HOW PARTICIPATORY IS LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION?: TRAINEES’ PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Within the complex “coral gardens” (Breen, 2001) of human learning and teacher education,participatory and mediational tools such as social relations, concepts and cultural artifacts orproblem-posing activities, deserve more time and effort as they are scarcely investigated. Thisexploratory study with both cognitive-interactionist and sociocultural perspectives aims atshedding light on the ELT trainees’ views about the use of such tools through project workduring their pre-service teacher training courses at a Turkish university under a mixed-methodsresearch design. A thick description of the trainees’ interpretations of their engagement withproject work displayed that participants supported the use of such tools as a teaching strategythat values themes and contents of their interest and choice regarding learning and teachinglanguage skills and research. They showed willingness to undergo an authentic and meaningfullearning/teaching experience by expressing themselves through sustained participation in suchproject-based activities though they noted that there is still a need for the reconsideration of thewhole curriculum in line with a more transformative approach.