Iranian Teachers Research Articles

Administrational Factors as Predictors of Teacher Burnout across Iranian and Turkish EFL Teachers

The study aimed at measuring the perceived burnout levels of Iranian (N= 230) and Turkish (N=156) EFL teachers and determining the role of four administrational factors (i.e., Teacher Autonomy, Reward Adequacy, Fairness, and Fringe Benefits) in predicting EE, DP and PA burnout processes across Iranian and Turkish EFL teachers. The MBI-ES was used to measure the perceived burnout levels of the participants, and a four-dimension scale (41 items) was developed based on the literature study to measure the participants’ perceptions in these four areas. The average internal consistency reliability of the 41-item scale was r = 0.703. The results of t-tests analyses showed that there was a slight significant difference between Iranian and Turkish groups only in EE burnout processes. Moreover, the results of regression analyses showed that EE, DP, and PA subscales were better predicted by Fairness factor among Iranian teachers, while by Teacher Autonomy among Turkish teachers. Finally, the contrasted results also revealed that Teacher Autonomy, Reward Adequacy, and Fairness factors had cross-culturally discriminatory roles, while Fringe Benefits factor did not have.

Teacher Autonomy Perceptions of Iranian and Turkish EFL Teachers

The study aimed at examining Iranian (N= 218) and Turkish (N=142) high school EFL teachers’ opinions about teacher autonomy over (a) the choice of appropriate teaching methods, strategies and techniques and implementation of the established curriculum (b) teacher involvement in decision making processes and (c) teachers’ use of personal initiative in solving their work problems. An 11-item questionnaire (α= .758) was used to measure autonomy perceptions of the participants. The results revealed that Turkish teachers’ autonomy perceptions were greater than that of Iranian teachers in the three teacher autonomy dimensions. Moreover, it was observed that male and master- holder teachers perceive less autonomy than female and bachelor-holder ones; whereas, no significant relationship were observed for the age and marital status variables with any teacher autonomy dimensions. Lastly, decision making dimension was the strongest predictor of teacher autonomy among both Iranian and Turkish teachers.

Critical thinking across the ELT curriculum: A mixed methods approach to analyzing L2 teachers’ attitudes towards critical thinking instruction

The underlying assumption of recent ideas of applied ELT, life syllabus and educational language teaching is that ELT professionals should center their attention on the enhancement of learners’ life skills, say, critical thinking prior to language-related skills. Despite the high premium placed on enhancing the critical thinking abilities in educational policies, and granted that English language classes have unique potentials for promoting learners’ life skills such as critical thinking, it seems that ELT teachers are lacking in a true understanding of what critical thinking really means and whether or not it should be incorporated into the ELT curriculum. In the present study, EFL teachers in Iran were surveyed and interviewed regarding such a necessity. The first phase involved the collection of quantitative data via the administration of a short scale comprising Likert-style questions to Iranian EFL teachers (N = 106). Analysis of the questionnaire results revealed that EFL teachers tended to express strong support for the incorporation of critical thinking into the ELT curriculum. Follow-up face-to-face interviews were carried out with a subsample (N = 5) selected from Phase 1 participants. The interview results added more plausibility to the survey results. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

A Descriptive Study on Corrective Feedback and Learners’ Uptake during Interactions in a Communicative EFL Class

The current observational and descriptive study makes an attempt to present the interactional discourse patterns of corrective feedback (CF) and uptake occuring in a communicative adolescent EFL class. Using Lyster and Ranta’s corrective discourse model (1997), this study intends to investigate, describe, and analyze the discourse patterns of corrective feedback utilized by an Iranian teacher and also their relationship to the learner’s uptake and the repair of those errors. Transcripts totaling 16 hours of classroom interaction included 181 episodes, each containing a trigger (error) produced by the learner, a CF move from the teacher and a learner’s subsequent uptake in response to the CF. The findings obtained from such context reveal the ratio and distribution of the six different feedback types as well as those of different kinds of learner’s uptake and immediate repair of errors.

Acoustic Analysis of Voice: Iranian Teachers

In Iran, the total number of elementary schoolteachers is estimated to be nearly 300 000 people and this population is at risk for developing voice disorders. Acoustical characteristics of voice for schoolteachers in Iran are unknown but are relevant to the quantitative description, diagnosis, intervention, reassessment, and outcomes of their voices. Fifteen female and 15 male Iranian primary schoolteachers in the age range of 35-40 years with 15 years teaching experience volunteered to participate in the study. The control group consisted of 30 Iranian adults aged 35-40 years (15 men and 15 women). Recordings and audio signal analyses were carried out using Praat software. Each subject was asked to sustain the vowel /â/ using habitual and constant vocal pitch, loudness, and quality for at least 5 seconds. Five tokens from each subject were obtained. For the male subjects, the results indicated no significant difference (at the 0.05 level) for each variable between the two groups. However, for the female subjects, t tests showed significant differences between the teachers and the nonteacher controls in all parameters at the 0.01 level. The Iranian female teachers had significantly lower F(0) (190.27 Hz) than the control group (236.32 Hz). Also, for the perturbation acoustic parameters (jitter% and shimmer%), the female teacher group had significantly higher values than their corresponding control group. Similarly, the harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) measures for the Iranian female teacher population were significantly lower than for their corresponding control group. The results indicate that female Iranian teachers appear to be more susceptible to voice stability change than the male Iranian teachers. Also, acoustic analysis of voice for teachers may significantly contribute to the objective voice examination of this group. Further investigations of factors that promote individual susceptibility to vocal stability are necessary.

The Relationship between Iranian EFL Instructors’ Understanding of Learning Styles and Their Students’ Success in Reading Comprehension

Many variables reasonably influence teachers’ education. One of these considering variables is being aware of the students’ learning styles. Dörnyei (2005) maintains that individual differences correlate strongly with L2 achievements. Keefe (1979) believes that learning styles might be thought of as cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment. The present study investigated the relationship between Iranian EFL instructors’ understanding of learning styles and their students’ success in reading comprehension tests. To achieve this goal, the researchers randomly selected 240 Iranian EFL instructors at tertiary level with more than three years of experience in teaching reading comprehension courses. The Teacher’s View over Students’ Learning Preferences Inventory (TVSLPI) as well as a test of language proficiency (MELAB) was employed as the study’s instruments. The findings revealed a significant relationship (p?0.05) between the Iranian EFL instructors’ recognition of learning styles and their students’ success in reading comprehension test. Besides, the results of interviews showed that Iranian instructors have approximately similar attitudes toward teaching reading comprehension in Iranian contexts.

The Relationship between Iranian ELT Instructors’ Beliefs about Language Teaching and Their Practices in Real Classrooms

Teachers play different roles in multidimensional process of language teaching and their beliefs about language teaching might influence their practices. Donaghue (2003) stated that beliefs guide teachers in their practice. However, Argyris and Schon (1978) claimed that there is almost a discrepancy between teachers’ beliefs about language teaching and their practices in the classrooms. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationship between Iranian ELT instructors’ beliefs about language teaching and their real practices in classrooms. To achieve this goal, the researchers accidentally selected 369 Iranian ELT instructors and 512 Iranian students. To collect the required data, the researchers employed Teacher’s Beliefs Questionnaire (TBQ) to elicit instructors’ beliefs about language teaching and Students’ Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ) to elicit to what extent Iranian instructors applied their beliefs in their practices. Besides, to verify the results of questionnaires, the researchers interviewed nine instructors. The results revealed a positive significant relationship (p?0.05) between instructors’ beliefs about language teaching and their real practices in classrooms. The findings proposed some applicable implications that can be applied by policy makers and curriculum designers to provide facilities to support reflective teaching and to improve teacher education programs.

EFL Teachers′ Beliefs and Performances on Code Switching (Iranian Setting)

Code switching occurs when bilinguals of two or more languages use them in the same discourse. There are different reasons why and several manners how EFL teachers apply this strategy in their classroom setting. Different instructional, cognitive, affective, and behavioral purposes underlies code switching strategy. It can foster different skills and components of language when care and attention is fully given to the tasks. Removing learners' emotional impediments like anxiety, lack of self confidence and weak self esteem in language learning is the outcome of its affective aim. This study was done to find the Iranian teachers' functions, manner, reasons, and contributions of Code-switching in their teaching process. The participants were 20 English teachers from several universities located in North of Iran. They were provided with some interview questions on Code Switching. The analysis of the answers was an indication of similarities and differences in their beliefs and performances on this strategy in their teaching process.

Motivational changes of learners in a traditional context of English education: A case study of high school students in Iran

One of the underexplored areas of research within the language learning literature has been investigating the role of various contextual factors which affect second/foreign language motivation. Since foreign language teaching in Iran is relatively unique in terms of teaching and learning environment, the present study examined the combined effects of these contextual characteristics on the motivational changes of students after four years of learning English at high schools. The data was collected by administering a valid and reliable questionnaire which measured ‘L2 Motivational Self System’ of 401 Iranian high school students. Results of descriptive statistics showed that all the motivational variables decline during the last years of high school English language teaching and only ‘L2 anxiety’ increases. According to the results of Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test, the declines in ‘interest’, ‘ideal L2 self’ and ‘instrumental-promotion’ are statistically significant. The study concluded that these changes in students’ motivation are due to the effects of the traditional teaching and learning environment and conservative policies of foreign language teaching. Obviously, increasing learner motivation in this context of English teaching requires scientific reforms within the educational system.

Teachers’ professional identity: Contributions of a critical EFL teacher education course in Iran

This paper is a report on contributions of a critical EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher education course to Iranian teachers’ professional identity reconstruction.22My preference for the word reconstruction rather than construction is inspired by the constructivist belief that student teachers, pre-service and in-service, bring prior experiences and personal values and beliefs to teacher education programs, and, thus, their professional identities have already been partly constructed. Pre-course and post-course interviews with seven teachers, their reflective journals, class discussions, and the teacher educator’s reflective journals were analyzed as guided by grounded theory. Three major shifts were observed in their professional identities: from conformity to and romanticization of dominant ideologies to critical autonomy, from no orientation or an instrumentalist orientation to a critical/transformative orientation of teaching, and from a linguistic and technical view to an educational view of second language education.

The Moral Core of Teaching

Kirsi Tirri 1 and Elizabeth Campbell 2 and Liam Gearon 3 and Terence J. Lovat 4 1, Department of Teacher Education, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland 2, Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1V6, Canada 3, Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PY, UK 4, Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, NSW 2308, AustraliaReceived 18 July 2012; Accepted 18 July 2012This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Nowadays, schools all over the world are under pressure to create safe, orderly, and effective learning environments wherein students can acquire social as well as academic skills, which will allow them to succeed in school and beyond. Over the last two decades, student populations--as well as those of teachers--have become increasingly diverse. Students and teachers sharing the same school can come from a broad range of cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. Schools face the challenge of creating pedagogical environments that are sensitive to numerous individual backgrounds in order to support students' social and academic success. In this kind of educational atmosphere, the moral core of teaching and the teacher's role as a moral educator are important issues in school pedagogy. Furthermore, updated research illustrates that pedagogy imbued with a moral core has ramifications for student well-being and achievement.The main focus of this special issue is on the moral core of teaching. It is an international forum for researchers to summarize the most recent developments and ideas in the field, with special emphasis given to the role that teachers should play in moral education. In this special issue, we have nine papers from three different countries, Finland, the Netherlands, and Iran. These three countries represent very different academic, religious, and sociological contexts for education. Finland is known to be Europe's highest achiever in international PISA tests in mathematics, science, and reading and was also the first Nordic country to establish the Ethical Code for Teachers in 1998. Six papers from Finland discuss the moral core of teaching in different contexts, including early education, elementary and secondary school, science education, and teacher education. Two papers from Iran deal with Iranian teachers' moral competence and discuss the moral nature of teaching in an Islamic country. …

The Relationship Between Locus of Control (Internal – External) and Happiness in Pre-elementary Teachers in Iran

The present study attempts to investigate the relationship between Locus of control (Loc) and happiness through determining Loc orientation and measuring the rate of happiness. For this purpose 84 pre-elementary teachers in the city of Mashhad were asked to respond to three questionnaires including: Oxford's happiness, Rotter's Loc and selective individual traits. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics and the main objectives of the study were obtained through Pearson's correlation and independent “t” tests. Results revealed a significant negative relationship between these two variables. Moreover,There were significant differences among teachers with various educational background regarding Loc and happiness.

Teaching the Four Skills in Iranian Pre-University Schools

Teaching English as a foreign is one of the most important subjects in education. The main purpose of the present study was to provide some guides that can be useful for language teachers who teach English as foreign language in pre-university in Iran. Using these guides helps them to create the useful methods for teaching that are different from traditional methods. Today most Iranian teachers who teach English in pre-university level don’t pay attention to the correct pronunciation, in some cases, they only focus on teaching grammar without paying attention to the purpose of learning language in this level. So some students, after coming to the university have problems with English as a foreign language, hi this study, we are going to solve these problems. Our statistical society was 200 students who studied in pre-university in Kermanshah. They were selected through Simple Random sampling. After using our new guides for teaching, ANOVA (direct analyze variance) test was used to compare these200 students’ scores with another students that their teacher used traditional methods. As a result of this research the scores of students using the new guides were higher than another group who were taught through traditional method. It is recommended that teacher specially teachers who teach in high school and pre-university should update their methods of teaching.

An Investigation into Ambiguity Tolerance in Iranian Senior EFL Undergraduates

The present study aimed to explore how tolerant of ambiguity Iranian EFL learners at university level are and if gender plays a role in this regard. To this end , upon filling in the revised SLTAS scale of ambiguity tolerance 194 male and female Iranian teacher trainees were assigned to three ambiguity tolerance groups; namely, high, moderate and low. Cluster analysis of the SLTAS scores indicated that Iranian EFL learners were mostly moderate as far as tolerance of ambiguity was concerned. Examining the gender differences through an independent sample t-test manifested that female participants were less tolerant of ambiguity than their male peers. Also, the differences between the expected and observed number of participants categorized in the three AT groups were non-significant undermining the role of gender as a moderator variable in assigning participants to AT groups and further approving of SLTAS validity. Implications for classroom practice are presented in the light of findings. The results are helpful in syllabus design and teaching methodology.

Elementary school staff knowledge and attitude with regard to first‐aid management of dental trauma in Iran: a basic premise for developing future intervention

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Iranian teachers' knowledge and attitude with regard to emergency management of dental trauma. A four-part questionnaire, including demographic data, knowledge, attitude, and self-assessment, was given to 422 teachers from 14 schools. Data obtained from 400 completed questionnaires were statistically analyzed using t-test, one-way anova and Pearson correlation coefficient. It was found that there was no statistically significant difference between knowledge and demographic variations (P > 0.05). However, there was a moderate positive association between knowledge and attitude toward emergency management of dental trauma (r = 0.38, P = 0.0001). The outcome indicated completely inadequate knowledge regarding the management of tooth fracture and avulsion. Most participants (94.3%) were unsatisfied with their awareness and suggested that further education on the topic should be offered. The present study revealed considerably low knowledge of the participants regarding the first-aid management of dental trauma for the study group. As teachers get an opportunity to attend a case of dental trauma, strategies to improve the teachers' knowledge seem crucial.

Functions of code-switching among Iranian advanced and elementary teachers and students

This paper reports on the findings of a study carried out on the advanced and elementary teachers' and students' functions and patterns of code-switching in Iranian English classrooms. This concept has not been adequately examined in L2 (second language) classroom contexts than in outdoor natural contexts. Therefore, besides reporting on the findings of the study, the paper also argues for bringing the use of L1 (first language), more narrowly code-switching, into the classroom and emancipating both teachers and students from the shackles of traditional approaches to teaching which were strongly against the process of code-switching and considered it as a debilitative behavior in the classroom. To this end, 60 Iranian students and 30 Iranian teachers were selected to come up with the data of this study which were sought through two sets of questionnaires, one for the teachers and the other for the students. Each one of the participants was given the questionnaire and some time to fill it in based on what he/she has remembered from their classes. Findings revealed that the elementary teachers and students, for most of the functions, ranked higher than their advanced counterparts, which is still quite indicative of the practice of the traditional methods in the classroom. The reasons why it turned out so is in detail explained, and the pedagogical implications are also accordingly examined. Key words: Code-switching, teachers, students.

The Relationship between Self-efficacy and Stress among Iranian EFL Teachers

This study investigated the relationship between self- efficacy and stress among 108 EFL teachers in Iran. The participants were administered self-efficacy and stress questionnaires. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression analyses were used. The results indicated significant negative correlation between self efficacy and stress. Also it was found that both dimensions of self-efficacy, namely, classroom and organizational efficacies, either collectively or separately, could predict stress among EFL teachers. Implications of the study are discussed.

Effective Foreign Language Teaching: a Matter of Iranian Students’ and Teachers’ Beliefs

This paper reports on a study that investigated the beliefs about language learning of 120 Iranian EFL students and 16 EFL teachers. The primary aim of the study was to reveal whether there was any difference between the beliefs of Iranian students and teachers regarding different aspects of language learning such as grammar teaching, error correction, culture, target language use, computer-based technology, communicative language teaching strategies and assessment. Data were collected using a 24-item questionnaire. It was concluded that there were some differences between the Iranian students’ and teachers’ beliefs regarding what procedures were most effective in bringing about language learning. Discussion of the findings and implications for further research are also articulated.

A Qualitative Analysis of ELT in the Language Institutes of Iran in the Light of the Theory of ‘World Englishes’

This study seeks to analyze English language teaching and learning in the informal context of education in Iran from the perspective of the theory of World Englishes. The qualitative data consisted of a total of 182-minute recording of 25 subjects' interviews and observation of seven 100-minute classes. The results revealed that most Iranian teachers' and learners' viewpoints are in contrast with the key concepts and tenets of the theory of World and that their teaching and learning practices are far from adherence to this theory. These findings further supported the claim that Iran's ELT still lives in the modernist era by believing in a world English rather than world Englishes and in the importance of conforming to it.

Investigating High School Teachers’ Belief Regarding Teaching Grammar

Although there is an ever increasing interest in the issue of teacher belief systems in mainstream education studies, the beliefs of EFL teachers, especially Iranian teachers‟, about grammar and the influence of such beliefs on their instruction remain relatively unexplored. The present study seeks to examine high school teachers‟ belief regarding teaching grammar. To do so a grammar belief questionnaire and an interview were administered. The result showed that although teachers were compelled by the curriculum and students needs to teach grammar explicitly through present, practice, produce (P.P.P) approach they were well aware of some tenets of focus on form instruction of grammar and valued learning grammar in communicative meaningful activities.