CALL Teacher Education: A Mixed-Methods Study on Iranian EFL Teacher Educators' Knowledge, Use, Challenges, and Strategies

The rapid advancement of educational technology has transformed computer-assisted language learning (CALL) into a desideratum for teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) worldwide. Yet, scant attention has been paid to CALL teacher education courses and the voices of teacher educators (TEs) in this regard. Hence, this mixed-methods study inspected Iranian EFL TEs' knowledge and use of CALL, challenges they face in holding effective CALL teacher education courses, and strategies they use to update their CALL knowledge. To this end, ۷۴ TEs working at Iranian universities and language institutes were selected via convenience and snowball sampling methods. A questionnaire was developed and administered to collect quantitative data. An interview protocol was developed, and interviews were conducted on ۱۵ TEs to provide qualitative data. The questionnaire results showed that TEs possess a mediocre knowledge of CALL and thus use advanced CALL tools infrequently. In interviews, they highlighted some serious technology-related challenges, such as low and disruptive Internet connection, insufficient CALL knowledge, and limited updated facilities, to run effective CALL teacher education courses, but highlighted some strategies to deal with such challenges. The pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed.

کلیدواژه ها:

CALL ، Mixed-methods study ، CALL teacher education ، teacher educators (TEs)