TEACHING_TRAINEE_TEACHERS_TO_REFLECT_ON_THEIR_MICROTEACHING_EXPERIENCES_IN_EFL_METHODOLOGY_COURSE

Abstract

Reflectivity is regarded as an essential part of teacher education. The paper is aimed at describing the existing language teacher training approaches to understand the notion of reflective teaching and the way they are reflected in the Core Curriculum for English Language Teaching Methodology Course (Bachelor’s Level) designed by the team members of the joint project of Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and British Council Ukraine New Generation School Teacher (2013-2019). The action research describes the procedures of introducing 22 trainee teachers of English at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedogogical University, 2021-2022 academic year to the reflective model suggested by British Council with the purpose to guide them through their reflection on microteaching a fragment of a lesson on teaching language skills, prepared and given by them as their portfolio item for assessment in English Language Teaching Methodology and to analyse the trainee teachers’ attitudes and readiness to the proposed reflective practice aimed at better understanding their own strengths and areas for development as a teacher. The author concludes that trainee teachers are exposed to diverse reflective practices throughout their training provided by the Core Curriculum for ELT Methodology but they need support and guidance to develop their reflectivity on microteaching experiences. The author suggests the ways for enhancing trainee teachers’ reflectivity evaluated and ranked by the participants themselves.