ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how student teachers can develop self-reflective practice as part of their teaching-based master thesis in order to learn from challenges that they experience when they introduce their young English language learners to stories and picturebooks.
The analysis of student teachers’ written reflections on their teaching experience as expressed in their master thesis and of follow-up interviews with two student teachers highlights learners’ ability to imitate and reproduce English, their growing tolerance of English as the language of instruction as well as student teachers’ problems with lesson planning, anticipating learner ability and conducting research. It is argued that teaching-based master theses can initiate a process of critical thinking about theories of FL teaching, can introduce student teachers to instruments of practitioner research and enable them to adopt reflective practice as a source of continuing professional development.
