drew various conclusions about effective teaching practices. For example, as S12 stated, they became aware of the fact that they needed to refer to the target language more during the lessons so that the students were exposed to English language more.
In sum, the quotations of the participants imply various professional gains. It can be claimed that the feedback they got from their mentors and supervisors helped them to notice their weak aspects, become aware of qualities of a good teacher, understand student level, speak more English during lessons and see their own linguistic mistakes.
Q7: What are the strong and weak aspects of online teaching practicum in terms of teaching language skills?
Figure 6 demonstrates that online teaching practicum during the pandemic posed some challenges in terms of teaching four language skills. To illustrate, the participants indicated that there were student-related issues, productive skills were hard to teach, and there were some student-teacher interaction difficulties. Some participants also added that none of the skills were taught effectively and there were no or few listening and kinaesthetic activities. Only one participant did not indicate any challenge. However, some participants stated that the online platform was applicable for improving language skills except for writing skill, they could reach many materials quickly and they got used to the hardships of distance education. Challenges and benefits of online practicum for teaching language skills.
In this respect, S19 noted: ‘The strong point is that we are used to the hardships. Its weak point is the lack of participation.’ What attracts attention in this quotation is the participants’ increased coping strategies in the course of time. Since they encountered various problems as an observer and a teacher during the online teaching practicum, it is possible that they developed their own problem-solving skills in accordance with their personal experiences, which could prepare them for their future teaching. Additionally, S1 stressed the superior role of individual efforts in getting the maximum benefit from the online educational platforms: First of all, learning or not learning now depends on students more than ever. Now it is their choice to learn or not to learn, we cannot check what they are doing on the computer. In terms of students, some of them were obviously distracted. Therefore, sometimes I realized that some students were not even looking at the screen. In the classroom, they are on their own and the teacher does her/his job with the highest efficiency. Its strong side is the technological materials. It is quite easy to change and find many materials quickly but in the face-to-face classroom, it may not be so quick. Its weak side is the distractive side of computers. It mostly affects the reluctant students and some of them are likely to do different things during the lesson as far as I understood.
S1 puts more responsibility on individual efforts of students to learn since s/he could not follow their participation behind a computer screen, which suggests a concern for autonomous learning via online platforms. Due to changing attention span of students and presence of distractors in technological tools, some students can easily get distracted and lose their motivation after a while. In contrast, in face-to-face classroom settings, it seemed easier to control the class, check participation and intervene when necessary. However, reaching and adapting materials were thought to be faster in online learning platforms compared to face-to-face classroom settings.
In general, the participants mostly touched upon the challenges of online platforms for teaching four language skills. They were mainly concerned about lack of student participation, improving productive language skills, time limitation, student distraction and lack of learner autonomy.
Q8: What are the strong and weak aspects of online teaching practicum in terms of testing language skills?
As the data attest in Figure 7, the participants mostly mentioned challenges of online testing procedures. While they mostly touched upon hardships of tracking individual student progress, connection problems, lack of fair evaluation and inequalities among students, only one participant mentioned the benefit of productive testing procedures via computers. Besides, three participants stated that online testing had no strengths, and two participants shared no ideas. Challenges and benefits of online testing procedures.
The participants mostly underlined the changing and uncontrollable features of online testing. To start with, as S13 noted: ‘Testing procedures in distance education process are not a fair evaluation method in terms of equal opportunity.’ In this quotation, the unequal opportunity of reaching online learning platforms is emphasized. Since some students might have lacked Internet facilities, parental support or technological tools, online testing was not considered to be a fair evaluation method. Additionally, S16 gave another reason for the unfairness of online testing: ‘Students can easily cheat during exams. Also, not everyone has access to proper Internet connection and computers.’ Apart from the problems of Internet access and technological tools, cheating issues during exams due to the lack of a control mechanism were highlighted. As the participants stated that they could not intervene in student participation behind a screen, online testing was reported to be a problematic issue.
Despite the unfavourable attitudes towards online testing, only one participant, namely S6, found it promising and facilitating in one aspect: ‘Everything changed with distance education. Testing procedures become easier with computers because everything is collected into data.’ In this comment, S6 appreciated the inclusion of computers to make testing procedures easier due to the large amount of sources.
In general, these quotations suggest that the participants mostly had unfavourable attitudes towards online testing. Although one participant mentioned the benefit of online testing, most participants touched upon the challenges such as inequalities among students in terms of access to technology and parental support, the inability to observe students’ performance during exams, lack of fair evaluation and possibility of cheating.
Discussion, conclusion and educational implications
This study aimed to reveal pre-service English teachers’ reflections on online teaching practicum procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish EFL context in terms of benefits and challenges of observation tasks, getting feedback, professional development, and teaching and testing language skills. The findings of the current study bear some similarities to the relevant literature. To start with, it has been revealed that online platforms used during the pandemic period can offer unique learning and teaching experiences for pre-service English teachers as a kind of preparation for their future teaching career (Brinia and Psoni, 2022; Kiok et al., 2021; Sepulveda-Escobar and Morrison, 2020). However, the participants mostly agreed that nothing could replace human interactions and preferred face-to-face education due to the opportunity of having hands-on interaction experiences and feeling real classroom dynamics (Brinia and Psoni, 2022; Koşar, 2021; Sepulveda-Escobar and Morrison, 2020). Such an agreement might have resulted from the necessity to build rapport with students in-person through the classroom atmosphere and body language (Brinia and Psoni, 2022).
As for teaching and testing procedures, various challenges were reported in the current paper. For example, some participants had problems with time management because in face-to-face education, duration of a lesson was 40 minutes but it was 30 minutes for online platforms in Turkey. This may have prevented teachers from devoting required amount of time for each language skill. In addition, echoing previous findings (Hardiyanty et al., 2021; Sepulveda-Escobar and Morrison, 2020; Shinta and Aprilia, 2020), technological problems, lack of direct teacher-student interaction, classroom management, testing quality and lack of student attendance were the commonly cited challenges of online teaching practicum. In parallel with Hardiyanty et al. (2021), the participants were expected to rely on their own coping strategies and problem-solving skills to overcome their difficulties.
Similar to Hardiyanty et al. (2021), and Shinta and Aprilia (2020), the participants in this study revealed various professional contributions of online teaching practicum such as improving teaching competencies, lesson planning skills and gaining awareness about online learning platforms. However, in contrast to Koşar (2021), the participants mentioned some opportunities of online teaching practicum to improve their professional competencies. Though the pre-service teachers were expected to adapt to the new learning/teaching circumstances and adopt the new normal in their teaching practicum, emerging results of the relevant literature suggest that this new normal procedure may not necessarily ensure quality mechanisms (Moyo, 2020). In other words, although online platforms have the potential to involve stakeholders in educational contexts in large quantities, results of applications may not be satisfactory in quality.
In line with the findings of Sepulveda-Escobar and Morrison (2020), the participating pre-service English teachers in this study mentioned the difficulties of online teaching practicum more than its facilities. This finding is likely to result from the lack of previous online learning/teaching experiences, institutional training and guidance by stakeholders. As Morrison and Sepulveda-Escobar (2021) stressed, online teaching practicum during the pandemic period was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for pre-service English teachers since they had the opportunity to improve their technology literacy skills and become more equipped for online educational platforms. In other words, pre-service English teachers had the opportunity to develop their technology skills. Likewise, the participants in this study also indicated that they had the chance to adapt to a new teaching setting, and learned how to manage online classes, motivate students and cope with possible technological problems. Since they were expected to gain awareness about online teaching/learning and become equipped with necessary technological competencies via online platforms, they had the opportunity to benefit from distance education both as a learner and pre-service teacher. Such experiences could give them some ideas about how it feels to be a student or teacher in online platforms and how to act accordingly.
A long-lasting outcome of online teaching practicum experiences during the pandemic period can pave the way for hybrid settings for teacher training institutions in the future because such experiences can shed light on how to incorporate online platforms into face-to-face settings in the long run (Kızıldağ and Tuncer, 2022). However, based on the relevant literature and the current study findings, the general impression is that although both face-to-face and online teaching practicum possess unique opportunities, face-to-face teaching practicum appears to be superior. Thus, face-to-face teaching practicum is claimed to be irreplaceable by alternative online platforms.
All in all, online teaching practicum procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic offer some educational implications. Since educational activities at all levels went through changes and were replaced with online platforms, pre-service English teachers should be prepared by considering the possibility of online learning/teaching circumstances in the future. To this end, pre-service English teachers could be involved in hybrid settings to be exposed to both face-to-face educational environments and online learning environments. Alternatively, they can be introduced to technology-based simulated environments so that they can get used to online learning environments (Sasaki et al., 2020), adapt their teaching and testing styles, and change classroom management strategies accordingly.
Limitations and suggestions for further research
This study is limited to a small group of pre-service English teachers in Turkey and the findings cannot be generalised to other teaching contexts. Thus, future studies can be conducted with a larger population in a different context to add a new perspective. Alternatively, studies about online teaching practicum experiences of pre-service English teachers can be conducted in various contexts for comparative purposes. Also, this study was a qualitative study and future studies could employ different data collection tools such as questionnaires, focus group interviews, and learner/teacher diaries to triangulate data. Moreover, different stakeholders such as learners, pre-service English teachers, in-service English teachers, lecturers, parents, and local authorities could be involved in future studies to gain a more complete picture about online learning platforms. Finally, pre-service English teachers who are involved in hybrid settings and only face-to-face educational settings could be investigated to make comparisons about the effectiveness of different educational platforms in terms of teaching, learning and testing.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
