Comparing the Effectiveness of the Knowledge Base of In-Service Teacher Education Programs from the Perspective of Experienced and Novice Female Iranian EFL Teachers

This study was an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the knowledge base of female in-service English teachers in Iranian teacher education programs.

This study was qualitative research using causal-comparative technique. The Knowledge Base Effectiveness Questionnaire (KBEQ) designed by Jadidi and Bagheri (2014) was used (8). Content validity and reliability were used as sources of evidence to support the validity of the questionnaire. Participants were 160 female in-service English teachers who were selected through purposive sampling. Participants were asked to indicate the effectiveness of the knowledge areas introduced in the questionnaire for language teaching.

The findings of this study showed that among the seven components extracted from the questionnaire, based on the views of female in-service teachers, post-method indicators and linguistic concepts constitute the most and least useful issues. Novice and experienced teachers were also compared to find their perceptions of the effectiveness of basic knowledge areas. The results showed that there is a significant difference in their views on issues such as research skills and post-method indicators.