'It's Difficult since There Is No Rhyme or Reason': Spelling Relevance in an EFL Context

This study examines the knowledge of language components in 44 teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL). These components include phonology, orthography, and morphology, for reading and spelling instruction. The study also examines teacher attitudes towards and perceptions of these language components in the context of their self-reported practice. Mixed methods analyses showed that teacher knowledge was not at ceiling level but was greater than reported comparative studies in the Israeli EFL context. Similar to previous studies, this study found that teacher knowledge of phonological awareness was weak. The teachers in this study were keen to learn more; however, their self-reported practice demonstrated a discrepancy between their perceptions of the importance of language components such as orthography and their implementation in the field, with the least number of teachers reporting teaching the orthographic conventions. The teachers' responses provide some insights into their thinking about the relevance of language components to their teaching in an EFL context where they are often the only guiding source in the path towards literacy. For EFL teachers to impact their students' progress in literacy, there is a need for them to acquire a more in-depth understanding of language components such as phonology, orthography, and morphology to become professionally adept.