The purpose of the current research is to identify the difficulties which teacher candidates studying elementary school teaching experienced in their past elementary reading and writing education and which cannot be forgotten, and to find out their solution for eliminating these difficulties. The study group of the research is composed of 118 teacher candidates selected by criterion sampling as a type of purposive sampling. Qualitative method was used for the research. Semi-structured interviews were made with the teacher candidates which involved three questions about the difficulties they experienced in the process of elementary reading and writing, and the solution the offered for eliminating these difficulties. The data obtained from these interviews were analyzed by the content analysis method. The research revealed that out of the 118 teacher candidates, 91 were happy and 27 were unhappy; the difficulties they experienced in the process included fear of failure, teacher related problems, inadequacies in the physical environment, learning process being boring, comparisons with other students, lack of family support, and too much homework; and their solution offered for eliminating these difficulties included making the education process effective, positive approach by teacher, fairness of teacher, cooperation with parents, and avoiding too much homework.

 

Key words: Teacher candidate, process of elementary reading and writing education, difficulties, solution offered.