A Longitudinal Study on Pre-Service Teachers' Classroom English Skills

This study was conducted as the second part of a longitudinal project over two years. The purpose of the project was to investigate and observe how university students in a teaching certificate program who aim to become elementary school teachers develop the necessary English language and English teaching skills over a long-term perspective. In the study, two second-year university students participated in the eight online lessons (real-time) on advanced classroom English skills. They also participated in a self-study project on basic pronunciation and classroom English skills in their first year. Therefore, the study examined the changes in the participants’ self-evaluation of their English and teaching skills over the two years. A survey on English language and instructional skills was administered three times: at the beginning of the first year, the end of the first year, and the end of the second year. Both participants tended to rate their English and teaching skills as having improved more at the end of the first year and the end of the second year than at the beginning of the first year, and they also reached the passing level set in the study. The results also revealed that the participants were aware of what they lacked as teachers through the two years of practice. They commented that they needed further practice to acquire pronunciation skills and infrequent but important classroom English expressions to serve as models for their students.