Everyday and scientific concepts in the initial education of a future EFL teacher

the theory/practice gap

Abstract

The article analyzes the narratives of a future English as a Foreign Language teacher during her college internship, who has already started teaching outside the academic setting. Through narrative inquiry, a Brazilian undergraduate named Julia described her experiences during three focus group sessions and written reports. The results indicate that the relationship between everyday and scientific concepts is built upon the theory and practice gap, owing to three aspects: first, that concrete teaching experiences outside of college, provided closer contact with the challenges of a classroom; second, due to these previous events, the internship had a different meaning and resulted in a mismatch between the future teacher’s expectations towards what her teacher education program could offer her professional development; third, a cultural tool such as an internship report was also affected by the gap, showing a utilitarian function which hindered its potential to mediate her classroom observations. The theoretical framework draws from cultural-historical psychology notions of mediated activity and the role of concept formation, as well as perspectives in Applied Linguistics regarding teacher development in initial years of education. This study wishes to contribute to contemporary cultural-historical research on teaching and learning as social endeavors embedded in culture.