19 The Reading Matrix: An International Online Journal Volume 24, Number 1, April 2024 Social Justice Matters: Representation of Diversity in an EFL Initial Teacher Education Program Gülşah Öz Aksaray University Neşe Cabaroğlu Çukurova University ABSTRACT In today's multicultural and globalized world, diversity, as a necessary component of human existence, plays a critical role in society. Therefore, promoting equity and embracing diversity in the field of education is crucial to provide equal opportunities for all learners by respecting and accepting their identities. Paying attention to the significant role of teacher education programs in the preparation of teacher candidates, we aimed to investigate the representation of diversity through the lens of social justice in the current EFL initial teacher education program implemented as a standardized program in departments of English language and teaching at state universities of Türkiye. With this purpose in mind, the courses provided in the program were evaluated with respect to diversity issues. To this end, the course descriptions and goals were inductively analysed from the perspectives of social justice. The findings revealed the existence of diversity issues in both compulsory and elective courses to some extent regarding three knowledge- based domains i.e., content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and general culture. Based on the analysis of the program and relevant literature, some implications and suggestions were proposed for teacher educators and program designers for a more diversity-sensitive and social justice-oriented teacher education. INTRODUCTION Are we educating just teacher candidates having great awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching of English to every student of the class in both local and global context? This paramount question has become the focus and main concern of several studies with the goal of exploring the traces of social justice addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the related literature, recently. In the same vein, the idea of educating future teachers for social justice (Cochran-Smith, 2010; Cochran-Smith et al., 2009), and for increasingly diverse teaching contexts (Darling-Hammond, 1999; Keehn & Martinez, 2006) has become widely accepted in the related literature. In this sense, advocating the crucial role of teaching and teacher education for social justice on enhancing equal life and education opportunities to all students viewed as agents of change for a diverse democratic and just society, Cochran-Smith (2010) proposed a three-