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Volume 12. Issue 2
Article 3

Title
Preservice EFL Teachers’ Attitudes, Needs, and Experiences about Teaching Writing and Learning to Teach Writing before their Practicum: A Case Study in Vietnam

Authors
Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen
The University of Queensland, Australia
Vietnam National University, Vietnam

Peter Hudson
Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Bio Data:
Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen (MA in TESOL, and MEd in Educational Management and Leadership) is a PhD candidate in the School of Education at the University of Queensland. Her publications focus on language teaching methodology and EFL teacher education. She has experience teaching TESOL pedagogy, and training EFL teachers at both preservice and inservice levels in Vietnam.

Peter Hudson (PhD, MEd, BEd, Dip Teach) has had 30 years in education, including 10 years as a school principal.  He has taught English in British Columbia (1987), EFL in Ottawa (2001), lectured postgraduate preservice EFL teachers, and facilitated a new degree in Malaysia.  He supervises five international doctoral students. 

Abstract
The standard of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education has prompted calls for reform to preservice EFL teacher education. Field experiences are central to their professional development and for implementing reform measures. This study aims to examine preservice EFL teachers’ attitudes, needs, and experiences about learning to teach writing in English before their practicum in Vietnamese high schools. An open-ended questionnaire collected data from 97 preservice EFL teachers at the beginning of their final practicum. The data suggested that these preservice EFL teachers were motivated to learn to teach English in general and teaching writing in particular but required mentors to model effective teaching practices and share their teaching experiences. They also needed their mentors to be enthusiastic and supportive, and provide constructive feedback. Identifying mentoring practices that are linked to mentees’ needs can assist teacher educators and school mentors to motivate and develop preservice EFL teachers’ practice.

Keywords: mentoring, preservice EFL teachers’ needs, writing, practicum, Vietnam

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