A longitudinal study on english language teachers beliefs about disruptive behaviour in classrooms: Case studies from practicum to the first-year in the profession

This study is aimed at examining English language teachers? strategies for handling disruptive behaviour in their classrooms. It identifies and evaluates the processes in which students teachers take part during practicum and then it progresses with an analysis of the change in their ways of dealing with disruptive behaviour when they are first year teachers in the profession. The data has been collected through a number of tools: interviews, observation, dairies, vignette tasks, and stimulated recall discussions. The qualitative data gathered has been analysed using content analysis procedures. The findings reveal that student teachers employ a small number of strategies to deal with disruptions caused by misbehaving students. When they start teaching full-time in the profession, not only they enlarge their repertoire, but also begin to reason their usage of such strategies. Being a longitudinal and in-depth study, it contributes to the understanding of how student teachers develop into novice teachers in terms of their overcoming disruptive behaviour in the frame of a classroom management belief system, and at the same time provides implications for a more efficient teacher education programme. Key Words: Disruptive Behaviour, Professional Development, Teacher Education, Qualitative Research, Constructivism.