Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold. Firstly, it explored Iranian EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ receptive and productive metalinguistic knowledge as a function of educational contexts including language institutes and high schools. Secondly, the study delved into EFL teachers’ perceptions of metalinguistic knowledge development in the contexts in question. A total of 200 Iranian EFL teachers participated in a metalinguistic knowledge test entailing 2 modules of production and reception. Besides, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 EFL teachers to explore their perceptions concerning metalinguistic knowledge development. The results revealed that the high school teachers surpassed the language institute teachers regarding their productive and receptive metalinguistic knowledge. The results also indicated that the EFL teachers in both high schools and language institutes were better in receptive than productive metalinguistic knowledge. Further, the results of semi-structured interviews substantiated those of the MLK test and revealed considerable points about the metalinguistic knowledge development in the educational contexts under study. The study findings offered clear implications for stakeholders, EFL teachers, and teacher educators.

摘要

这项研究的目的是双重的。首先，它探讨了伊朗 EFL（英语作为外语）教师的接受性和生产性元语言知识作为包括语言学院和高中在内的教育环境的函数。其次，该研究深入探讨了 EFL 教师在相关语境中对元语言知识发展的看法。共有 200 名伊朗外语教师参加了元语言知识测试，包括制作和接收 2 个模块。此外，还对 40 位外语教师进行了一系列半结构化访谈，探讨他们对元语言知识发展的看法。结果显示，高中教师在元语言知识的生产性和接受性方面超过了语言学院的教师。结果还表明，高中和语言学院的EFL教师在接受元语言知识方面优于生产性元语言知识。此外，半结构化访谈的结果证实了 MLK 测试的结果，并揭示了有关所研究教育环境中元语言知识发展的重要观点。研究结果为利益相关者、EFL 教师和教师教育工作者提供了明确的启示。