The profile of M.A. university students – future teachers of English in the process of obtaining full professional qualifications

In professional research literature learner identity, motivation and au-tonomy are frequently the focus of attention. Identity is believed to be responsible for beliefs and opinions about the process of language at-tainment. Although much more has been written on learner identity, teacher identity is usually marginalized. The study summarized in this paper focuses on students – future teachers of English (N=32)- who at-tend M.A. EFL seminars to obtain full teaching qualifications. The stu-dents were asked to give answers to seven questionnaire statements referring to their present teaching careers and their former studies. It appeared that students coming from educational backgrounds other than university frequently show gaps in knowledge of second language acquisition theory and practice. What is more, as the ELT seminars ca-ter mostly for students from institutions outside the university, consid-erable remedial work is needed in order to make it possible to pre-pare the students to write their M.A. theses independently.