Teaching English to Young Learners: Combining Theory and Practice through Practicum in Pre-service Teacher Education

Recent years have witnessed an exponential growth in interest teaching English to young learners (TEYL) across the world. Pivotally, there is some research focusing on in-class practices and teacher pedagogy this issue, yet learner education has not been given much attention. Many programs different countries prepare their pre-service teachers for by offering TEYL courses without providing them with real classroom experiences. To end, researchers initiated a practicum project which EFL taught besides taking module at university. Drawing semi-structured interviews 21 participants, it was aimed examine effectiveness of practicum-integrated program. The findings revealed that provided candidates range benefits terms putting knowledge into practice, developing skills, designing age-appropriate lessons materials, gaining confidence TEYL. Different from previous practicum-related studies, current study showed helped clearer minds future careers contexts participants would choose work older considering distinctive characteristics children. This offers implications training more effectively.