Teacher Metacognition: An Investigation into Iranian EFL Teachers

Abstract

Unfortunately, fewTeacher Training Centers (TTC) have adequately incorporated metacognition or simply thinking about thinking into their teacher education programs. The reason might be that the role of metacognition in regulating the teaching and learning processes is not yet fully understood by policy makers and educators. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of metacognition in TTC programs for English language teachers. In so doing, a sample of 131 male and female experienced and inexperienced teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with an age range of 25-50 from the North of Iran wasrandomly selected to participate in this study. A validated Teachers’ Metacognition Scale (TMS) questionnaire was utilized to measure teachers’ awareness of four metacognitive factors, namely pedagogical, declarative, procedural, and conditional ones. The results indicated that teachers' metacognitive awareness of teaching processes has poorly been used in the EFL context. To conclude, the TTC authorities need to realize the implication of metacognition in the teacher education programs and to afford more opportunities for metacognitive practice in enhancing teachers' metacognitive awareness of teaching processes. Keywords: Metacognition, Teacher education, Teacher training program, Pre-service teachers, In-service teachers, Teacher autonomy.