The Knowledge-Base of Pre-Service and in-Service Iranian EFL Teachers in Teacher Education Programs

This study investigated the knowledge base of pre-service and in-service teacher education in Iran.In so doing, a teacher education knowledge base, and a knowledge base effectiveness questionnaire, developed by Jadidi and Bagheri (2014) were used.The participants selected through convenient sampling were 140 student teachers, the pre-service group, and 160 practicing teachers, the in-service group.The respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which the topics are included in pre and in-service programs as well as the extent to which such areas are effective for teaching.The findings showed that among the seven components extracted from the questionnaires, knowledge areas like material development, post-method indicators and research methods are not adequately covered in preservice programs with their means 1.46,1.54,and 1.62 respectively.Similarly, for the in-service teachers, issues like, teacher awareness, post-method and research methods had the lowest means, as 1.64, 1.66, and 1.71 respectively.Instead, language concepts and theoretical principles are covered the most.The results also indicated that from the perspective of pre-service teachers, learners' individual characteristics, language acquisition, and research methods are the most effective areas for teaching with their means 2.82, 2.71, and 2.45 respectively while material development, post-method indicators, and teacher awareness are the least useful areas with their means 1.65, 1.73, and 2.35 respectively.