EFL Teachers' Conceptions and Challenges of CoI Model: Prioritization of it Elements and Indicators

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate EFL teachers' conceptions of the significance of elements and indicators of community of inquiry theoretical framework and to determine the most challenging indicators to use in online English language classes. To this end, a five open-ended questionnaire aimed at unveiling pre-service teachers' conceptions and knowledge was administered to 50 Master of Arts (MA) students in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at Iran University of Science and Technology. The results indicated that the most important element of Community of Inquiry (CoI) was the cognitive presence. The results also revealed that the most important indicators of the social, cognitive, and teaching elements were found to be ‘encouraging collaboration’, ‘applying new ideas', and ‘setting curriculum and method’, respectively. The results also revealed that with regard to the challenges of implementing indicators of CoI, pre-service teachers held the opinion that ‘applying new ideas', ‘sense of puzzlement’, ‘encouraging collaboration’, and ‘setting curriculum and method’ were the most challenging indicators. This study recommends that teacher educators offer pre-service teachers some training courses on CoI indicators and elements and their implementation in online English language classes.