Demystifying the Impact of EFL Teacher Educators` Group Conversation Mentoring on Pre-service Teachers’ Professional Development

Abstract

Along with the technological advancement in the modern world, teacher education in different fields of study has been taken into account for the last two decades. This qualitative study examined the impact of EFL teacher educators’ group conversation mentoring on Iranian EFL pre-service teachers’ professional development. To this aim, based on the convenience sampling, 20 Iranian pre-service undergraduate female student teachers were selected from Farhangiyan, university. The data were gathered via interview and observation. The participants attended a 10-session EFL teacher educators’ group conversation mentoring. The researcher encouraged the mentors of the program to prompt their mentees to ask questions, and provide them with guidance to facilitate discussions, and covered a wide range of topics. At the end of the mentoring program, the participants were interviewed. The results revealed that pre-service teachers perceived that EFL teacher educators’ group conversation mentoring had a positively significant effect on Iranian EFL pre-service teachers’ professional development. In addition, the findings showed the benefits and challenges of conducting mentoring course in Iranian EFL teacher education. Finally, the theoretical and empirical implications of the study are provided.