Reflections of teaching practicum on pre-service English teachers' professional identity perceptions and development

The aim of this study was to investigate the professional teacher identity of senior year English teacher candidates and determine the factors influencing their professional identity before and after Teaching Practicum course. Employing case study design, the study conducted with eight senior English teacher candidates studying at Eskisehir Anadolu University, English Language Teaching Program in 2017-2018 academic year. The participants were selected by using criterion sampling method. Following the approval of the ethics committee in February 2018, the data was gathered through semi-structured interviews, in-class observations and reflective diaries developed by the researchers and analyzed by content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that teacher candidates' perceptions of self-efficacy, task orientation, ideal teacher profile and professional commitment, which were found as constituent of professional teacher identity, have changed during the practicum. According to the results, before and after the practicum, the areas that teacher candidates feel themselves competent or incompetent changed, teacher candidates became more subject-matter oriented, their views on ideal teacher profile changed, and their professional commitment strengthened. Furthermore, the major factors influencing teacher candidates' professional identity were found as the feedbacks given by students, mentor teachers and supervisor; past experiences as a student; the practice and attitudes of mentor teachers and the problems encountered at practicing schools. In this sense, the findings of the study are expected to raise awareness of stakeholders with regard to creating a supporting environment for professional identity development of teacher candidates during pre-service teacher education.