Professional development of pre-service English language teachers in line with the European portfolio for student teachers of languages (Epostl)

In recent years, the increasing focus on professional development has resulted in emphasis on reflection. The fact that professional development starts during pre-service teacher education and that pre-service teachers have varying needs has augmented the significance of reflection during teacher education. However, the development of student teachers' reflective skills has been maintained with individual teacher trainers' own efforts. Besides, the identification of strengths and weaknesses of student teachers is somewhat limited. The European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) is a standard tool to specify professional development of pre-service teachers, along with their strong and weak competences. The purpose of this study is to reveal the perception of student teachers' professional development, strengths and weaknesses in line with the EPOSTL and to discover the benefits student teachers can obtain with its integration. Ninety-seven third grade ELT students at Akdeniz University participated in the study. The study is a descriptive study spanning one and a half years. In order to find out the degree of development student teachers have undergone and identify their strong and weak teaching competences, adapted EPOSTL survey was administered at the beginning of the third grade. Then student teachers were given a training on the EPOSTL. Upon the completion of their methodology and other teacher development courses, the EPOSTL survey was administered again at the end of the third grade to analyse their professional development. The results of the EPOSTL surveys were compared and the degree of their professional development was identified. Lastly, at the end of the first term of the fourth grade to track the student teachers' progress on the competences included in the EPOSTL, to support the questionnaire results and to specify the student teachers opinions of the EPOSTL an interview was conducted. The findings of the study demonstrate that the student teachers have progressed considerably and the majority of the student teachers perceive themselves competent on the basis of the EPOSTL in terms of most of the skills. However, within the sections and sub-sections of the EPOSTL there are competences such as teaching writing and pronunciation, student teachers report themselves weak. In terms of some of the competences, a regression is detected even upon the completion of the teacher development courses. Additionally, the interview findings support these results. Finally, the interview results indicate that student teachers have a very positive attitude towards the integration of the EPOSTL. They perceive it as a very worthwhile tool to encourage reflection and promote professional development.