| The knowledge of phonemes, phonology, and phonics is essential for learning to read both for English-speaking children and ESL/EFL learners. In America, standards for qualified English language teachers emphasize a teacher's knowledge of both content and pedagogy. In Taiwan, where elementary school English education is at a starting point, the preparation of qualified elementary school English teachers has become a top priority. However, Taiwan does not have any national EFL standards for English programs or teachers, and does not provide any standard tests to assess or evaluate English teachers' professional knowledge. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the knowledge possessed by groups of Taiwanese and Idaho teacher candidates about phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics, as identified in the Standards for Reading Professionals (2003).; The subjects were 209 pre-service elementary school teachers of English in Taiwan and 244 Idaho pre-service elementary teacher candidates. The Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment (ICLA), Standard I, was used to assess both the knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge to research-based best practices in reading. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to determine if there were significant differences between the two groups. The information about Taiwanese teachers' English proficiency levels and their English learning experiences from the demographic survey was categorized, and relationships among variables were examined by a statistical correlational method.; The results indicated that there were significant differences in the scores of the two groups in the areas of language structures, knowledge of literacy instruction, and the ability to apply this knowledge to classroom situations. While Taiwanese teacher candidates emphasized teaching philosophy and theories of human linguistic development, Idaho teacher candidates stressed pedagogical knowledge. In addition, the ICLA test scores of the Taiwanese elementary school English candidates showed a significant, positive correlation with each of the following variables---years of studying English, General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) score results, opinions about English teacher knowledge of written and spoken English, and self-reported English writing proficiency. Recommendations were proposed for improving the teacher preparation programs for both countries, as well as for further studies. |
