Promoting cooperative learning in the practicum: A study in pre-service teacher education in Mozambique

Abstract

The present paper describes a study that integrated a training intervention on the promotion of cooperative learning in teaching French as a foreign language (FFL), carried out within the supervision of the practicum in a pre-service teacher education programme in Mozambique. Its objectives were: to characterize teacher and student roles in FFL teaching; to analyse practices aimed at enhancing cooperative learning in FFL teaching; to assess the impact of training upon student teachers’ professional development; and to identify constraints to the implementation of cooperative learning in teaching and learning FFL. The intervention was conducted by the first author as a practicum supervisor and involved five student teachers as well as the collaboration of three school mentors in a secondary school. We present the student teachers’ and their students’ perceptions about the exploration of cooperative learning, based on data collected through lesson observation and a sel-regulation questionnaire administered to the students. Results show that the student teachers were able to implement cooperative learning in accordance with the theoretical principles they learnt. Their students were receptive to the approach and acknowledged the development of academic and social competences through the activities that were implemented. Overall, results indicate that the training intervention was sucessful and that pedagogical supervision may promote the development of reflective teachers and the innovation of school practices.