Mongolian Pre-Service English Teachers’ Voices about Their Teaching Practicum Experiences
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Context: English Language Education in Mongolian Schools
3. English Teacher Education in an Age of Globalization
4. The Study
5. Findings
5.1. Challenges
5.1.1. The Lack of Mentoring
Most of the school teachers treated us like their “servants” sending us on errands and asking us to do what they actually had to do. Sometimes they even did not make time to discuss our lesson plans with us, so we just taught without their approval.(Oyun)
Most of the mentor teachers at schools thought that we were there to assist with their teaching. But we were there to learn from them. They may have been focusing on the ways they could use us, student teachers, to their benefits rather than mentoring us.(Dulguun)
I observed that some mentor teachers were interested in “mentoring” more students since they wanted to reduce their workload by letting the students teach their classes.(Enerel)
My mentor teacher in a school did not give me instructions or guidance when I taught her classes. Sometimes she asked me to teach a class without telling me beforehand which means I did not have a chance to prepare for the class. She just asked me to continue teaching using the textbook. Honestly, I wanted to use different teaching materials to motivate students and engage them.(Dulguun)
My mentor teacher was so stressed. She had to teach many hours and lots of paperwork to do. She, actually, did not give any advice during my practicum.(Bulgan)
The biggest challenge that I encountered during the teaching practicum was the fact that a mentor teacher assigned me to organize extracurricular activities for her class without any guidance. Honestly, some of my classmates in other schools also complained about their mentor teachers who did not guide them well enough. Moreover, when I asked some questions about teaching methods my mentor could not answer which means she lacked in professional knowledge.(Tsetseg)
My mentor teacher did not observe my whole class, she had just left during the class before I finished.(Khaliun)
5.1.2. Insufficient University–School Partnerships
It took me and other student teachers two weeks to get my teaching practicum plan approved by an academic manager. Sometimes he was not in his office and when he was in his office he used to say that he was busy. Generally, when we wanted to access certain documents related to school rules and curricula, staff members did not assist us. Mostly, they ignored us. Thus, we got the information available only on the internet.(Dulguun)
For the pre-service teachers, one of the biggest challenges was finding school placement. Also it was difficult to access the relevant documents that I needed to get myself familiarized according to the requirements for the practicum. Staff members were reluctant to provide with them saying I should find on my own. Therefore, our university needs to make contracts with several schools to enable pre-service teachers to do their practicum.(Bulgan)
5.1.3. Classroom-Level Constraints
I observed that students were mostly asked to do only grammar exercises throughout the English class where I was doing my practicum. So the students were not motivated to learn the language at school though they liked listening to songs and watching movies in English. Actually, when I had a discussion with some students about the importance of English language, they all valued the language as this would play the key role in accessing education and employment in Mongolia. I think, therefore, English teachers need to motivate their students to learn English. I also observed that in Grades 11 and 12 teachers mostly prepared students for their entrance exam which made English classes boring and grammar-focused.(Tovuu)
A teacher who mentored me taught English in the same way everyday, using only the textbook. She even mispronounced some English words.(Undraa)
The English teachers, whose classes I observed, taught English in Mongolian language, using only textbooks. In addition, the teachers did not use the CDs that are included in the textbook package. When I asked why, they said that they did not have time for listening exercises. Generally, the public school students were mostly weak in communicative ability.(Alimaa)
I planned to use digital content for my “open class” and I checked the computer and the connections in the classroom the previous day. Unfortunately, the computer did not work during my teaching. And I was embarrassed in front of the students and teachers, and wasted my teaching hours.(Bulgan)
The government had distributed desktop computers to public school teachers a few years ago, but most of them were broken, had viruses and malfunctioned. I think the teachers used them only for typing their term or annual reports. Even the printers did not work properly. So I had to run to the internet café on the opposite side of the school to get some teaching materials printed out.(Dulguun)
Although I wanted to teach using online authentic materials I could not because of the lack of computer technology in every classroom. I think teachers can motivate modern day children through digital content since they use digital technologies, especially the internet, on a daily basis.(Oyun)
5.2. Concerns about English Language Education
Inequality in English Language Education
I firmly believe that we need to create equal opportunity for every school child. Privileged students should not be the only ones to receive high quality English language education. Public school students should also get such kind of education. In practice, this may seem like it is impossible, but, as future English teachers, we should never accept this social phenomenon without challenging ourselves and the society we live in. Together, we need to create more opportunities for public school children to reduce educational inequality in our society.(Tseren)
5.3. Benefits of the Teaching Practicum
6. Discussion and Conclusions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Marav, D. Mongolian Pre-Service English Teachers’ Voices about Their Teaching Practicum Experiences. Educ. Sci. 2022, 12, 339. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12050339
Marav D. Mongolian Pre-Service English Teachers’ Voices about Their Teaching Practicum Experiences. Education Sciences. 2022; 12(5):339. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12050339
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarav, Daariimaa. 2022. "Mongolian Pre-Service English Teachers’ Voices about Their Teaching Practicum Experiences" Education Sciences 12, no. 5: 339. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12050339