Abstract:

Although the aim of designing any teacher education program is to address the needs of children and the society, the needs of student-teachers, who are the agents of change, are little thought of (Chang, 2009). According to Poulou (2007), the essence of helping student-teachers lies in an exploration of their concerns about teaching throughout the pre-service program. Therefore, understanding teacher candidates’ concerns in a field experience is particularly crucial to the success of a teacher education program (Chang, 2009.

This study aims at exploring and understanding the concerns of trainees majoring in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) for the elementary cycles at the public university in Lebanon., 17 participants filled the Teacher Concern checklist (TCC) developed by Fuller and Bown (1975) at the beginning and end of their senior year. Data was also collected using focus group interviews. The analysis of the data showed that some of the student-teachers’ concerns regarding the task and impact were not fully addressed by the pre-service English language program. Many participants were mainly concerned about their poor English proficiency and their underdeveloped classroom management skills and testing skills at the end of the program. Results also showed that there was no statistical significance in the change in teaching concerns though there was a slight increase in the post means which indicated a change in concerns. The small size of the purposeful sample could be a limitation to this study. Future research to investigate the effect of the teacher preparation programs on the student-teachers’ change in teaching concerns is highly recommended.

Keywords:

Pre-Service English language program, student-teachers, elementary cycles, teaching concerns, field experience.