An investigation into student-teacher concerns: Probable changes caused by methodology classes and teaching practice

The primary aim of the present study was to make a cross-sectional comparison of the concerns of sophomore, junior and senior ELT student-teachers. Firstly, a scale was developed by collecting statements from the participants. Later, this scale was given to these three groups of students to draw a general picture of their concerns. For this purpose, the frequency and percentage of each item in the scale was calculated individually for three groups of students. One-way Anova was also conducted to see whether there is a statistical difference among three groups of student-teachers in terms of their concerns. There appeared no significant difference among three groups in terms of their concerns. Next, an interview was held with a group of students in order to support the gathered data. The results indicate that in time, student-teachers develop more awareness towards teaching. The study further aimed to find out whether teaching practice leads to any changes in student-teachers' concerns during the practice term and to define these changes, if any. To do this, the same scale was given to seniors before and after the teaching practicum to figure out whether teaching practicum had an influence on their concerns. Repeated Measures Anova was applied in order to see whether there was a significant difference in the concerns of seniors. The results reveal that there is a significant difference between the concerns of seniors after they completed receiving methodology courses and teaching practice. Similarly, a significant difference was detected in their concerns before teaching practice and after teaching practice. A representative sample of student-teachers was asked to fill in "teacher practice concern sheets" and reflect on their experience during their teaching practice. Moreover, after teaching practicum, a second interview was done with five student-teachers in order to triangulate the data gathered. The analysis of data detected that methodology courses had positive contributions on teaching practice. Regarding teaching practice, it was found out that student-teachers gained awareness related to teaching in the real context. It was also discovered that the knowledge-base of student-teachers has an influential role on the changes of their concerns. Keywords: Teacher concerns, teaching practice, methodology courses.