Practicum Stress and Coping Strategies of Pre-service English Language Teachers

As the leading position of English as the world's primary language for international communication has evidently been continuing for several decades, English language teacher education is getting more and more important. One of the most major components of teacher education programs is the practicum course that requires senior English pre-service teachers to observe classes and do practice teaching before actual teaching profession. Recently, there has been increasing research focusing on identifying stress and coping with this stress at practicum in order to maximize the efficiency of practicum. This study investigated the sources of 16 pre-service language teachers' stress and the strategies that they used to cope with this stress at practicum. The data of the study was gained via classroom observation and face-to-face interviews. The qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis and the sources of stress and the coping strategies were discussed under four categories: supervisors and mentors, classroom management, school-related issues, and affective factors. The highest source of stress was associated with supervisors and mentors. In coping with practicum stress, the participants mostly utilized Web.2 tools in ELT context. It is suggested that stress generating factors and the strategies that pre-service language teachers employ should be discussed and reflected upon in pre-service language teacher education programs. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.