Teachers of the future: Perceived teaching competences and visions of pre-service English language teachers

Abstract

The changes observed in the early 1990s have altered the conceptions of learning and teaching in the 21st century, which in turn have raised questions about the nature of teacher education and the core knowledge and skills to be taught to student teachers. Gaining insights about how student teachers project themselves as teachers of 21st century and how they assess their teaching capabilities became crucial for teacher educators and policy makers. This study was conducted with 40 pre-service teachers of English as a foreign language to investigate how they assess their teaching competences and how they project themselves as teachers of future. The study employed a convergent parallel mixed-method design. The findings from quantitative data indicated that their perception related to various teaching competencies was uniform and they feel themselves competent enough in teaching. However, they needed further help in classroom management. The qualitative data can be interpreted as a signal that our participants will possibly adopt a constructivist approach to language teaching. Keywords: