Understanding ESL Preservice Teachers’ Metaphorical Epistemology in the Teaching Practicum Context

This study examined twenty English as Second Language (ESL) preservice teachers’ learning-to-teach experiences amid the teaching practicums from the perspectives of social realist theory and practice architectures in the US. Through iterative discourse analysis and constant-comparative approach, this paper reveals four aspects of the participants’ metaphorical epistemology. First, the participants developed the constructivist metaphorical epistemology on ESL teaching by grappling with the emergent properties and practice architectures. Second, the participants’ metaphorical epistemology changed from pre-reflection and surface reflection to pedagogical reflection. Third, the participants modeled the reflective disposition by activating their personal emergent properties and tackling the social-political arrangements. Fourth, the participants’ metaphorical epistemology predominantly focuses on their pedagogical reasoning and negotiation of their multiple professional identities. Implications for facilitating ESL preservice teachers’ metaphorical epistemologies in the teaching practicum context are discussed.