Although most of the studies in the field of teacher education advocate that the practicum is the main source for the acquisition of the knowledge and skills required by good teachers (Richards e Crookes, 1988; Pimenta, 1997; Kulcsar, 1998; Piconez, 1998), research adopting a socialization framework questions the full impact of this stage of professional development. The study reported here intended to investigate the impact of the practicum, according to EFL student teachers´ own perspectives. They were enrolled in a university teacher education course in Brazil, through which they were exposed to new educational experiences aimed at contributing to better informed pedagogical practices and to the development of the knowledge base necessary for conscious professional work. Using semi-structured interviews and observation reports as the main source of data, the analysis revealed that although the informants acknowledged the importance of the teaching practice experiences, there were limitations of their influence on developing the process of learning to teaching within a critical reflection mode (Tabachnick e Zeichener, 1991). The study also revealed that the student teachers were at elementary stages of professional development, according to Furlong & Maynard´s (1995) classification.