İngilizce öğretmen adaylarının okul deneyimi öncesi ve sonrasındaki öğretmen hazırbulunuşlukları

With a mixed methods explanatory sequential research design, the present study aims to uncover the teacher readiness of pre-service foreign language teachers during the practicum in light of four components of readiness as teaching self-efficacy, attitudes towards teaching, teaching motivations, and personality traits. In order to explore changes in pre-service foreign language teachers' perceived teaching self-efficacies, attitudes towards teaching, and teaching motivations, two sets of quantitative data from 80 last year ELT students enrolled in a teaching practice class in a Turkish state university were collected through three different scales before and after the practicum period, which was intervened by the COVID-19 pandemic during the process of the present study. Additionally, pre-service foreign language teachers' views on practicum experiences and their teacher readiness were explored through semi-structured telephone interviews which were carried out with 11 of the participants after the practicum. The findings revealed that there were significant increases in the participants' teaching self-efficacies and attitudes towards teaching at the end of the practicum. Moreover, teaching motivations of the participants appeared to have changed towards more altruistic and intrinsic orientations while the findings also indicated that they had become more aware of the realities of teaching profession at the end of the practicum. Furthermore, significant correlations were computed among attitudes towards teaching, teaching self-efficacies, and some motivational factors influencing teaching choice. Finally, the participants' views on practicum were centered around the importance of and the need for sufficient practice opportunities, the gap between theory and practice, the effect of COVID-19 intervention, and the need for further professional development.