Developing Preservice EFL Teachers’ Pedagogical Competence through Lesson Planning

This qualitative case study explored how the lesson planning experience of eight EFL preservice teachers in a content class on critical literacy was intricately related not only to their reconceptualization of lesson preparation and teacher work, but also to the development of their pedagogical competence. Data were collected from multiple reflection papers, a one-time interview, the final lesson plan, and the researcher’s reflection log, and were qualitatively analyzed. The findings indicate that the preservice teachers’ engagement with lesson preparation promoted a renewed understanding of lesson planning as a complex and dynamic process requiring coherent pedagogical reasoning on the part of a teacher, building on an initial conception of technical knowledge alone. Devising a lesson plan further served to enrich their theoretical understanding of critical literacy and improve their abilities as critical readers. In addition, throughout the lesson planning phase, the preservice teachers engaged in an active process of searching for effective ways to represent the content for students’ successful learning, which contributed to the development of their pedagogical content knowledge. The findings of this study highlight the importance of engaging preservice teachers in planning practice during their initial teacher education to enhance their professional knowledge base.