Abstract
EFL teacher education has two sub-fields. On the one hand, we find English teachers, those professionals who teach English proficiency. On the other hand, we find teacher educators, those professionals who are teachers of teachers. Current research suggested that the latter needs more examination yet [2]. Therefore, this qualitative phenomenological study sought to examine EFL teacher educators' sources of knowledge base and the types of knowledge and skills that constructed their knowledge base. The purposefully selected research site was a teacher education program at a public university in Nicaragua. The sample consisted of six experienced EFL teacher educators. We gathered data through structured interviews and document analysis. Findings revealed that to become an EFL teacher educator might take more than three years of teaching in EFL teacher education programs, and it requires more preparation than just being an English teacher. The results indicated that teacher educators construct their knowledge and skills from eight sources, namely, coursework, observational knowledge, experience as language learners, EFL teaching experience, technology, research, teaching experience as EFL teacher educators, and professional development. Out of these sources of knowledge, participants built sixteen types of knowledge and fourteen skills. The knowledge and skills they valued more were English proficiency, language learning experience, subject knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, teaching experience in EFL teacher education programs, assessment knowledge of students' teachers, and knowledge of students' L1. This study concluded that becoming an educator requires more preparation and commitment than just being an English teacher. It suggested that universities should consider offering undergraduate and graduate programs to train EFL teacher educators.
Highlights
This study falls into the field of research of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education
The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the sources of Knowledge Base of six Nicaraguan EFL teacher educators and the types of knowledge and skills that constructed their knowledge base
Two sub-research questions to inform the purpose of this study: 1) what are the sources of Nicaraguan EFL teacher educators' knowledge base? 2) What types of knowledge and skills build the knowledge base of Nicaraguan EFL teacher educators? Findings are presented guided by these sub-research questions
Summary
This study falls into the field of research of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education. According to Moradkhani et al.[2], EFL teachers can be defined as "language teaching experts who are involved in the real act of teaching English as a Foreign Language to language learners." On the other hand, EFL teacher educators refer to "those professionals who provide formal instruction and support for teacher candidates during pre-service teacher education programs" [2] In this qualitative phenomenological study, we investigated the last group. EFL teacher educators in the context of Nicaraguan teacher education, where this investigation took place, were defined as language teaching experts who help EFL pre-service student teachers develop English proficiency and who provide formal pedagogical and didactic instruction and support for pre-service student teachers to become effective EFL teachers This definition implies that the curriculum in the university where we conducted this phenomenological inquiry centered on delivering a knowledge base composed of pedagogical, didactical, and language-focused instruction and preparation. EFL teachers’ knowledge base has been investigated extensively
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