Perspectives on mentoring support during teaching practicum in local & international settings

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the mentoring support given by the local and foreign mentors to English language teacher trainees during their teaching practicum. The practicum comprised two phases. In phase one, the trainees experienced a local teaching practicum for one month in Penang, Malaysia. In phase two, they went through an international teaching practicum in Indonesia for two months. The sample of this qualitative study comprised four respondents from Universiti Sains Malaysia, who voluntarily undertook the international teaching practicum in Jombang, Indonesia. All of them were females aged 24 years old. The data were collected from reflections and semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that in both phases, the mentors cumulatively provided cognitive, affective and, social support. All types of support augmented the teacher trainees' competence as future teachers.