A Narrative Inquiry of International Teaching Practicum: EFL Pre-service Teacher Experience for Professional Development

Abstract

Despite the existing literature on international teaching practicum in ELT, little attention has been geared toward uncovering the interplay of challenges, coping strategies, and perceived gains of international teaching practicum encountered by EFL pre-service teachers (henceforth, participants). To fill this lacuna, this narrative research aims to elucidate how two Indonesian EFL preservice teachers majoring in the English education department at a local private university in Probolinggo experienced international teaching in an Islamic Boarding school in Selangor, Malaysia. This research utilizes a narrative inquiry approach to explore and investigate the personal life stories and experiences of pre-service teachers (PSTs) during the International Teaching Program (ITP), drawing on data from in-depth interviews and self-reflective journals (diaries). Thematic analysis is employed to qualitatively analyze the collected data, guided by Braun and Clarke (2006) that provides a six-phase guide such as (1) Getting acquainted with the information, (2) creating coding categories, (3) taking a glance for topics, (4) evaluation topics (5) Create topics and (6) Write up, to ensure the study's credibility. This research specifically explores their experiences of challenges, coping strategies, and perceived gains of such an overseas teaching program and how it affects their professional development. The analysis suggests a dynamic interplay that supports the participants’ professional development as a teacher candidate. The findings divulge a continuum of self-experiences in an international teaching practicum, where participants develop their teaching engagement through facing challenges, enacting strategic behaviors, and perceiving benefits for their professional development. Therefore, the participants were akin to develop valuable insights and a deeper understanding of their professional development. Keywords: EFL pre-service teacher, international teaching practicum, narrative inquiry, professional development.