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insights as to materials development, 4 pedagogical-content knowledge, referring to knowledge of language acquisition and its relationship with teaching
approaches, methods and techniques, 5 knowledge of learners and their characteristics, referring to knowledge of the importance of finding out students‟
needs and students‟ learning behavior, 6 knowledge of education context,
referring to knowledge of different teaching contexts which are affected by sociocultural and institutional factors, and 7 knowledge of education ends,
purposes and values and the philosophical and historical issues, referring to understanding of the history of English language teaching methodology Shulman,
1987, as cited in Randall Thornton, 2000, p. 27-29; cf. Ellis, 1990, p. 26 Furthermore, it is indicated by Kamhi-Stein 2009 that the current
ESLEFL teacher education programs need to equip student teachers with professional development, communicative language teaching, understanding on
English ownership, knowledge of numerous settings of ESLEFL teaching practice, and awareness of
ESLEFL teachers‟ status Kamhi-Stein, 2009, p. 96- 97; see also Freeman, 2009, p. 14-5. Additionally, one of the criteria of a
successful teaching education program in the context of field practicum is the establishment of “intensive and supportive interaction among practicum
participants” Tomaš, Farrelly, Haslam, 2008, p. 663. Furthermore, teacher
education programs need to plan and thus develop curriculum interweaving with “how [pre-service teachers] learn” Graves, 2009, p. 120. This is in line with the
focus of the current study which is to discover the learning experience of pre- service teachers and to further contribute to the improvement of teacher education
programs Farrel, 2003 in Gan, 2013, p. 104; see Chapter 1, Section 1.5.
2.1.2 Standards in EFL teacher education.
Standards underlying the university-based programs are basically based on national standards, consisting both content standards and performance standards
Katz Snow, 2009, p. 67. The former refers to programs covering “essential
Rainal Wempi Pasaka, 2014 The Exploration Of Pre-
Service Efl Teachers’ Challenges In Field Practicum
Pendidikan Indonesia |
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knowledge, skills, and dispositions” while the latter addresses “degree or quality of proficiency expected in relation to content standards” Katz Snow, 2009, p.
67. Standards in EFL teacher education, which “[imply] a passion of
excellence and habitual attention” Madya, 2008, p. 4, are geared to prepare student teachers before going into the complex and intensive classroom teaching
and to provide comprehensive understanding of English learner standards Katz Snow, 2009, p. 72. Specifically, the former objective outlines that teacher
preparation programs need to provide insights for pre-service teachers as to the real situation of second language classroom whilst the latter objective describes
that teacher preparation programs should enable student teachers to know the needs of the second language learners, to analyze the needs of the learners and to
adopt the needs into the practice of teaching, in both planning instruction and administering assessment Katz Snow, 2009, p. 72.
It is necessary to pinpoint, as Madya 2008 suggests, that in order to plan and develop standards for EFL teacher education, the standards need to focus on
the following objectives: 1 developing communicative competence and skills to use the competence, 2 developing communicative teaching competence and
skills to use the teaching competence, and 3 developing positive attitudes to professional development Madya, 2008, p. 6.
Moreover, there are several characteristics of standards in teacher education programs. The characteristics, as identified by Katz and Snow 2009,
are, as follows: 1 Standards are dynamic, meaning that personal reflection, beliefs, prior language learning may contribute to the implementation of
standards; 2 Standards cover a range of performance levels, that is standards provide insights for teacher educators to comprehend and assess
student teachers‟ levels; and 3 Standards are systemic, meaning that standards need to meet major
procedures in order that teachers can effectively improve their professional development and their practice of teaching Katz Snow, 2009, p. 73. As further
Rainal Wempi Pasaka, 2014 The Exploration Of Pre-
Service Efl Teachers’ Challenges In Field Practicum
