A Study On The Role Of Mentorship In Shaping Preservice EFL Teachers' Beliefs In Teaching Practicum

Teachers' beliefs affect teachers' perceptions and judgment of classroom teaching,which in turn influences their classroom behaviors.Preservice teachers have deep rooted prior beliefs before receiving the teacher education.And an important function of teacher education is to guide preservice teachers to identify and evaluate their prior beliefs.As a central part of teacher education,the importance of teaching practicum is self-evident.In teaching practicum,cooperating teachers also called mentors determine the result of the teaching practicum.Therefore,the mentorship between preservice teachers and cooperating teachers can be significant in shaping the beliefs of preservice teachers.Thus,the purpose of this thesis is to explore preservice EFL teachers' perceptions of the role played by mentorships in shaping their beliefs in teaching practicum.This paper uses semi-structured interviews and other documents as data collection methods to explore the following three research questions:1)How did preservice EFL teachers characterize the mentorship in the teaching practicum?2)Did preservice EFL teachers reshape their beliefs after the teaching practicum?If so,what changes occurred?3)How did preservice EFL teachers perceive the role of mentorship in shaping their beliefs during practicum?Participants are two female preservice EFL teachers and one male preservice EFL teacher who conducted their practicum in the second academic year of their M.Ed.Program in a primary school,a junior middle school and a senior middle school.The findings of this research are concluded as follows.From preservice EFL teachers' description,the mentorship has different characteristics,which are mainly supportive,laissez-faire and collaborative mentorship.Except for the laissez-faire mentorship,both supportive and collaborative mentorships made some contribution in reshaping preservice EFL teachers' preesxisting beliefs,the development of new beliefs and the strengthening of prior beliefs.However,due to the resilience of preservice EFL teachers original beliefs,three preservice EFL teachers think the mentorship does not play a significant role in shaping their beliefs.