English as a Foreign Language Preservice Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Quantitative Comparative Study

Technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) is a set of knowledge domains that can help maximize teachers’ successful technology use in education. Recent directions in educational technology research have moved towards investigating teachers’ TPACK in content-specific applications. This study initially intended to compare and contrast English as a foreign language (EFL) preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) TPACK perceptions in the contexts of Iran and Oman. It also sought to examine if there was a gender gap in EFL PSTs’ TPACK perceptions in these contexts. A quantitative comparative research design was used to collect the data via online questionnaires from EFL PSTs in Iran and Oman. Results showed that EFL PSTs generally had high perceptions of their TPACK; however, the Iranian EFL PSTs’ TPACK perceptions were significantly higher than those of the Omani EFL PSTs in all subdomains of TPACK. The study also reported that there were no significant differences between genders in Oman, Iran, and collectively all the participants regardless of their nationality. Findings provide practical pedagogical implications for future EFL PSTs, EFL PST educators, EFL curriculum reformers, and policymakers in considering context-sensitive decisions such as needs-customized courses and activities with preevaluation of tools and abilities entailed.

Keywords:

Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) , Preservice English as a Foreign Language Teachers (PSTs) , Perceptions , Gender , Academic Year Iran , Oman