Chilean EFL teacher trainees' beliefs regarding the EFL teacher competences

Abstract

There is abundant literature regarding second language (L2) or foreign language (FL) teachers' beliefs. However, there exists very little literature on this matter that involves L2/FL teacher trainees. This study aims to find out Chilean EFL teacher trainees' beliefs regarding the competences EFL teachers should have for their professional performance. Three competence domains are under scrutiny: (1) English linguistic competence and English culture, (2) English teaching didactics, and (3) professional attitude. A Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect data from 208 EFL teacher trainees of four Chilean universities. These trainees are in their first (N=129) and fourth year (N=79) of an EFL teacher training program. General results show that the most important competence domain for the participants is the professional stance, especially for fourth year students.