A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO IRANIAN EFL TEACHER EDUCATORS’ VOICE ABOUT CHALLENGES OF CALL TEACHER EDUCATION
A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO IRANIAN EFL TEACHER EDUCATORS’ VOICE ABOUT CHALLENGES OF CALL TEACHER EDUCATION

Summary/Abstract: The rapid integration of technology in EFL learning and teaching requires competent EFL teachers to use Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in their classes. Hence, the role of CALL teacher education in preparing competent EFL teachers is significant. However, conducting CALL teacher education is not without challenges. Given the importance of examining these challenges, the purpose of the current study was to investigate Iranian EFL teacher educators’ voice about the challenges of conducting CALL teacher education programs. To that end, eight Iranian EFL teacher educators’ biographical narratives were analyzed to obtain challenges concerning CALL teacher education. The thematic analysis of the narratives, based on the principles of ethnography semantics, indicated that challenges such as inertia, ignorance of training CALL educators, insufficient time to address CALL compared to other topics, insufficient infrastructure, insufficient standards, and lack of established methodology to administrate CALL teacher education were among the main obstacles of conducting CALL teacher education in the Iranian context. Moreover, the findings revealed that lack of EFL teachers’ motivation to participate in such programs, insufficient CALL infrastructure in schools and institutes, and EFL teachers’ inertia were other challenges in CALL teacher education. The findings suggest that the stability of CALL can be reached by removing the challenges of CALL teacher education if policy-makers address issues such as the required budgets, CALL infrastructures, and teacher motivation in CALL teacher education.

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