Pre-service English language teachers’ collaborative development: the emergence of research, rehearsal and reflection (3R) model from an activity theory perspective

ABSTRACT

This study aims to understand how pre-service teachers’ activities shape (and are shaped) by the norms of schooling embedded in the national educational system from an activity theory lens. The data are obtained from video-recordings and bi-weekly reflective journals in microteaching sessions, lesson plans, classroom observations, and post feedback sessions. The analysis points to the stages, micro- and macro-networking levels that lead to the collaborative teacher development, and the emergence of a model in the growth of pre-service teachers. Overall, it is found that the development of pre-service teachers depends largely on the norms of schooling embedded in the national curriculum and the nature of training they received at undergraduate level. The paper concludes by confirming Engeström’s statement that understanding the evolution and historical change of pre-service teacher education in a special context might help investigate how activities change, develop, and interconnect with social and material structures.

KEYWORDS:

• Activity theory
• sociocultural teacher education
• pre-service teachers
• collaborative teacher development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Müzeyyen Nazlı Güngör

Müzeyyen Nazlı Güngör is a research assistant in the Department of Foreign Languages Education at Gazi University, Turkey. She has MA and PhD degrees in the same university. She teaches undergraduate courses, organizes professional development and research projects, and gives seminars to pre-service teachers. Her research areas are sociocultural perspective on second language teacher education, teaching English to young learners, and teacher identity. She can be contacted at [email protected]. 

Mustafa Akın Güngör

Mustafa Akın Güngör is a lecturer and currently the vice director in College of Foreign Languages at Gazi University, Turkey. He has his MA degree and is preparing his PhD dissertation in the field of applied linguistics at Ankara University, Turkey. His research areas are sociocultural perspective on instructed second language acquisition, pragmatics, and materials design. He can be contacted at [email protected].