Iranian English Language Teachers Research Articles

Ecological Intersections of Religious Ideology, Agency, and Identity: Voices of Iranian English Language Teachers

Ecological Intersections of Religious Ideology, Agency, and Identity: Voices of Iranian English Language Teachers

From virtual assistant to writing mentor: Exploring the impact of a ChatGPT-based writing instruction protocol on EFL teachers’ self-efficacy and learners’ writing skill

Language teaching is a highly emotional profession that can affect the teachers’ well-being and learners’ achievement. However, studies have yet to explore the potential of positive psychology interventions and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to promote the psycho-emotional aspects of second language (L2) teachers and learners. Further, studies regarding the effectiveness of AI in promoting the learners’ language skills could have been expansive. Responding to these gaps, researchers chose ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot capable of generating natural and coherent texts, as a potential tool to foster positive emotions and interactions between Iranian English language teachers ( n = 12) and learners ( n = 48) in the L2 writing context. We operationalized ChatGPT in a three-phased writing instruction protocol (CGWIP): (1) a planning phase, where teachers used ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas and generate outlines for each session; (2) an instruction phase, where teachers used ChatGPT to engage the learners in writing process, analyse and reflect on their drafts, and (3) an assessment phase, where teachers used ChatGPT to simulate IELTS writing exam and provided detailed and constructive feedback to the learners. We further tested the effectiveness of CGWIP on teachers’ self-efficacy and learners’ writing skills before and after a 10-week instruction program. The Independent Samples t-test results showed that CGWIP significantly enhanced teachers’ self-efficacy compared to the control group. Also, the results of One Way ANCOVA revealed that CGWIP significantly improved learners’ writing skills and that these effects persisted over time. The study implied that the protocol can nurture teachers’ efficiency by helping them in various aspects of L2 writing instruction, including brainstorming, revising, providing feedback, and assessment, which in turn, improves learners’ writing skills.

A qualitative inquiry of minimalistic mindset outcomes on Iranian English language teachers’ well-being

Language teaching is a tense occupation wherein countless negative stressors such as students’ misbehaviors, low income, assessment issues, and personal conflicts might threaten the well-being and happiness of teachers. Thus, cultivating a flexible mindset responsive enough to tackle various stressors has become a promising research scope. In this vein, minimalism, as a worldview that helps people reduce unwanted and excessive distractors, might be a possible solution that would possibly reduce the teachers’ life and occupation stressors and cultivate their well-being-related strengths. However, the concept has been ignored in educational domains. Therefore, the present exploratory study sheds light on the minimalistic mindset of 34 Iranian English language teachers, recruited through purposeful sampling method and partook in an interview. Their answers were analyzed through thematic analysis to see whether minimalistic mindsets of teachers contribute to their welfare or not. The analyses of the qualitative data signaled that the findings would contribute to the educational psychology and language education literature by suggesting that teachers with minimalistic worldviews towards life are less stressed and concerned about distractors and are more prone to value inner peace, tolerance, and rapport in their personal and professional life.

“I wonder who I am when my assessment ideas are not respected”: a case-study inquiry into the role of institutional policies in English language teachers’ assessment identity

ABSTRACT Although assessment is a significant part of teachers’ professional careers, there are few documented studies on language teachers’ assessment identity. This study drew on a case-study design and examined the role of the institutional context in Iranian English language teachers’ assessment identity. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and stimulated recall interviews. Data analyses indicated that local top-down policies highly constrained the teachers’ assessment identities, assessment emotions, and assessment agencies. These policies pressured the teachers to develop an assessment adaptability system, experience little professional support, and face tensions in constructing their identities as assessors. The findings are discussed in light of contextual exigencies that complicate developing an effective assessor identity in contexts where top-down educational policies substantially and constantly sanction teachers’ professional career pathways. Based on the findings, we provide implications for policymakers and teacher educators to help teachers develop identities that feature investment in positively contributing to educational accountability.

Investigating Iranian English language teachers' wellbeing across their career stages.

This study aims to investigate the wellbeing of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers across their career stages in terms of teaching experience. In this regard, the study categorized teachers into three groups based on their experience: novice, experienced, and highly experienced. Using a quantitative and cross-sectional survey design, this study employed a validated scale to measure psychological wellbeing, positive perception about self and life, goal setting and time management, and positive relationships among teachers. Using a convenience sampling procedure, 182 teachers participated in the study, representing varying age ranges, teaching experience, and employment status. The data was collected through an online survey within a month and underwent descriptive and inferential statistical analyses using SPSS software. The results revealed significant differences in the wellbeing of language teachers across experience groups. More specifically, novice teachers scored lower in various wellbeing dimensions than experienced and highly experienced teachers. These findings emphasize the importance of considering career stages when investigating teachers' professional wellbeing. The findings also contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between teaching experience and wellbeing, with implications for supporting the EFL teachers' wellbeing and informing educational policies and practices. The study results are discussed, and the related implications are provided for running professional development courses to enhance teachers' wellbeing.

The Plausibility of Applying Dogme Language Teaching Approach in Iranian EFL Classes from Teachers’ Perspective

Over-dependency on manufactured materials and fixed syllabuses in language classrooms hamper both teachers and students from achieving communicative ability. In the Dogme language teaching approach or unplugged teaching, teachers do not rely on these predetermined procedures and they have the freedom to choose the class activities based on the situation of the classroom. This study was an attempt to investigate Iranian English language teachers’ perspectives on the possibility of the application of the Dogme approach as an unplugged teaching methodology in Iranian high school English classes. 100 Iranian EFL teachers took part in the study. The teachers were given a questionnaire aiming to reveal their opinions about the general principles of the Dogme language teaching approach. Then, a semi-structured oral interview was conducted. The analysis of their responses led to the conclusion that the Dogme approach was generally unknown by many Iranian teachers. Only a few teachers applied this approach in their classes. Therefore, it is suggested that the Dogme approach should be introduced and integrated into mainstream English as a foreign language program in Iranian contexts through workshops and in-service classes.

Examining the relationship between teachers’ creativity and students’ critical thinking in the context of EFL learning in Iran

The present study aimed to investigate the possible relationship between teachers’ creativity and students’ critical thinking among intermediate English as a foreign language learner in Iran. The study involved 100 university students majoring in English translation and teaching English as a foreign language and three of their teachers. The researchers recruited participants randomly and used two instruments, Honey’s critical thinking questionnaire, and Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) to collect data. The findings revealed that there was a moderate positive correlation between teachers’ creativity and students’ critical thinking, indicating that teachers who are more creative tend to promote critical thinking skills in their students. The study has several pedagogical implications, including classroom instruction for enhancing critical thinking skills among students. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of promoting creativity among English language teachers to facilitate critical thinking skills in their students. This can be done through teacher training programs that emphasize creativity and critical thinking. Additionally, the study suggests that creating a classroom environment that encourages creativity and critical thinking could lead to expected effective learning for students. In conclusion, this study adds to the existing literature on the relationship between creativity and critical thinking and provides insights for English language teaching in Iran.

Enhancing language teachers’ skills for intercultural instruction: affordance of collaborative reflection

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effects of collaborative reflection (CR) on Iranian English language teachers’ intercultural instructional practice. The data were gathered by observing the classroom instruction of four novice and experienced teachers before and after eight CR sessions. The result revealed that CR was an effective tool for improving teachers’ ICC skills and practice as it enabled them to notice cultural episodes of the lessons and teach ICC productively based on the principles and models learned from CR. Nonetheless, although CR was beneficial for all teachers, the novice ones took more advantages from the CR sessions.

Official policies of English language education in Iran: ‘policy as discourse’ in national documents

ABSTRACT Considering the uncontested global status of English today, overt and covert policies of English language teaching (ELT) have shaped a significant area of broader national language (education) policies. In this study we investigated nine major national policy documents to portray the overall official ELT policies in Iran. The documents were explored through qualitative content analysis in search of manifest statements and conceptual categories that provided educational policy directions. Adopting a view of policy as discourse, we coded statements directly related to ELT and those related to language education, as well as generic statements about all subject areas, which were interpreted to include the teaching and learning of English. The discursive climate of the overall official Iranian ELT policy appeared to be mainly shaped by policy directions focusing on Islamic values, Iranian Revolutionism, and character and morality, along with some language-teaching specifics. The findings may indicate that beyond issues of policy incompleteness, the Iranian official ELT policy may be suffering from policy indeterminacy. We argue that in contexts like Iran, more coherent ELT policies may be needed to account for both the ideological nature of English and its practical applicability in the world today.

“To promote justice is to care”: Pedagogy of care and socially-just instruction among Iranian English language teachers

Despite the growth of research on emotions of care and social justice over the past decades, little is known about how these two significant dimensions of language teachers’ professional practice intersect. The present study drew on data from 10 Iranian English language teachers to unpack the intersection between care and social justice. The analysis of qualitative data collected from open-ended questionnaires, narrative frames, and semi-structured interviews revealed three major themes in relation to care and socially-just instruction: (1) care as a prerequisite for promoting social action, (2) institutionalizing social justice beyond discourse through collective care, and (3) care as a tool for resisting social injustice(s) in order to transform education. Our findings revealed that effective delivery of socially-just instruction is highly defined by the pedagogy of care that teachers invest in order to resist the dominant injustices. Based on the findings, we provide implications for teacher educators to run professional development courses that have as their cornerstone focal attention to dimensions of care and social justice.

English Language Teachers’ Maxims in Evaluating Materials: A Case Study from Iran

While research on second language teacher cognition (SLTC) has significantly developed over the past three decades, this line of inquiry has not paid adequate attention to material development/evaluation as compared to the key role that materials play in teachers’ daily practice. In response to this gap, in this study we adopted the theoretical stance of teacher maxims as part of SLTC, and explored eight Iranian English language teachers’ maxims in relation to material evaluation. Data were collected from a researcher-adapted questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, and analyzed based on content analysis. Data analyses revealed that the teachers evaluated their implemented material in light of both positive and negative aspects, with the positive sides being more pedagogical and the negative dimensions being more institutional and sociocultural. Additionally, the teachers’ maxims indicated that materials should not only serve pedagogical issues, but they should also embrace emotions and sociocultural particularities so that educational stakeholders, especially students, develop socio-educational capitals. Based on the findings, we provide implications for teacher educators to run professional development courses that embrace personal, interpersonal, and sociocultural particularities in the courses to enhance teachers’ awareness of the role materials play in their SLTC growth

The ecology of language teacher assessment literacy: Insights from emotional critical incidents

Despite the substantial growth of research on language assessment literacy (LAL), the emotional side of LAL has been under-researched. In response to this gap of knowledge, the present study explored Iranian English language teachers’ LAL through the lens of emotional critical incidents (CIs). Drawing on an ecological lens as embedded in a case-study design, data were collected from narrative frames, classroom observations and post-class discussions, and semi-structured interviews. Data analyses revealed three personal, institutional, and sociocultural ecologies that shaped the teachers’ LAL-related emotional CIs and the associated sense-making, practice, and perceptions about assessment. In particular, we found that the emotional side of LAL is defined by agency, emotion labor, the need for voice, and broader discourses of assessment in Iran. Based on the findings, we provide implications for running professional development courses that build on teachers’ LAL and account for emotions as a key component of such courses.

Virtual supremacy and electronic imperialism: the hegemonies of e-learning and computer assisted language learning (CALL)

ABSTRACT Many people consider the Internet to be refreshingly democratic; everybody appears to have a ‘voice,’ and there is much sharing of ‘open’ content. The use of the internet for the learning/teaching of languages often seems particularly apt: People from different countries practice a language as they interact online, at the same time deepening their understanding of other cultures and ways of life (Stockwell [2018]. ‘Teaching Culture in Foreign Language Classes.’ Foreign Language Education Research 22: 11–23.). This is an intriguing scenario; however, it doesn’t always play out in real life, since in truth technology is neither neutral nor unequivocally democratic, and people are often exposed to various forms of virtual supremacy and electronic imperialism. This study attempts to elucidate the lived experiences of Iranian academia with regard to the hegemonies of e-learning, by examining how these hegemonies are operating in the Iranian English Language Teaching (ELT) community under the guise of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Various ELT stakeholders were interviewed, and recurring themes identified under the six categories of linguistic, technological, economic, educational, sociocultural, and sociopolitical hegemonies of e-learning. It is hoped that this and similar studies will help develop the awareness that is a prerequisite to achieving equity and social justice in digital education.

Emotion Labor as Professional Development Work: Insights from Teachers Doing Action Research

AbstractOver the past decades, research on language teachers' engagement in action research (AR) and more recently on their emotion labor has exponentially grown. However, little research is available on how AR and emotion labor intersect to shape language teacher professional development. This study addressed this gap by reporting on how four Iranian English language teachers used emotion labor as professional development work during participation in an AR project. Data were collected from reflective journals and classroom observations as well as the associated postclass discussions during the enactment of AR, and from interviews at two junctures in time, once during the course and once longitudinally after six and 12 months. Data analyses revealed that the teachers used AR as a mechanism for minimizing the gap between their internal feelings and external expectations, and gradually developed the identity of a teacher–researcher by using the affordances emotion labor provided. Moreover, the teachers retrospectively developed emotional learning, which facilitated their response to institutional expectations in the short term and to the professional discourses of teaching in the long term. We conclude the paper with implications for teacher education to better understand how emotions feature in AR and how emotion labor could be employed for AR‐induced professional development.

Novice language teacher emotion labor and identity construction: A community of practice perspective

This study reports on the emotion labor (EL) and identity construction of three novice Iranian English language teachers over a three-year period. Drawing on the lens of Community of Practice, we show how identity construction either preceded or followed the temporal and spatial EL that the teachers experienced. We argue that EL is not only externally defined, but it can also interact with teachers' imagined identities and emerging dynamics to serve as a source of self-invoked mechanism of professional work. We conclude the paper with implications for teacher educators to employ the EL-identity nexus to facilitate teachers’ pre-service and novice-service professionalism.

Persuasive Language in ELT-Related Ads on Social Media.

In line with the concept of mobile learning in English Language Teaching (ELT), the aim of this research is to explore how Iranian ELT practitioners take advantage of social media to propose supportive and impactful language learning programs by adhering to persuasive linguistic devices. The research design is nonexperimental and explorative. ELT-related commercial videos and pictures were identified on social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. We delved into the syntactic and pragmatic features of the data on ELT-related ads to identify the persuasive techniques and strategies these ads resort to for attracting language learners to online classes and services. To analyze the data, the widely-used and acknowledged Cialdini's (The psychology of persuasion, Quill William Morrow, 1984) principles of persuasion are employed. The results manifested that 'reciprocity' and 'scarcity' were the most used persuasive strategies, while 'commitment and consistency' and 'consensus' were the least favorable persuasion principles in these ads. The analysis of the Iranian ELT-related ads indicated that the language used within this context is purposeful and strategic. A contextual investigation of the ELT-related ads on social media can meaningfully contribute to social practices underlying English language pedagogy and digital literacy.

English Language Teachers’ Emotion Labor in Response to Online Teaching: An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach

Recent iterations of online education emphasize gaining a deeper understanding of teachers’ professional skills, competencies, and performances. In line with this growing scholarship, the present study adopted an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach and examined Iranian English language teachers’ emotion labor in response to online teaching. To this end, data were collected from semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and narrative frames. Data analysis revealed three themes defining the teachers’ emotion labor: clashes in effective student engagement, conflicts in effective material coverage, and tensions in delivering effective assessment. The study shows how online teaching played an overarching role in the multiplicity and fragmented nature of the teachers’ emotions and how the teachers engaged in surface and deep acting in accordance with the emerging particularities to respond to institutional expectations. Based on the findings, we provide implications for teacher educators and policymakers to run emotion labor-related professional development courses that account for teachers’ emotions and involve them in initiatives responding to their emotion work.

Novice language teacher identity construction: similarities, differences, and beyond

Abstract Scholarship on novice language teachers has often overlooked how novices comparatively develop personalized trajectories in the initial years. This study views novice-ness through the lens of identity construction and examines how three Iranian English language teachers in the first, second, and third years of teaching comparatively constructed their teacher identities. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, post-class discussions, and reflective journals. Data analyses revealed that the teachersʼ identity construction featured similarities (emotion labor, agency conflicts, and identity standard tensions) and differences (sense of belonging, future selves, and resistance). The study demonstrates that novice teachers’ identity construction is influenced by power relations and contextual discourses as well as particularities, which collectively, underscore the importance of reconceptualizing novice-ness in light of teachers’ identity-related professional development.

The role of institutional policy in English language teacher autonomy, agency, and identity: A poststructural perspective

Scholarship on language teacher autonomy and agency has demonstrated that both constructs are central components of teacher identity and, hence, teacher performance. However, few studies have examined the role of these constructs in language teacher identity, particularly how power mediates their co-constitutive implications for identity construction. Grounded in a poststructural standpoint, this study reports on how institutional power was a key factor in shaping Iranian English language teachers’ autonomy, agency, and identity construction. Drawing on data from narrative frames and semi-structured interviews, we show how institutional power discursively shaped the teachers’ professional performance in three major areas: (1) power as a normative impetus; (2) policies as hierarchical forces; and (3) power as weakening the nexus between autonomy and agency. Our findings reveal that in the space between power and practice, the teachers viewed institutional power as discursively constraining their own personalized understandings and performances. However, the teachers considered the overarching discourse that power bore as positive in helping establish systemic organization. The article closes with implications for teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers in establishing context-specific discourses that positively contribute to institutional and teacher growth.

Probing the Sociocultural Relevance of TESOL in Three Stories of Becoming an English Teacher

AbstractAlthough critical views of language education have redefined teacher roles, teachers' understanding of their own position within the ideological contestations surrounding language teaching is not widely investigated. This narrative study explores the perspectives of three Iranian English language teachers on the sociocultural roles and responsibilities that they may assume for themselves and examines how such perspectives are shaped. In extensive multi‐session narrative interviews, the participants shared their stories of becoming a teacher, starting from their retrospection on teacher roles during their language learning. Our narrative analysis depicts their different trajectories of shaping conceptions of language teachers' sociocultural roles in three stages: as a language learner, as a student teacher, and as a beginner teacher. On this basis, their narrative accounts of becoming English teachers appear to indicate that critical sociocultural views still play a marginal role in actual teacher preparation processes and the field needs to further embrace critical approaches to language teacher education aimed at raising English language teachers' awareness of their sociocultural responsibility. Moreover, our participants' narratives illustrate that understanding the genesis of language teachers' teaching philosophies requires a wide perspective of their long‐term background of learning (to teach) the language.