From autopsy to biopsy: A metacognitive view of lesson planning and teacher trainees in ELT

Lesson planning and implementation of those plans are complex and cognitively demanding for English Language Teacher trainees preparing for the profession. Many find it difficult to develop a lesson holistically and to maintain alignment across aims, procedural steps, and evaluation when planning and implementing a lesson. We attempted to address this problem by establishing a model of trainees’ action that included their deliberate metacognitive structuring of a lesson both in planning and review phases. Data from a first exploration of student thinking elicited by the model indicate positive shifts in trainees’ holistic thinking and a student-centeredness in the critical perspectives they took in both planning and review.