Belief and knowledge construction among modern foreign language teacher trainees.

There has recently been much criticism, at government level, of the role of universities on the training of teachers in the UK. This paper investigates the effects of an initial teacher education programme (ITE) at a higher education institution (HEI) on trainee modern foreign language teachers. Seven modern foreign language trainees teachers were interviewed in order to explore the evolution of their beliefs about language teaching and pedagogical content knowledge, with a focus on grammar during their engagement with a 10-month ITE programme, in the UK. Findings report on the transformative role that learning theories and, secondly subject specific second language acquisition theory, may have in shaping knowledge construction and how this may influence pedagogy. They furthermore highlight the influence of the HEI tutor, fellow trainees and professionals in the school teaching placement in the construction of trainee knowledge and beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]