| This research endeavor sought to identify the multidisciplinary scope of EFL teacher preparation in theoretical and applied linguistics, literature, cross-cultural communication, TEFL methodology and assessment, and educational and behavioral processes. A focal question was posed, namely, what competencies do American and Egyptian TESOL specialists deem the fundamental segment of knowledge needed and avidly sought by TEFL participants?;The theoretical framework expanded upon the crucial variables optimizing teacher success, curricular bias of TPPS toward literature and relegation of linguistic applications to a minor position and juxtaposition of five LTE models: the silent way, suggestology, community language learning, competency-based approach, and British contextualism. The "pros" and "cons" for inclusion of contrastive linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, interlanguage studies, discourse analysis, and tagmemics were synthetically recorded so as to formulate the theory of EFL teacher preparation.;The subjects for this study were drawn from the entire population of Egyptian TESOL personnel and a stratified random sampling of American TESOL specialists. A research instrument consisted of 39-item survey based on a five-point continuum was constructed, pilot-tested, and administered. The returned responses were tabulated, and means, rank order, and MANOVA were computed to evaluate TESOL specialists' attitudes toward the seven curricular emphases.;The analysis of data showed that, in the domain of general linguistics and semiotics, EFL teachers should gain a consciousness of English language structure, prosody of speech, linguistic theories of structuralism, TG grammar, morphophonemic features, stylistics, and historical development. In the realm of applied linguistics, substantial consensus was expressed for EFL teachers' knowledge of psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, and neurolinguistic dimensions of TESOL, error and contrastive analysis, and functionalist and cognitivist theories. An acquaintance with modern literature, literary genres, and personalized and chronological approaches to literature teaching can add immeasurably to EFL teacher training.;In the competency area of cross-cultural interaction, EFL teachers should have familiarity with verbal versus non-verbal communication, proxemics, gender-specific behavior, contrastive analysis of English and Arabic cultures, and experiential and cognitive approaches to L2 culture teaching. There was also a perceptible preference for EFL teachers' theoretical competence and effective practice in learner-centered and communicative approaches, educational innovations of microteaching, interaction analysis and systems analysis, classroom dynamics, and language testing. |
