All the faculties of education in Turkey follow the structured programme prepared by the Higher Institute of Education and teacher trainees require to take many classes on methodology in language teaching and practice in the class before they are sent to the schools of Ministry of Education. The literature on supervisory lesson observation during initial teacher education implies the full preparation of the teacher candidates and tends to focus on the supposedly ideal lesson plans checked and supervised by mentors, tutors or supervisors (e.g. Cameron-Jones & O’Hara, 1995; Saunders et al., 1995; Rikard & Veal, 1996; Geen, 2001; Hopper, 2001; Lombardi, 2001; Hobson, 2002) and on discussion in the post-lesson conference (Waite, 1992; Parkinson & Davies, 1994; Roberts, 1992, 1994; Williams et al., 1998; John & Gilchrist, 1999; John, 2001). For this purpose, a qualitative case study method is followed. The participants are 100 senior year students at The English Language Teacher Training Department, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey. The data are analysed by seeking patterns and themes in relation to each research question. The participants believe that a close connection between the course materials and practical application in real classrooms do not always exist. They also state that they do not have enough opportunities for micro-teaching and practice before going to secondary schools for the Practicum class and the main problems they encounter are qualitatively classified and analysed.
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