The Effect of the EPOSTL on the Self-evaluation of Student Teachers of English

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the EPOSTL (European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages) on the self-evaluation of student teachers of English at Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University in Kazakhstan. The study, which employed a mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design, was conducted at Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University Faculty of Philology in Turkistan, Kazakhstan in the 2017-2018 academic year. 71 fourth year ELT student teachers participated in the study. The participants were divided into control and experimental groups. Only pretest and posttest were conducted to control group participants; however, pretest and posttests, the EPOSTL Use 1 and 2 were conducted to the experimental group participants. Multiple sets of data came from a) questionnaire, b) peer observation, c) reflective journal, and d) interview. The quantitative data were analyzed descriptively using IBM SPSS 21. The qualitative data collected from the peer observation, reflective journal, and interview was analyzed through qualitative thematic analysis. The results, overall, showed that the effect of the EPOSTL on the self- evaluation of the student teachers of English provided positive results. The findings demonstrate that the majority of the
participants agree that the EPOSTL advances self-reflection and self-assessment, since it assists in checking the improvement of their didactic knowledge, teaching competences and skills. The comprehensive and clear structure of the EPOSTL found to be the main advantage of it. As the student teachers are not practical in teaching and require guidance through the complexity of language teaching, the EPOSTL enables them to match the theoretical knowledge with practical skills.