APPLICABILITY OF THE APPROACHES-RELATED BELIEFS OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS

The study reveals that the beliefs of the prospective teachers related to learning-teaching approaches can not find reflections in their practices. The present study investigates whether the prospective teachers' preferences and beliefs concerning the teaching approach find reflections in practices. The study was conducted with two study groups. The first group consists of 70 last-year student teachers of Primary School Teacher Education Department of Education Faculty, and the second group with 33 second-year student teachers at the same department. One of the measurement scales used in the study is the preference list for teacher behaviors consisting of 38 questions each of which is with two options, and the other is the lesson scenarios written by the prospective teachers. The inconsistency between the prospective teachers' beliefs about teaching approaches and their practices can not be accounted for by the perceptions of teacher competences. Incorporating teaching practices into the curriculum of the prospective teachers can narrow the gap between the prospective teachers' beliefs about teaching approaches and their practices.