THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A COMPETENT TEACHER OF ENGLISH IN SAUDI ARABIA AS PERCEIVED BY SUCCESSFUL EFL TEACHERS AND SELECTED TESOL SPECIALISTS

The study attempted to identify areas of agreement between teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) and specialists in the field (TESOL) to discover what skills, knowledge and qualities a teacher of English in Saudi Arabia should possess. A field survey was made using a questionnaire consisting of 60 items classified into eight major areas: listening comprehension and oral production, reading and writing, knowledge about the English language, literature, foreign language education, Arabic and Arabic culture, professional education and personal qualities. A total of 291 EFL teachers and 117 TESOL specialists constituted the population sample.;A major conclusion is that the areas of study appreciated by both groups should be considered as essential to all students in training for EFL teaching in Saudi Arabia. Another conclusion is that all elements found by the respondents in general to be of less value for EFL teachers should not be strongly emphasized in training programs or at least they should be included on an elective basis according to the special interest of the students.;A comparison of the perception of the teachers and the specialists was made using the percentage and the average score (mean) as the primary instruments. The two groups showed close agreement in perceiving 44 items as "more important" for a competent teacher of English in Saudi Arabia. Among these were: the English language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing; teaching methods and practice teaching; English phonology, morphology and syntax; linguistics and phonetics; language testing and language analysis; Arabic and Arabic culture; translation; classroom management; and several personal qualities. Moreover, the two groups showed close agreement in perceiving nine items as "less important" for the teacher preparation: literature, history, first language acquisition, learning theories and their application, and the role of human growth and development. On the other hand, the two groups differed greatly in perceiving the importance of seven items. The specialists placed more importance on knowledge related to sociolinguistics and second language acquisition, while the teachers gave more value to skills related to language laboratory utilization and writing with idiomatic naturalness.