VIETNAMESE EFL PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM: A CASE STUDY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Tóm tắt

Internship plays an indispensable role in preparing tertiary learners for their upcoming professional paths. By immersing in genuine working classrooms, pre-service teachers have opportunities to apply, regulate or refine what they have learnt in the university.  This study aimed to investigate senior students’ perceptions of the internship program they experienced.  There were 23 participants voluntarily joining the study after the internship program. To get insights into the research issues, the researcher employed a mixed-methods approach to collect and analyze the data from a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that the interns hold a high level of perception towards the internship program. However, some unsatisfactory issues were also reported and could be a premise for bettering the following internship program.  This study fulfils the academic literature by providing insights into the nature and connections between the training programme in Vietnam’s newly established higher education units and real-world working environments.