Student teachers' self-reported challenges during the practicum (A Qualitative study) = Nghiên cứu định tính về những khó khăn của giáo sinh trong thời gian thự

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES





NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC


STUDENT TEACHERS’ SELF-REPORTED CHALLENGES
DURING THE PRACTICUM
A QUALITATIVE STUDY


Nghiên cứu định tính về những khó khăn của giáo sinh
trong thời gian thực tập sư phạm


M.A Minor Programme Thesis




Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10

HANOI - 2010







VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES





NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC


STUDENT TEACHERS’ SELF-REPORTED CHALLENGES
DURING THE PRACTICUM

A QUALITATIVE STUDY


Nghiên cứu định tính về những khó khăn của giáo sinh
trong thời gian thực tập sư phạm


M.A Minor Programme Thesis




Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Lê Văn Canh, M.A









HANOI - 2010



iv
Table of contentS

Page
Acknowledgements i
Abstract ii
Part A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Scope, aims, research design and significance of the study 2
2.1 Aims of the study 2
2.2 Research design 2
2.3 Scope of the study 2
2.4 Significance of the study 2
3. Structure of the Thesis 3
PartB: DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter 1: literature review 4
1.1 The Practicum 4
1.2 The Challenges of the Practicum 7
1.3 The Roles of Cooperating Teachers (Mentors) in the Practicum 11
1.4 The Practicum Supervisor 13
Summary 15
Chapter 2: The study 16
2.1 The Context of the Study 16
2.2. Participants 17
2.3. Research Methods 17
2.4. Instruments 18
2.4.1. The Diary 18
2.4.2. Interviews 20
2.5. Data Collection Procedures 20
Summary 21
Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion 22
3.1 Data analysis 22
3.1.1 Challenges in students' behaviour 22

3.1.2 Challenges in lesson planning 24


v
3.1.3 Challenges in using the blacboard 26
3.1.4 Challenges in classroom teaching 27
3.1.5 Challenges in the relationship with mentors 31
3.1.6 The need of a college supervisor in the practicum 33
3.1.7 The benefits of the practicum 35
Summary 36
Part c: conclusion 37
1. Conclusions 37
2. Suggestions for the Teacher Education Programme 37
3. Limitations of the Study 38
4. Suggestions for Futher Research 38

References……………………………………………………………………….39-44
Appendix 1: Guidance on writing diary during the practicum I







1

Part A: introduction

1. Rationale

In recent years, the Ministry of Education and Training has paid much attention to
raising the standard of learning and teaching English as a compulsory subject from the
primary to the tertiary level of education. Educational quality depends on the teacher quality,
which is dependent on the training quality. Therefore emphasis should be on all three training
components of learning: subject matter (content) knowledge, pedagogical knowledge
(pedagogy), and professional experience (the practicum).

For the subject matter knowledge, student teachers are supplied with basic foundation
knowledge of the subject they will teach. Regarding the pedagogical knowledge, they are
provided with theories of language, theories of language learning, and classroom management
strategies as well as how to interact with the students in the classroom. These two first
components of teacher education programmes are carried out in the university or college. And
then in the practicum, which takes place in schools, they apply what they have learned to the
actual classrooms with real students. The practicum is, thus, to help the student teachers gain
the professional experience needed for their learning to teach.

The 6-week practicum is the last stage in a teacher education course. This is the time
for pre-service teacher to transfer the theory into practice. During this time they can feel
stressful because they may be faced with the unpredictable challenges of carrying out two
important tasks at the same time: teaching, and learning to teach. They are expected to do
tasks like: planning lessons, preparing visual aids, teaching in the classroom, interacting with
students…In addition, they try to build good relationship with their cooperating teachers
(mentors). All of these give them tensions and challenges because what they believe about
effective teaching and learning may conflict with the reality of teaching in the school context.

While there have been studies investigating the different aspects of student teachers‟
learning to teach, however, little has been documented concerning how pre-service EFL
teachers prepare for their learning to teach (Gomez,1990; Kelley, 2005), especially in
Vietnamese contexts. I believe that insights into student teachers‟ challenges during the

2
practicum can inform changes which are to prepare the student teachers better by
narrowing the gap between the teacher education programme and the real teaching in the
school.

This study sets out to explore the challenges and tensions of the 5 student teachers
through their diaries written during the practicum.

2. Scope, Aims, Research Design and Significance of the Study
2.1 Aims of the study
The study aims at:
- Exploring the challenges of the 5 student teachers through their diaries
- Identifying the gaps between the existing teacher education programme and the reality
in the school context .
- Giving some suggestions for the improvement of the existing teacher education
programme.

2.2 Research Design
Given the aims of the study, which are to explore the challenges encountered by the
student teachers during the practicum, a qualitative design was employed. Data were collected
from the student teachers‟ diaries and follow-up interviews, and then analysed qualitatively in
order to find common challenges encountered by the student teachers participating in this
study. In addition to the common patterns of challenges, particulars were also attended to.

2.3 Scope of the study
The study limits itself to the investigation of the challenges of the student teachers
during their practicum. Information was collected from a small group of 5 student teachers‟
diaries and the follow-up interviews. The study is not intended to look into student teachers‟
classroom teaching practices. Nor is it intended to explore the benefits gained by the student

teachers in the practicum.

2.4. Significance of the Study
As stated in the Rationale, this study will contribute to the understanding of the
relevance of the existing teacher education programme at Nghe An Teachers‟ College to the


3
real teaching at the lower secondary school, where student teachers are assigned to teach
upon their graduation. Specifically, findings of the study will identify the space for
improvement of the existing teacher education programme in a bid to prepare the student
teachers better.

3. Structure of the Thesis
The thesis is composed of three parts with each part consisting of different chapters.
Part A is the introduction, which consists of the rational, scope, aims, research design,
significance, and structure of the study.
Part B is the development of the thesis which comprises 3 chapters
Chapter 1 reviews the literature relevant to the topic of the research and summarizes some
selected studies on challenges of student teachers in the practicum, which serves as a
theoretical and methodological foundation of the study.
Chapter 2 presents the research methodology of the study. It provides information about
the participants, the resources, the data collection procedure and data analysis.
Chapter 3 is the main part of the study which reports and discusses the main findings
according to research matter.
Part C is the conclusion that presents the author‟s reflection and limitations of the study and
finally gives the implication of the study and some suggestions for further research.

Part B:development


4

Chapter I: Literature review

This chapter reviews the literature on the practicum. It first discusses the role of the
practicum in the teacher education programme. Next, it reviews the challenges of the student
teachers during the practicum such as their relationship with the mentors or cooperating
teachers, and other challenges. Then the roles of mentors or cooperating teachers are
mentioned. Finally, the role of the supervisor in the practicum is reviewed.

1.1. The Practicum
If education plays a crucial role in developing the human capital required for the
economic and social growth of societies (Anamuah-Mensah, 2002), teachers play a decisive
role in this undertaking. Teacher quality constitutes a critical factor on which the quality of
the human capital depends. It is said that “if they [teachers] acquire the professional
competence and attitudes that enable them to effectively perform their multiple tasks in the
classroom, in the school and in the community, teachers become the single most important
contributing factor in ensuring quality educational provision” (Dave & Rajput, 2000).

Teachers‟ professional competence is developed first of all in the teacher education
programmes of which the practicum is an inseparable part. According to Hawes & Hawes
(1982), the practicum is considered as a course or student exercise involving practical
experience as well as theoretical study. It is a “supervised experience in counselling as part of
professional pre-service education of counselors” (p.498). For other scholars, the practicum is
one of the most important aspects of a student teacher‟s education (e.g. Clarke & Collins,
2007; Farrell, 2008). In fact, the importance of the practicum is specified by scholars. For
example, Collinson, Kozina, Lin, Ling, Matheson, Newcobe, & Zogla (2009) view the
practicum as an important induction into the profession “both to improve teachers‟ skills and
to extend the body of knowledge on effective teaching practices”. For Purdy and Gibson
(2008), teaching practice plans a role in education similar to internship or field attachment in
other professions such as medicine, law, and engineering by offering exposure to practical
classroom experiences in the context of a mainstream school. From the perspective of
learning to teach, Johnson (1996) has noted that “For most student teachers, the practicum is


5
considered to be one of the most important learning experiences in learning to teach”
through reasoning about their practices, supported by their educators (p.30 ).

Extended teaching practice could give the student teachers considerable “exposure to
practices of experienced teachers” (Zeichner, 2006:333). Especially, the practicum may
provide feedback to the teacher education institution regarding the progress to their students
and provide a basis as to whether they should be qualified to teach or not. It also enables the
teacher education institution to identify aspects of their programme to improve (Derrick &
Dicks, 2005). Johnson (1996) concludes her study that

A better understanding of pre-service teachers‟ perceptions of the practicum
may enable the field of second language teacher education to better understand

how second language teachers learn to teach and how teacher preparation
programmes can effectively enhance this development process (p. 47)

This is also the aim of the present study, which is to find out the space for
improvement in the existing teacher education programme at Nghe An Teachers‟ College.

It is evident that the practicum provides a useful opportunity for student teachers to
learn to teach, to try applying the theories they have acquired from the teacher education
programmes into the real classroom. It also provides an opportunity for student teacher to
learn the practical teaching skills from the experienced teachers in the role of mentoring or
cooperating teachers. As discussed above, not only do the student teachers benefit the
practicum, but also the teacher education provider, i.e., the teacher education institution, can
also improve the quality of the programme through the feedback and the progress of the
student teachers during the practicum. Anamuah-Mensah (2002, p. 121) has pointed out that
the practicum is aimed at:
 Strengthening the development of specific teaching competencies;
 Providing opportunities for self reflection;
 Providing opportunities for sharing experiences with a mentor, supervisor and peers;






6
 Promoting problem solving capacity
and team skill in student teachers
and an appreciation of the life of the whole school as distinct from teaching in
individual classroom;
 Encourage formation of learning communities and promotion of team work;

 Developing collaborative capacities in student teachers as a basis for successful
participation in teaching teams and partnership arrangements at school;
 Providing opportunity for student teachers to establish themselves as generative and
innovative teaching professionals through authentic participation in school and
community activities;
 Meeting real pupils/learners and real situations enables student teachers to develop a
repertoire of skills in dealing with different learning situations; and
 Developing competencies as teacher-researcher through action research projects.

However, the benefits of the practicum are not autonomous, or come from the vacuum.
In other words, student teachers‟ gains from the practicum depends on a variety of different
factors such as the skills of the mentoring or cooperating teachers, the motivation of the
student teachers, etc. . The most decisive factor to the desired success of the practicum is the
organisation and management of the practicum. This point has been noted by Anamuah-
Mensah (2002) that:
As a major component of the training of teachers, practicum experience for
initial teacher education should have in-built flexibility to enable teachers who
go through it to be able to meet future demands. The role of practicum in any
teacher education programme will depend on the structure of the practicum.
While some have six-week experience others have 16-32 week experience that
embraces different activities and different objectives. This suggests multiple
roles for the practicum experience. (p.118)

Thus, the practicum is considered an important aspect of teacher education that is
getting increased attention of researchers in the field (Ong‟ondo & Jwan, 2009). It is a
complex stage which is approached very differently in various parts of the world. It is also a
central part of student teacher development in many countries and is crucial for implementing
EFL education reform (Anderson,2004; Stewart, 2004). These field experiences allow student

7
teachers to make a connection between their acquired pedagogical knowledge or theories
of language learning and teaching and school practices.

Although the benefits of the practicum are evident, the student teachers, during the
practicum, may experience a lot of challenges such as the strange school environment, the
attitudes of the mentoring teachers, and the pressure from the students and from the school.
These challenges will be discussed in the following section.

1.2. The Challenges of the Practicum
The school where the practicum happens is usually a strange land to the student
teachers. Everything seems unpredictable to them. Therefore, student teachers embarking on
their practicum are likely to feel anxious about their new experiences. In order to overcome
those challenges, student teachers need to have the right attitude toward the practicum in
addition to their professional knowledge and skills. In this section I will review the literature
on some of the challenges student teachers face.

Wang and Odell (2002) identify three types of challenges that can confront student
teacher when learning to teach within the school context. These challenges include emotional
and psychological stress, lack of support, and conceptual struggles about teaching and
learning. Emotional and psychological stress is “widely assumed to be the result of the
relatively low professional status of teaching, the uncertainty of classroom life, and difficult
working condition” (p.514). Student teachers can experience high levels of stress during their
field experience because they face the challenges of carrying out two important tasks at the
same time: teaching and learning to teach. Emotional and psychological challenges may be
rooted in the student teachers‟ unrealistic expectations. For example, many student teachers
enter the practicum with hopes and inflated expectations that are often “shattered by exposure
to certain realities of schools, classroom, and teaching” (Knowles, Coles & Presswood, 1994,
p.109). In her case study, Johnson (1996) finds out that the tensions of the practicum are
rooted in the gap between the student teachers‟ vision and the reality of language teaching. In

addition, a lack of support can include a “lack of instruction routines, procedures, skills, and
techniques that are related to the contexts of teaching” (Wang & Odell, 2002, p.515). Student
teachers may be unprepared for the demands of upper secondary English teaching and more
effective models for pre-service EFL teacher development are required (Butcher,2003).


8

Kagan (1992, pp. 154-155) points out that student teachers may have inadequate
knowledge of the pupils and classroom procedures of the host school. They come instead with
idealized views of pupils and an optimistic, oversimplified picture of classroom practice.
They are usually unprepared to deal with problems of class control and discipline. As a result,
most of them become obsessed with class control, designing instruction, not to promote pupil
learning, but to discourage disruptive behavior.

Brandt (2006) conducted an ethnographic study with 95 participants from 9 countries
over a period of 4 years and identified 21 critical issues related to the teaching practice during
the practicum. These include poor relationship between student teachers and the teaching
practice tutors; student teachers‟ difficulties complying with their tutors‟ expectations;
collaboration among student teachers, especially in the latter stages of the practicum; student
teachers‟ failure in responding the learners‟ needs; tutors‟ delayed feedback on failing lessons
among others. Tutors were more concerned about evidence to justify grades while ignoring
giving developmental feedback. Brandt suggests that there should be a move away from “
„being told‟ transfer approach, which is expert-directed, subordinating, replicating, dependent
and rational towards an exploratory „finding out‟ or transformative approach” (p. 362,
emphasis in the original).

Leshem and Bar-Hama (2008) examine troublesome issue of assessing „teaching
practice lesson‟ in their second language teacher education program in Israel. Working in a
context where numerical grades for such activities are the norm, they examine different ways

of encouraging more discussion during feedback sessions in order to provide more learning
opportunities for student teachers. According to these researchers, evaluation of observed
lessons is a controversial issue. Their study also shows that trainee teachers preferred
numerical grades than just “pass‟ or „fail‟, but most of them opted for a holistic approach to
evaluation. They need explicit criteria for effective teaching in order to identify their strengths
and weaknesses and use them as guidelines for improvement. To address this paradox, they
recommend that a space should be provided for the trainee teachers‟ voice regarding approach
to teaching evaluation.



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Very recently, Farrell (2008) reports in his case study with eighteen Singaporean
trainee teachers thirty-six critical incidents these trainee teachers encountered during their
teaching practice. The most frequent incidents were trainee teachers‟ poor language
proficiency, students‟ poor class participation and behavior. He asserts that any incidents that
occur can be dramatic to trainee students who have not experienced these before.

Vanci Osam and Balbay (2004) have examined the different decision-making patterns
and responses to difficulties of student teachers in Turkey. They suspect a mismatch between
two groups‟ needs and ways of dealing with difficulties. The student teachers were concerned
with issues of classroom management, while the mentors (or cooperating teachers) were more
concerned with matters in the here-and-now of classroom activities, such as teaching
particular parts of the coursebook. What the study demonstrates is that mentors need to be
sensitised to the difficulties faced by student teachers if they are to provide assistance of
value. Another difficulty raised is that the mentors are seen as too entrenched in a
transmission approach to teaching, reinforced by the school setting, which did not match
closely enough with the teaching ideas the student teachers had gathered from their formal
preparation sessions.

Regarding the issue of student teachers‟ preoccupation with themselves some research
on student teachers‟ experiences has shown that initial teacher education did not seem to
prepare student teachers adequately practice ( e.g. Johnson, 1996).

Nevertheless, some studies have shown that the amount of preparation at university
notwithstanding, most student teachers still face huge challenges during teaching practice. For
example, studies by Caires and Almeida (2005) in Portugal, Johnson (1994) and Liston et al.
(2006) in North America reported that one of the major challenges student teachers reported
was the need to perform according to the procedures taught at the university, which took their
attention away from reasoning about teaching based on their experiences. McCormack et al
(2006) also conducted a study in Australia that examined the experience of fifty beginner
teachers and reported the challenges posed by a weak relationship between coursework and
practice which included fitting within a dominant school culture, getting used to formal
supervision for accreditation, and developing their own effective approaches to teaching.


10
They reported that for most student teachers, these were very difficult to achieve during
teaching practice.

Intrator (2006) also identified another key challenge student teachers face during
teaching practice is how to balance between portraying themselves as qualified professionals
who know what they are doing, against the need to be humble and to portray the desire to seek
support from experienced teachers in the spirit of “commitment to inquiry and willingness to
learn from error” (p.233-238).

Feeling isolated and unsupported is another challenge, which has been reported in the
literature. Placed in a classroom in a school, student teachers are often isolated from
university lecturers and coursework, other classroom as well as from their peers (Cohen,
1999). This creates a sense of „disconnection‟ among the student teachers. In order to address

this challenge, some teacher education institutions use a “university supervisor” to make some
connections between the two contexts of school and university. A growing trend however,
amidst the current climate, is that supervisory visits are made by non-tenured hourly paid staff
who have not taught university coursework and so for them, making links between the two
contexts is difficult. Moreover, school environments are becoming increasingly „busy place‟
and so, even when students are placed in school groups, difficulties with pressured timetables
and teachers‟ commitments do not lend themselves to peers working together or university
lecturers engaging with teachers.

In summary, when leaving their university settings for actual school settings, there is a
tremendous amount of pressure on student teachers. The expectations placed on them are
high, whether by their mentor teachers, their university facilitators, or themselves. Upon
entering the school, they find themselves in an unknown situation facing a variety of
challenges emerging from their work at the school. These challenges include the following
(Available at l):

Stress of interacting with students: no matter how many pedagogical content classes a
student teacher takes regarding classroom management and child/adolescent development,
actually being around students is an overwhelming feeling. Student teachers feel pressure to
behave in a professional manner while developing a good rapport with the students. They can


11
also find themselves exhausted after such a long day of interaction, especially having
come from a much more individualized university settings.

Relationship with cooperating teacher (mentor): student teachers or mentees also feel
a great deal of stress around the relationship that will develop between them and their mentor
teachers. This relationship is extremely important for the length of the practicum and often
sets the tone for a student teacher‟s experience.

Planning and teaching: Having to plan their own lessons is a challenging experience
for many student teachers, especially taking into account that they are being constantly
evaluated by their mentors. They must learn to create diverse and engaging lessons; they must
then learn how to put those into action, something which is easier said than done.

Challenges in using blackboard: This is a big challenge that student teachers face in
the practicum. They must learn how to divide the board properly so that they can write down
what are necessary for their students‟ learning. Also their handwritings must be good in order
to avoid mistakes made by students while they copying down in notebooks.

New environment: Student teachers can also feel challenged and out of their element
simply by being in this new school environment. It is difficult to get to know the staff or the
practices as quick as one would like. Until this is accomplished, student teachers can feel very
out of their element which adds to their stress.

Evaluation: Teacher candidates also feel a great deal of pressure to perform well in
front of their mentors as they are very aware that the evaluation from their mentors will be
very influential in their future job searches.

1.3. The roles of cooperating teachers (mentors) in the practicum
Some of the studies (e.g. Atay, 2007; Hsu, 2005) report that cooperating teachers
(mentors) effectively facilitate student teachers‟ learning in many aspects. For example, Atay
(2007) reports how observation of mentors assist student teachers to develop in efficacy.
Another researcher who reports a similar finding is Darling-Hammond (2006) following her
study (together with others) of the practicum in several teacher education programmes in


12
North America. She points out that in programmes where collaboration between

student teachers and mentors is well structured and emphasized , there is very powerful
impact on student teachers development. Similarly, several research papers from many
different countries in the world spanning over thirty years reviewed by Hobson et al (2009)
have generally supported the importance of structured collaboration in student teachers‟
learning during the practicum.

Other studies on this issue have indicated that where the collaboration is not well
structured, where there is no shared understanding among the participants on teaching
approaches, and if cooperating teachers are not prepared for their roles, there is usually no
productive learning for the student teachers and that the student teachers might end up with
very negative practicum experiences (e.g Farrell, 2001, 2008; Graham, 2006). Hence,
mentoring programs should be devised for mentors to assist their mentees develop
pedagogical knowledge and overcome context-specific difficulties. Researchers (e.g. Forbes,
2004; Garnes, 2004; Hawkey, 1997) have shown that mentoring relationships in school-based
programs can shape student teachers‟ professional practice. Undoubtedly, student teachers in
their formative stages of development require assistance from more experienced colleagues.
More specifically, effective mentoring programs provide structure and support to promote the
attainment of effective teaching skills and sound pedagogical knowledge (Arnold, 2006;
Woullard & Coat, 2004).

It is established that school mentors play important roles in effectively mentoring
student teachers during their teaching practice (Borko & Mayfield, 1995; Ewell, 2004). A
mentor may be defined as “one who is more knowledgeable on teaching practices and through
explicit mentoring processes develops pedagogical self-efficacy in the mentee towards
autonomous teaching practices” (Hudson, 2004, p.216-217). Five factors for mentors‟
facilitation of the mentoring process have been theoretically and empirically identified. These
five factors are: personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling,
and feedback (Hudson, 2005). Mentors need to display personal attributes that facilitate a
collaborative working relationship (Ganser, 1991). System requirements must be made
explicit to student teachers in order to understand departmental directives for teaching

(Lenton & Turner, 1999). A mentor‟s articulation of pedagogical knowledge aims to enhance
student teacher development (Zanting, Verloop, & Vermunt, 2003). Mentors need to display


13
their expertise by modeling effective teaching practices (Klausmeier, 1994; Malderez &
Bodoczky, 1999). Finally, feedback in both oral and written form can guide student teacher
development with clear expectations for improving practices (Malderez & Bodoczky, 1999;
Zachary, 2002).

What has been discussed in this section indicates that the outcome of the practicum in
terms of the student teachers‟ learning to teach depends largely on the cooperation between
the student teacher and his or her mentor or cooperating teacher. Another person who is, to a
great extent, influential to the student teacher‟s learning to teach during the practicum is the
supervisor. The role of the practicum supervisor will be reviewed in the subsequent section.

1.4. The Practicum Supervisor
In most teacher education programmes, student teachers are supervised by teacher
educators from their institutions. The process usually involves the supervisors observing the
student teachers‟ teaching in classrooms, and then talking about the lessons during what is
commonly called post-observation conferences (e.g Bailey, 2006; Intrator, 2006). Bailey,
2006 stated that “supervision is an integral part of the teaching practice or practicum
undertaken in schools by part-time or full-time students seeking professional initial teaching
qualifications” (p.3). Intrator (2006) explains that the main goal of supervision should be to
support student teacher to perform the correct mental disposition and be ready to improve
during the time. He goes on to suggest that such support is important because the “journey
student teacher experience is especially intense, conflicting, dynamic and fragile” (p.234).

With regard to the importance of supervision in the practicum, Richards and Crookes
(1988) assert that the success of the practice teaching depends on the kinds of liaison and

communication established between supervisor and master teacher. The responsibilities of the
cooperating teacher and the purpose of the visits from the supervisor need to be clearly
established. At the same time, student teachers need to be made aware of what is expected of
them. Zimpher, deVoss, and Nott (1980), in one of the few studies on the relationship
between supervision and student teacher, attest to the crucial role of the supervisor:

First, at least four of the findings suggest that if the university supervisor were not
directly involved in the student teaching experience, there would have been no direction set


14
for requirements, evaluation, or assessment of the student teacher‟s experience in the
school site. Second, informational communication between participants appeared to be
enhanced because of the presence of the university supervisor. Students and teachers (and the
principal) appeared unable to deal with each other very directly and needed an interlocutor‟s
assistance-in this case the university supervisor. Third, even though the university supervisor
in the study appeared to be frustrated by a lack of direct influence on the teaching style of the
student teachers, the supervisor seemed to be the only one making any critical contributions to
the student teachers‟ progress. (p.14)

Sandholtz and Shannon (2000) stress the important role of practicum supervision in
teacher preparation programs. According to these researchers, the supervisor plays the role
not only as a subject matter expert and a resourceful person for pedagogical strategies for
teaching a particular discipline, but also as a leading subject matter resource for student
teachers. For scholars such as Adey and Speedy (1993) and Hawkey (1998) the student
teacher‟s success in the practicum depends partly on how well the supervisor does his or her
job. They stress the need to establish a good degree of cooperation between the practicum
supervisor and the cooperating teacher. The supervisor‟s role and responsibilities are
changing depending on the development and requirements of the teaching-learning process
and the teacher preparation methods. Sandholtz and Shannon (2000) state that the availability

of the practicum supervisor at a school site helps student teachers through when needed.

Although the practicum has been researched internationally for several years, little
has been done to investigate the challenges of the student teachers during the practicum in
Vietnamese contexts. In fact, there are few of studies on Vietnamese pre-service EFL
teachers‟ challenges during their practicum. Most studies focus on EFL in-service teacher
education with the assumption that teachers play a key role for improving English language
education in Vietnam (Le, 2007; Pham, 2007; Nunan, 2003). One of the common findings
that these studies share is that the quality of in-service teachers is still a concern in Vietnam
(Nunan,2003; Le,2007). This champions the need for reforms in pre-service EFL teacher
education which has not been adequately studied (Nguyen & Luong, 2008).

Given this inadequacy of research into the practicum, this study is intended to fill the
gap by exploring teacher students‟ challenges and tensions during their practicum. More


15
specifically, the purpose of this study is to find out some student teachers‟ challenges
and tensions from which some suggestions are given in order to reduce difficulties during
their practicum.

Summary
This chapter reviews the literature on the practicum. Not only the benefits but also the
challenges as well as factors affecting the success of the practicum regarding the student
teachers‟ learning to teach have been reviewed. The challenges include the tensions deriving
from the gap between student teachers‟ vision and the reality of language teaching as well as
challenges related to technical matters such as planning the lesson, using the blackboard,
dealing with students‟ behaviors, etc. .The chapter also identifies a research space in the
Vietnamese context where this study fits. The next chapter presents the research methods
which were employed in this study.

Chapter 2: the study



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The previous chapter has presented a literature review on theory of the practicum,
challenges that student teachers face when they enter the practicum, collaboration between
student teachers and mentors, and supervision during the practicum. This chapter presents the
methodology used in this study and the instruments of data collection and analysis in the
study. It starts with a description of the setting of the study and the participants. It then
describes the instruments of data collection and analysis procedures of the study. It also
presents the advantages and disadvantages of each data collection instrument.

2.1 The Context of the Study
This study was carried out during the practicum which was in the final semester (the
6
th
semester) of teacher education program at Nghe An Teachers‟ College before the student
teachers are qualified to teach at lower secondary schools. The practicum lasted 6 weeks
(from February the 22
nd
to April the 2
nd
) at a lower secondary school. Before entering this
practicum, the student teachers were sent to the lower secondary school for the Practicum I at
the end of the third semester (the second year). However, the objective of Practicum I is to
expose the student teachers to the school environment. Therefore, they were not allowed to
teach. Rather, they were supposed to observe other in-service teachers in the school. The
practicum, which is the focus of this study is Practicum II in the teacher education
programme.

The objectives of this practicum (Practicum II) are stipulated in the Decision 36/
2003/QD-GD&DT by the Minister of Education and Training dated August 1
st
, 2003. One of
those objectives is “to provide student teachers with the opportunity to apply the knowledge
they have acquired in the training program to school context and to develop their pedagogical
skills, thereby developing their pedagogical competence” (Article 15.2).

To meet the objectives of the practicum, the student teachers were expected to take
part in all the teaching and extra-curricular activities, develop positive community relations,
observe their mentor‟s lesson demonstrations, write lesson plans, teach EFL lessons, which

were followed by teaching without supervision. However, during this time they had many
challenges.


17

As a teacher educator at Nghe An College, one of my concerns regarding the
practicum is how to help the student teachers feel confident enough to be successful in their
practicum. Therefore, it is my intention to explore the challenges of these student teachers
may meet with during the practicum with the hope to identify a gap, if any, between the
existing teacher education programme and the school context so that suggestions for
improvement can be made.

2.2 Participants
This qualitative study was conducted with 5 student teachers of English at Nghe An
Teachers‟ College, while they were having a 6-week practicum at a lower secondary school in
Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province. The practicum lasted from February 22
nd
to April 2
nd
.

These student teachers were from K10 cohort, which had a student teacher population
of 40. These forty student teachers were divided into 7 groups that were placed in different
lower secondary schools in Quynh Luu district. The five student teachers were selected for
this study on the basis of my personal relationship with them and their willingness to
participate. Because of my good personal relationship with them, I was able to contact with
them during the practicum to encourage and to remind them to write the diaries. This

reminding was so crucial since diary-writing was not a common practice to the student
teachers in the College. Another reason for selecting these five student teachers is that I could
meet them for the follow-up interviews.

2.3 Research Methods
This study only used qualitative methods in which the student teachers‟ diaries and
follow-up interviews are the two sources of data. The reasons for choosing the qualitative
methods are as follows:
 Obtaining a more realistic feel of the world that cannot be experienced in the
numerical data and statistical analysis used in quantitative research;






18
 Flexible ways to perform data collection, subsequent analysis, and
interpretation of collected information;
 Provide a holistic view of the phenomena under investigation (Bogdan & Taylor,
1975; Patton, 1980);
 Ability to interact with the research subjects in their own language and on their own
terms (Kirk & Miller, 1986);
 Descriptive capability based on primary and unstructured data
2.4 Instruments
As stated above, data for this study were collected with two instruments: student
teachers‟ diaries and follow-up interviews. What follows is the rationale for using these two
instruments.
2.4.1. The Diary: Diary is the main source for collecting data in this research. It
supplies the researcher with detailed information about the aspects of the problems needed for

the research.
According to Bailey (1990), “a diary [study] is a first-person account of a language
learning or teaching experience, documented through regular, candid entries in a personal
journal [and then analysed for recurring patterns or salient events” (p. 215). A number of
writers (e.g. Holly, 1984; Hopkins, 1993) make a distinction between logs, journals and
diaries. Holly regards (a) logs as a record of factual information, (b) diaries as the kind of
subjective text, and (c) journals as a combination of the two, containing both „subjective‟ and
„objective‟ data. In this study I shall, for convenience, simply refer to „diaries‟ as a subjective
text containing any kind of information – factual, feelings, attitudes, and reactions. Bell
(1999) notes that the term „diary studies‟ usually refers to data obtained from „solicited
diaries‟ only, that is, from accounts produced specifically at the researcher‟s request, by an
informant or informants. Dornyei (2007) claims that
In applied linguistics, diaries have been used since the beginning of
the1980s to obtain personal accounts of the experience of language
learning both by learners themselves and by parents documenting their


19
(mainly bilingual) children‟s L2 development, and diary studies
have been used in teacher education programmes. (p. 156)

Dornyei (2007) also argues that an element of the qualitative inquiry is to try and elicit
the participants‟ own descriptions and interpretations of events and behaviours – in diary
studies the participants inevitably become co-researchers as they keep records of their own
feelings, thoughts, or activities. He therefore asserts that diary data is by definition an insider
account.

McDonough and McDonough (1997) argue that diaries are best written over an
extended period, and „snapshot‟ extracts cannot capture changes over time which can be often
very marked, so any one segment belongs originally in a broader temporal and contextual

picture. Nunan (1992) calls diaries a „ground-clearing‟ preliminary, generating topics worth
pursuing with other research tools both qualitative and numerical. However, only when
diaries are processed analytically that they start to become instruments for research. This
point has been made particularly strongly by Bailey (1983; 1990). Her argument, briefly, is
that while a diary is private, a diary study means going public, contributing to a growing body
of “different insights into the largely unobservable processes of second language learning and
teaching” (Bailey & Ochsner, 1983, p. 191). Holly (1984) lists three areas for diary entries:
1. Teaching: what you do and why
2. Students: what they do, circumstances, descriptions of behaviours
3. Collegial interactions.

McDonough and McDonough (1997) suggest that each of these areas can be broken
down to become much more specific, so the very general label of „teaching‟ might include:

 Planning the lesson and selecting material
 Dealing with different types of learner in the class (mother tongue, learning
styles, attitudes, pacing, proficiency…)






20

 Whether the plan matched the reality; why some things worked, others not
 Coping with the unexpected; changing direction
 Using available resources and technology
 Speculation (about learning; behaviour)
(p. 131)

Bailey (1990, p. 219) diagrammatises the production of a diary study into five steps:
1. Account of diarist‟s professional background
2. Confidential diary
3. Revision of entries for public version
4. Analysis
5. Interpretation and discussion.
2.4.2 Interviews: Together with diary, interviews are considered as a useful instrument
for collecting data because they can give the researcher a deeper insight into the subjects. Yet,
interviews have some drawbacks. The first, they are time consuming (for this study I spent 6
hours). The second, they may introduce elements of subjectivity and personal bias. The third,
rapport may cause the interviewee to respond in a way to please the interviewer. To avoid
these problems the student teachers were asked to be honest with their answers.
2.5 Data Collection Procedures
The data collection procedures started in early February and ended in mid April 2010.
All of the procedures involved the following steps.
Step 1: Inviting the student teachers to write diaries
Before the practicum one week I chose a group of student teachers who agreed to
participate in this study. I talked with them about my intentions and asked them to help me
with keeping diaries during their practicum. Following their agreement to be participants, I
gave each a notebook for the diaries. I also gave them instructions in Vietnamese on how to
keep the diaries with an emphasis on what to write in the diaries. All these instructions were
then printed out and attached to the cover of each notebook (see Appendix 1).


21
Step 2: Coding and Analysis
After these student teachers finished their practicum, I met them and collected the
diaries which I read through carefully to identify common themes and the particulars
emerging from the data. The data were coded according to the following themes:

1. Challenges in students‟ behaviours
2. Challenges in lesson planning
3. Challenges in using the blackboard
4. Challenges in classroom teaching
5. Challenges in the relationship with mentoring (cooperating) teachers
The data were analysed interpretively (Dornyei ,2007). This means that I analysed the data
according to the above themes to construct the meaning from the participants‟ perspectives.
Step 3: The Follow-up Interviews
After the diaries had been coded and analysed, I conducted follow-up interviews with
four of the five student teachers. One of the student teachers, for personal reasons, was unable
to participate in the interviews. All the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese, and each
lasted around 35 minutes. The purpose of these interviews was to gain deeper insights into the
challenges and tensions that the student teachers stated in their diaries. Also, in the interviews
I elicited the student teachers‟ opinions whether they saw any difference between what
they had learned in the college and the realities in the school context . Finally, they were
asked for their suggestions for the improvement of the practicum. In addition to themes
identified in the diaries, two new themes that were identified from the interviews was the need
to have the practicum supervisor, and their perception of the benefits of the practicum.
Summary
This chapter reported the methodology used for the study and the data collection
instruments, the participants, and data collection procedures. First of all, a detailed
description of the research context was presented. Then the process of participant selection
was introduced. The next were the research method and instruments including the diary and
the interview. And the last was the data collection procedure consisting three steps.