Özet:

In English language teacher education (hereafter ELT) programs of Turkish universities, teaching practicum has a critical value due to its pivotal role in equipping student teachers with the necessary competences and preparing them for the teaching profession. Practicum experience turns out to be of greater importance for the graduates of other English language departments (hereafter non-ELT) such as English Linguistics, English Language and Literature or American Culture and Literature who attend pedagogical formation certificate programs offered by faculties of education. These student teachers do not have as much opportunity to observe teachers and practice teaching as ELT department graduates. Therefore, reflections on the teaching practicum experiences of these student teachers might provide insights into the nature of the aforementioned intensive teacher education programs, and the special needs of non-ELT department graduates who decide to become teachers of English and attend these programs. The present study aims to examine non-ELT student teachers’ practicum experiences and put forward some practical suggestions in order to improve their teaching skills. Data were collected from ten randomly selected non-ELT student teachers enrolled in a pedagogical formation certificate program at a state university in Turkey using three major sources: observations of video recordings of student teachers’ teaching practices by means of an observation form, the university supervisor’s reflections on these teaching practices and the teacher candidates’ self-reflections. Initially, the teaching performances were analyzed statistically, and the qualitative data gathered from the remaining two sources were separately subjected to thematic analysis. The results were then integrated. The study revealed that non-ELT student teachers need more practicum opportunities in the classes of truly expert and experienced teachers and supervisors to develop their English language teaching abilities.

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