Pre-Service English Teachers’ Instructional Practices in an ESL-to-EFL Teaching Exposure

Avenues for the internationalization of higher education have prompted teacher education institution administrators in the Philippines to prepare ESL pre-service teachers in the global teaching setting, South East Asian countries in particular. Consequently, a number of teacher training institutions efforted in the participation of international student mobility through Student Internship Abroad Program (SIAP). However, this opens door to various issues and consequences, especially in teaching. Knowing that Filipino pre-service teachers are trained to teach English as a Second Language (ESL), some of them completed their practice teaching abroad, Vietnam and Thailand to name a few, whose learners are taught in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). This case interested in the conceptualization of this qualitative, descriptive explanatory case study that involved four (4) ESL pre-service teachers who taught EFL to students in one provincial university in Vietnam. Thirty-one (31) lesson plans utilized in the whole internship period have undergone content analysis to account the instructional practices. Instructional materials and journals were utilized for data triangulation. Results revealed that most of the instructional practices employed are ESL-focused and not pure EFL instruction. At a micro level, it is recommended to expose the Filipino pre-service English teachers to both EFL and ESL teaching methodologies and pedagogical settings. Generally, there is also a need to review the alignment of local, national, and international curricula that will address the need for internationalizing higher education opportunities like international student mobility