An Investigation of Pre-Service English Language Teaching Students' Opinions About Their Practicum at Schools on the Basis of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the views of pre-service English language teaching students about their practicum at schools on the basıs of SDGS. Theoretical Framework: Concerns about personal, perceptual, and motivational issues that arise during the teaching process can be linked to instructors' emotional and affective states, which in turn can lead to anxiety in foreign language instruction. However, pre-service teachers' motivations are intrinsic, altruistic, and service-oriented related to their desire to study work with the students. Method: This qualitative study involves 50 pre-servive English language teaching teachers studying at a foundation university in İstanbul/Türkiye. The data collection instruments include in-depth interviews, student reflection papers, and a questionnaire with open-ended questions. Results and Discussion: The findings indicated that their worries stemmed from their own assessments of their foreign language ability, their lack of teaching experience, the students' disinterest in the classes, their concern of receiving poor feedback from both students and observers, and their inability to manage their time well. The sources of motivation for the pre-service teachers were working with supportive teachers, the evaluation of the mentors, relationships with students, respect from students, and feeling useful and valuable. Research Implications: Pre-service teachers had the chance to consider what teaching and learning meant to them personally and to assess their own performance during their teaching practicum. Pre-service training program curriculum have to be changed with an eye on improving their applicability to teaching practicums.