Evaluation of Iranian Teacher Education Programs for EFL Student-Teachers

Abstract

Despite the importance of Iranian teacher education programmes at Teacher Education universities for preparing EFL teachers in terms of effective teaching, no research has surveyed the role of these programmes in preparing effective teachers. This cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate Iranian Teacher Education universities programmes for EFL student-teachers regarding five areas of teaching knowledge which conform to California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP) that are stated in Commission on Teacher Credentialing (2009). This study employed a mixed-method design in which 126 in-service EFL teachers from six cities and 212 EFL student-teachers from six Iranian Teacher Education universities participated in a survey; then interviews were conducted with 12 selected volunteers from participants. The student-teachers’ expectations of TEPs at the beginning, their evaluations of the programmes at the end, and in-service teachers’ evaluations after years of teaching in terms of their preparation for teaching were compared. The results of Mixed Between-within (Repeated Measures) ANOVA as well as interview analyses and interpretations showed that there was a difference between the first-year group’s expectations and the last-year group’s evaluations. The difference was significant between female first- and last-year groups, female in-service and last-year groups as well as male in-service and male first- and last-year groups. Both male and female in-service teachers acknowledged the effectiveness of their four years of education at Teacher Education universities. Implications for providing more effective teacher education programmes are discussed.