Pre-service teachers' changing beliefs in the teaching practicum: Three cases in an EFL context

In second language teacher education, while much attention has been centered on the “content” of teachers' cognitions, the “process” of language teachers' cognitive change has remained relatively unexplored. To fill this gap, this study investigated the process of belief change among three pre-service language teachers during the teaching practicum in a university in China. The findings of the study show that student teachers' beliefs experienced different processes of change during the practicum, including confirmation, realization, disagreement, elaboration, integration, and modification. The sociocultural factors that contributed to these changes are also discussed. The paper concludes that in order to facilitate the belief change process and promote student teachers' cognitive development, an open and supportive environment is needed to maximize their practice and learning during the teaching practicum.