A Study On The Influence Of Teaching Practicum On English MED Student Teachers' Practical Knowledge

In recent years,with the continuous development of basic education reform,the construction of pre-service English teachers' practical knowledge is paid more and more attention.Teachers' practical knowledge is a kind of knowledge of education and teaching which is really believed by teachers,accumulated in teaching experiences and highly used or demonstrated in educational and teaching practice.It is a dynamic knowledge system adapted to the situation.The Master of English Education is a kind of pre-service English teachers who are supposed to have teaching practicum before graduation.Serving as an important stage in the professional development of pre-service teachers,teaching practicum provides a significant field of acquiring teachers,practical knowledge which allows them to experience school life and work with real teachers.Based on Social Learning Theory and Experiential Learning Theory,this study attempts to explore the influence of teaching practicum on English MED student teachers' practical knowledge.Thus 52 masters of English education from Central China Normal University are investigated after teaching practicum as research subjects.Two research instruments are applied to collect data including a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews.The data from questionnaire are analyzed by SPSS(version 19.0)and EXCEL software.Then 10 masters of English Education from different practicum schools are interviewed to supplement the quantitative data.All the data are used to answer two major questions:1.What is the general impact of teaching practicum on English MED student teachers' practical knowledge?2.What are the respective effects of the key activities during teaching practicum on English MED student teachers'practical knowledge?The results show that:first,as a whole,teaching practicum has a positive effect on acquiring teachers' practical knowledge of masters of English Education.Their knowledge of curriculum,knowledge of classroom organization and management,knowledge of teaching aids using,knowledge of teaching strategy and knowledge of teacher-self are all improved to various degree,among which knowledge of teaching strategy gets the most improvement while knowledge of curriculum gets the least;second,the key activities in teaching practicum(classroom observation,having class,communication with mentors,communication with peers,head teacher work)have respective impact on all the dimensions of practical knowledge of masters of English education,but the degree of influence is different as well.Among them,having class has great influence on all the five dimensions.Specifically,having class and communication with mentors have the greatest influence on the knowledge of curriculum;having class and classroom observation have the greatest impact on knowledge of classroom organization and management;having class.and communication with peers have the greatest impact on knowledge of teaching aids using;communication with mentors and having class have the greatest impact on knowledge of teaching strategy;knowledge of teacher-self is most affected by having class and communication with mentors.