The Effects Of Education Practicum On Pre-service English Teachers’Professional Development

Pre-service English teacher’s performance and accomplishment greatly depend on their professional development. This paper analyzes the effects of education practicum on pre-service English teacher professional development with interviews by following four masters of English education who participate in education practicum. It discusses the main effects of education practicum on English education masters from such three aspects as professional knowledge, professional skills and professional affection for the purpose of improving their professionalism and also it helps find out the ways to improve education practicum to promote English education masters’professionalism. The result shows that full-time masters of English education experience a dynamic professional development process. Their teaching professional knowledge, professional skills and professional affection change a lot after education practicum. This study provides a good opportunity for teachers and educators to better understand the process of how pre-service teachers change from students to actual teachers and becomes a good way for educators to better support student teachers before and during the process of teaching practicum.This paper consists of five parts.Chapter one is the general introduction. It describes the research background which includes the main concepts as pre-service English teachers, education practicum and teacher professional development, research questions, as well as the significance of the thesis.Chapter two is the literature review which includes the studies and theories about pre-service English teachers, teacher professional development and education practicum.Chapter three is about the research methodologies. In this chapter, the research design, instruments and research objectives are described.Chapter four is findings and discussion. The most important content, results and discussions are illustrated, which includes the effects of education practicum on pre-service English teacher professional development and the ways to improve education practicum to improve pre-service English teacher professional development.Chapter five is conclusion. It summarizes the main results and limitations of this research.