Abstract
Teacher pedagogical knowledge base (PKB) has always attracted a great deal of attention in research concerning teachers’ cognition. However, the interplay between the second/foreign (L2) teachers' academic degrees and different classroom settings has remained under-explored. Hence, this study seeks to explore the influences of classroom settings (i.e., face-to-face vs. online) and academic TESOL degrees (i.e., B.A. vs. M.A. graduates) on shaping L2 teachers' PKB. In so doing, four L2 teachers working at four private English language institutes in Iran volunteered to participate in the research. Drawing upon an exploratory mixed-methods approach, qualitative and quantitative data were obtained using stimulated recall technique. The recalled pedagogical knowledge (PK) categories were analyzed across the two groups by extracting the PK categories, reporting their type and frequency, and running chi-square statistics. The findings showed no significant differences between the sum of pedagogical thoughts (PTs) of B.A. and M.A. L2 teachers in face-to-face classroom settings; however, there were minor differences in the rankings of PK categories between the groups of teachers. On the contrary, the L2 teachers holding M.A. outperformed their B.A. counterparts in generating PK categories in online classes. Moreover, it was revealed that both groups of teachers could produce new contextual PK categories when reflecting on their online classes. In tune with the findings, various suggestions were offered for designing teacher training courses that focus more on the practical side of L2 teachers’ PKB in face-to-face and online L2 teaching settings.