IELTS Research Reports

Learning to play the ‘classroom tennis’ well:IELTS and international students in teacher educationthat they were embarrassed to have their language corrected by supervising teachers, especially infront of children and parents (p 7) and that behaviour management was a prominent area of stress dueto an unfamiliar pupil-teacher dynamic (p 8).Spooner-Lane et al (2007) examined the changing perceptions of international student teachersenrolled in a one-year teacher training program and explored the issues they faced as they preparedfor practicum in order to determine whether international student teachers’ beliefs and expectationsof practicum were incompatible with the realities of schooling in Australia. International studentteachers’ perceptions of practicum before and following school experiences were examined. Beforethey engaged in the practicum, most of the international student teachers felt relatively confidentabout the upcoming practicum experience. The findings suggested that international student teachers’positive perceptions of practicum were related to a somewhat simplistic view of teaching. Theyseemed unaware of how their teaching beliefs, formed in their country of origin, were misaligned withteaching in an Australian context. The practicum experience itself instigated a deeper awareness ofthe complexities of teaching and a more sophisticated understanding of the teaching knowledge andskills they lacked, which actually reduced their confidence. International student teachers realised thatthey needed to learn more about Australian school culture and teaching practices. Spooner-Lane et al(2007) concluded that Australian universities can better support international student teachers enrolledin the one-year teacher education training program by offering these students a differentiated modeof delivery for practicum, including a gradual developmental approach and mentoring training forsupervising teachers.In sum, for LBOTE teacher education students, successful course completion means that the languageissues they must address encompass not just listening and reading comprehension or success inacademic writing, but their ‘performance’ of oral and written English in classrooms, as well as anumber of issues such as the differences in school cultures from that of their own backgrounds.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3.1 Site selectionThis research focuses on graduate entry secondary teacher education students whose first degree wascompleted in a non-Anglophone culture. It was initially anticipated that the relevant courses mightprovide significant numbers of appropriate students, possibly clustered in particular secondary Methodareas, especially Mathematics, Science, Technology and Languages. It was also anticipated that theMelbourne and Sydney metropolitan areas would potentially contain the greatest numbers of suchstudents. During the first stage of the research in late 2008, all University registrars in the Melbourneand Sydney metropolitan areas were contacted and asked about the proportion of graduate entrysecondary teacher education students who had been subject to IELTS (or similar) testing in their 2008cohort. Relevant course co-ordinators were also directly contacted and asked to provide details on theproportion of students who had been subject to IELTS testing in their courses. To ensure reasonableproportions of students in the Faculties to be consulted, we widened the consultation to include oneuniversity in Adelaide with a significant proportion of international students enrolled in teachereducation. Eventually four teacher education Faculties with the highest proportion of relevant studentsin graduate entry secondary education were chosen as case studies for interviews.IELTS Research Reports Volume 1193