English as a foreign language—teachers’ perspectives on implementing online instruction in the Iranian EFL context

This study set out to explore Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions on the implementation of online EFL instruction. A mixed-methods design, including semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, was employed for the specific purposes of this study. A total of 242 EFL teachers participated in the questionnaire phase of the study. In addition, 46 EFL teachers participated in the interview phase of the study. The teachers worked at a number of universities, schools and language-teaching institutions in Iran. Results suggest that although the Iranian EFL teachers adopted moderately positive attitudes towards the implementation of online instruction, the majority of them preferred blended instruction to online instruction. At the same time, the study revealed that the implementation of online EFL instruction in Iran is challenging due to a number of perceived impediments and obstacles. The most considerable perceived challenges to the implementation of online EFL instruction comprise lack of online facilities and resources, lack of interaction in online instruction, cultural resistances to online instruction and teachers’ limited knowledge of online instruction. The findings of this study provided crucial insights into teachers’ perspectives on a number of measures that can be adopted to facilitate the integration of online instruction in the EFL context of Iran. The findings would provide valuable insights for educational authorities and course designers to integrate online instruction into the EFL curriculum.Keywords: online instruction; blended instruction; teachers' attitudes; challenges; English as a foreign language(Published: 14 March 2014)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2014, 22: 20142 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v22.20142

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Teachers’ Perspectives of the use of CLT in ELT Classrooms: A Case of Soran District of Northern Iraq

10.31235/osf.io/3pnh9 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Arab World English Journal ◽

Serwan Husein Taha SHERWANI ◽

Mehmet KILIÇ

Keyword(s):

Communicative Language Teaching ◽

Second Phase ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Northern Iraq ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Teacher Factors ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Teachers Attitudes ◽

Teachers Perspectives

This mixed-method study aims at exploring Iraqi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ attitudes towards Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). The study was conducted in Soran town, in the northern part of Iraq. The participants of the study were 58 EFL teachers from secondary and high school classrooms. In the first phase, a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire was administered (Karavas-Doukas, 1996) to examine the participants’ attitudes towards CLT principles: “place/importance of grammar, group/pair work, quality and quantity of error correction, the role of the teacher in the classroom, the role and contribution of learners in the learning process.” The second phase of the study was qualitative and consisted of semi-structured interviews to examine the reasons behind the implementation of CLT in terms of the factors that hinder and encourage the implementation of CLT in the Iraqi setting. The results of the quantitative analysis revealed that the teachers held overall positive attitudes towards the use of CLT. The findings of the interview phase concluded that the main factors that cause the failure and success of the implementation of CLT in Iraq can be categorized under four headings: educational factors, teacher factors, student factors, and CLT factors. The results of the study suggest that the educational system and the teachers’ communicative competence are essential to promote the employment of CLT in Iraqi EFL classrooms.

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Investigating Omani College Teachers’ Perspective on Critical Media Literacy

Arab World English Journal ◽

10.24093/awej/mec2.19 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 259-272

Author(s):

Asma Al Aufi

Keyword(s):

Media Literacy ◽

English Language ◽

Middle Eastern ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Social Progress ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Critical Media Literacy ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Critical Media

Despite the numerous benefits presented within Critical Media Literacy (CML) in understanding societies, cultures, and even our values globally, the lack of teacher preparation, including English language teachers, in teaching (CML) skills remains noteworthy. Such education could arm teachers with sufficient media literacy competence to pass on to students’ capabilities in democratic self-expression and social progress. The research gap that exists, therefore, leads to this qualitative research study where the aim is to explore how a group of five College EFL teachers in a Middle Eastern institution in Oman relate to critical media awareness. This is by deconstructing a US film entitled ‘Freedom Writers’ (2007) to discuss issues related to social injustice, prejudice, and violence in society. The method used to collect data was semi-structured interviews. The interview questions, guided by a semiotic Inquiry Graphics (IG) approach, aimed to capture those EFL teachers’ interpretations, values, and beliefs relevant to CML and their subsequent intentions to teach CML in their future English classrooms. The findings suggest that although the teachers demonstrated positive attitudes and increased awareness of CML, they lacked confidence in applying it and needed to expand their perceptions of CML further. Generally, they viewed CML as being helpful for students in its ability to develop their criticality and citizenship. However, the teachers stressed the harsh realities of a packed curriculum and restrictive program requirements that may obstruct any comprehensive implementation of CML education at a university level, an issue that merits further consideration.

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An Investigation on EFL Teachers’ Attitude toward Teaching Profession

Higher Education Studies ◽

10.5539/hes.v6n3p21 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 21 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Reyhan Agcam ◽

Muzaffer Pinar Babanoglu

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Attitude Scale ◽

Teaching Profession ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Professional Performance ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Teachers Attitudes ◽

Education In Turkey

Teaching is described as a demanding job that requires in-depth knowledge of subject content, age-specific pedagogy, and many varied skills such as patience, leadership, and creativity. Teaching a foreign language constitutes another challenge for the teachers who are already attached the primary liability in raising generations for contributing to the development of their country. Considering that foreign language teachers’ attitudes toward their job largely influence their professional performance, this study aims to scrutinize whether attitude of EFL teachers toward teaching profession significantly differ across level of educational institutions where they are working. Accordingly, an attitude scale was administered to EFL teachers working at state primary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education in Turkey. The results indicated that the majority of the participants have positive attitudes toward their job despite problems they encounter while performing it. The study reported and discussed research findings in comprehensively, and offered a few pedagogical implications, and suggestions for further directions.

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Exploring EFL Teachers’ Socioaffective and Pedagogic Strategies and Students’ Willingness to Communicate with a Focus on Iranian Culture

Education Research International ◽

10.1155/2019/3464163 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Nahid Zarei ◽

Mahnaz Saeidi ◽

Saeideh Ahangari

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Social Factors ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Focus Group Interview ◽

Willingness To Communicate ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Foreign Language Teachers ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

Teachers Perspectives

One of the most important factors related to learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) is teachers’ use of socioaffective and pedagogic strategies, which are tightly related to cultural context of education. The present qualitative study, using focus group interview, investigated 19 EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ perspectives about their socioaffective and pedagogic strategy use in intermediate classes, with a focus on Iranian culture, as an effort to understand to what extent these strategies are facilitating or debilitating of students’ WTC. Using Creswell’s six steps of inductive analysis, two main themes of facilitating and hindering factors emerged. The findings are suggestive in terms of contribution of several cultural and social factors related to the interaction between EFL teachers and students and its relation to WTC. It also discusses the implications of the study for EFL teachers.

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A Sociocultural Perspective on English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) Teachers’ Cognitions About Form-Focused Instruction

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.593172 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Qiang Sun ◽

Lawrence Jun Zhang

Keyword(s):

Teacher Education ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Research Output ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Sociocultural Factors ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Focus On Form ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Beliefs About Teaching

There has been much research into teacher beliefs about teaching and learning as seen in the general teacher education literature. In the field of language teacher education, this line of research has been evolving, with the recent trend being streamlined into “teacher cognition” as a generic or umbrella term. Despite increasing amounts of research output so far, research into foreign language teachers’ cognitions about their own teaching and decision-making is still insufficient, particularly with regard to university-level English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in China. Drawing on Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, this qualitative research focused on EFL teachers’ cognitions about form-focused instruction in Chinese university settings. It intended to discover how teachers’ cognitions changed when they were expected to teach in actual classrooms and what factors contributed to these changes. Data collected from four teacher-participants through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and follow-up stimulated recall interviews showed participants’ support for focus-on-form instruction, which means they not only paid attention to the grammatical form of the language but also to the meaning it is intended to convey. However, data also showed that the teacher-participants shifted from focus-on-form to focus-on-formS instruction in actual teaching, which suggests that they might have realized the challenges of carrying out teaching activities surrounding focus-on-form and would like to take an easier approach by only teaching the grammar of the language by focusing on formS. Such incongruences are interpreted with reference to a plethora of sociocultural factors including traditional Chinese thinking and institutional expectations. The implications of the findings for stakeholders in universities, including faculty members, students, and curriculum developers in similar contexts, are also discussed.

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Investigating Omani College Teachers’ Perspective on Critical Media Literacy

10.31235/osf.io/b36pk ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Asma Al Aufi

Keyword(s):

Media Literacy ◽

English Language ◽

Middle Eastern ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Social Progress ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Critical Media Literacy ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Critical Media

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Exploring the consequences of teachers’ self-efficacy: a case of teachers of English as a foreign language

Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education ◽

10.1186/s40862-020-00102-1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Goudarz Alibakhshi ◽

Fariborz Nikdel ◽

Akram Labbafi

Keyword(s):

Job Satisfaction ◽

Qualitative Research ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Teaching Practices ◽

Research Method ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Qualitative Research Method ◽

Burn Out ◽

Efl Teachers

AbstractTeacher self-efficacy has been abundantly studied. However, it seems that the consequences of teachers’ self-efficacy have not been appropriately explored yet. The research objective was to investigate the consequences of teachers’ teaching self-efficacy. The researchers used a qualitative research method. They collected the data through semi-structured interviews with 20 EFL teachers who were selected through purposive sampling. The interviews were content analyzed thematically. Findings showed that self-efficacy has different consequences: pedagogical, learner-related, and psychological. Each consequence has several sub-categories. It is concluded that high self-efficacy affects teachers’ teaching practices, learners’ motivation, and achievement. It also affects teachers’ burn-out status, psychological being, as well as their job satisfaction. The findings can be theoretically and pedagogically important to EFL teachers, teacher-trainers, and administrators of educational settings.

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Towards Understanding EFL Teachers’ Conceptions of Research: Findings From Argentina

PROFILE Issues in Teachers Professional Development ◽

10.15446/profile.v20n1.61881 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 57-72

Author(s):

Darío Luis Banegas

Keyword(s):

Action Research ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Teacher Development ◽

Quantitative Data ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Foreign Language Teachers ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Research Findings

This paper investigates the conceptions of research held by English as a foreign language teachers in Argentina. Quantitative data from 622 participants from an online questionnaire were followed by qualitative data from online interviews with 40 of those participants. Results show that the teachers conceptualised research through conventional notions closer to a quantitative paradigm. They felt research was not part of their job, and a lack of time was the main reason for not engaging in/with research. Teacher development, agency, empowerment, and autonomy could be sought by engaging teachers with forms of research which are meaningful to them, such as action research.

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The Influence of Educational Programme on Teachers’ Error Correction Preferences in the Speaking Skill: Insights from English as a Foreign Language Context

International Education Studies ◽

10.5539/ies.v9n6p76 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 76

Author(s):

Emre Debreli ◽

Nazife Onuk

Keyword(s):

Student Achievement ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Error Correction ◽

Corrective Feedback ◽

Educational Programme ◽

Classroom Observations ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Efl Teachers ◽

Speaking Skill ◽

Language Context

In the area of language teaching, corrective feedback is one of the popular and hotly debated topics that have been widely explored to date. A considerable number of studies on students’ preferences of error correction and the effects of error correction approaches on student achievement do exist. Moreover, much on teachers’ preferences of error correction approaches has also been explored. However, less seems to be done with regard to teachers’ practices of error correction approaches, especially in the area of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The present study explored EFL teacher’s preferences of error correction approaches in the speaking skill, and further focused on whether the teachers were able to employ the approaches they preferred in their classrooms. Data were collected from a group of 17 EFL teachers, through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The findings revealed that although the teachers had clear preferences for error correction approaches, they could not employ them in their classrooms owing to the educational programme constraints. Furthermore, it was observed that they often had to adopt approaches that they were not actually in favour of. Implications for programme and curriculum designers are further discussed.

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Autonomy Perceptions from Teachers of English as a Foreign Language in Diverse Colombian Public Teaching Settings

Studies in English Language Teaching ◽

10.22158/selt.v7n2p148 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 148

Author(s):

Dr. David Wealthy Guerrero

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Foreign Language ◽

English Language ◽

Research Question ◽

General Purpose ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Teachers Perceptions ◽

Research Production ◽

English Language Teachers

This qualitative descriptive case study reports the features in autonomy dynamics of three Colombian English language teachers in public schools in the District in Bogota Colombia. Three semi-structured interviews and reflective journals were used for data collection. The research question that guided this study was: What perceptions about autonomy do the three Colombian English language teachers have? The general purpose of this investigation was to identify the main features in teachers’ perceptions related to Autonomy. The specific objective was to identify the strategies that promoted autonomy in Teachers of English as a Foreign Language -TEFL- in different public schools in Bogota, Colombia. The study is, therefore, particularly significant as it can play a role in encouraging Colombian English as a Foreign Language -EFL- teachers to relate the factors needed to get a high quality in Education dynamics. Data indicated that the process heightened the teachers’ awareness of ‘self’ and practice. Autonomy also activated both the teachers’ ability to critically reflect on their context as well as focus on positive aspects of their practice through the willingness to improve their academic abilities and research production. Taken together, the findings serve as baseline data to further professional development in language assessment.

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