Changes of Pre-service Teachers’ Beliefs on EFL Teaching and Learning

This research aims to identify pre-service teachers’ beliefs about EFL teaching and learning and tracks the impact of the practicum on the reconstruction and evolution of their beliefs within a Korean cultural context. The participants were 12 seniors majoring in English education at a national university in South Korea. A qualitative research was conducted, including one pre-practicum survey and one post-practicum survey, one post-practicum semi-structured interview, and the pre-service teachers’ teaching journals and reflection papers. The findings indicated changes in different ways and to different extents. New beliefs also appeared through authentic classroom teaching and on-going reflection. The unique sociocultural context in Korea tended to force the pre-service teachers to turn to more traditional teaching methods, which, as they found, were more feasible and effective. The practicum played an important role in pre-service teachers’ professional growth. Pre-service teachers should be encouraged to challenge and reflect their beliefs about EFL teaching and learning. They should also be given room and support to practice new approaches to EFL teaching they have learned from teacher education courses during practicum.