English language teachers’ self-assessment of competencies and preparation level in English as a foreign language teaching contexts

The current study aimed to investigate EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers’ competence levels in different competency areas and the level of preparation of such competencies by their initial preparation programs. EFL teachers from all school levels (cycle one, cycle two and post-basic) participated in this pilot study as part of a PhD project in the academic school year 2022/2023. The participants were in-service teachers (n= 59) who graduated from local and non-local teacher preparation programs and were assigned to different schools in the Muscat Governorate. The pilot study implemented a descriptive research method in which a quantitative research approach was used to investigate the level of EFL teachers’ competencies and preparation. The study employed a questionnaire divided into two parts. The first part explored EFL teachers’ perceptions of their current level of competencies and the second part investigated teachers’ perceptions of the extent to which their initial preparation programs have prepared them for these competencies. The study’s findings revealed that teachers perceived themselves as possessing a high competency level in helping learners understand learning objectives and using teaching aids to motivate and engage learners. Teachers perceived their lowest competency to be reading the latest research in ELT. The study makes some significant recommendations including the demand to further update teachers’ professional competencies with the assistance of the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) in-service training sector and revise the outcomes and content of Teacher Preparation Programs (TPPs) for a stronger enhancement of teachers’ required competencies.