The main purpose of the thesis is to examine the process of the professional preparation of students to become FL teachers in two contexts: Egypt and England. It also aims to explore how far the ideas of the British model could help to make development and improvement in the Egyptian ITE programme. The thesis addresses key issues in the professional preparation of FL student teachers and looks beyond the problems that they encounter in their field experience. It is in an attempt to explore the context in which FL teachers are taught and are going to teach. Framed with the qualitative perspective, it is a naturalistic inquiry with data collected through an indepth study of the participants and their social contexts, i. e., schools and the teacher education institutes they belong to. The study confirms the deficiencies and weaknesses in the current teacher education programme in the Egyptian university covered. Chief among these are: no sense of partnership between the university and the training schools; no proper supervision; lack of resources; no adequate admission criteria and lack of effective tools for assessment. Pertinent literature was surveyed and major themes and issues emerging from the analysis of the data explore the interplay between the student teachers' professional actions, epistemological positions and cultural experiences. The study gives insights into the impact of culture on the professional preparation of FL student teachers. The analysis suggests that there should be a shift from the technical rationality paradigm towards a more reflective paradigm in learning to teach a FL in the Egyptian university covered in this study. The study concludes with a brief discussion of the findings and suggests some of the developmental implications that might help to move things forward and bridge the gap between the university, the schools and policy makers in the Egyptian context