The Effect of Teacher Supervision Through Standard TPD Model on Different Components of Professional Development of Iranian EFL Experienced versus Novice Teachers
Subject Areas : Sociolinguistics Studies
Ashraf Montaseri
1
,
Reza Pajoohan Doost
2
*
,
Davood Ghahramani
3
1 - Department of English Language, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of English Language, Garmsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran
3 - Assistant Prof., Dept. of English Language, Garmsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran
Keywords: Four-stage supervision model, Novice and experienced EFL teachers, Standard TPD Model, Teachers’ professional development (TPD), Teacher supervision,
Abstract :
Previous studies in the Iranian EFL context reported that supervisors apply autocratic observation and restrict teachers without providing any helpful recommendations, they also claimed that EFL teachers supposed supervisors as fault finders and supervision practices as paperwork. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of a new four-stage teacher supervision model through a Standard TPD Model on different components of professional development of Iranian EFL experienced versus novice teachers. The participants of the study were 100 novice and 100 experienced male and female EFL teachers with different academic degrees from different regions of Alborz Province. After the distribution of the TPD questionnaire, the participants’ classes were observed, and appropriate feedback was given, A gathering was held, and all the information regarding the procedure of a TPD course was declared. After that, the participants attended a TPD course through which all the components and subcomponents of the standard TPD model were taught theoretically and practically, thereafter the second series of observations were carried out, and the same TPD questionnaire was distributed again. Finally, 30 experienced and 30 novice teachers as representatives of the population were randomly interviewed. Quantitative results revealed that supervision through the Standard TPD Model had a significantly positive effect on all the main and sub-components of professional development in the Iranian experienced and novice EFL teachers and the two groups were not significantly different, except for the sub-component of lesson presentation. This study had some implications for the policy-makers, school principals, teacher supervisors, and teachers.
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Research Paper
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Ashraf Montaseri1, Reza Pajoohan Doost2*, Davood Ghahremani3 1Ph.D. Candidate, Department of English, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2Assistant Professor, Department of English, Garmsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran 3Assistant Professor, Department of English, Garmsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran
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INTRODUCTION
Supervision emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and was administered intensively in the 18th century. It is an incisive strategy that has a vital role in language teachers’ professional development (Chen & Cheng, 2013), classroom management, and teaching practices (Hoque et al., 2020). Evaluative supervision which is conducted for rating teachers based on their performance in the classroom (Amini & Gholami, 2018; Glickman et al., 2005; Nolan & Hoover, 2007; Pawlas & Oliva, 2007) can improve teachers’ performance or disappoint them (Danielson & McGreal, 2000). Supervisor feedback (Amini & Gholami, 2018; Baniabdelrahman, 2004) may threaten the self-image of teachers or motivate them to do better performance and cause growth in the education system (Teddlie et al., 2003), and students’ achievement.
Vast human and financial resources have been expended on teacher development programs (Ghoshooni, 1995; Khany & Azimi Amoli, 2016) but appropriate results are not met, yet. As Moradi et al. (2014) reported, language instructors were the followers of supervisors and performers of imposed prescriptions and predetermined models of teaching. In addition, Amini and Gholami (2018) claimed that supervisors apply autocratic observation and just restrict the teachers without providing any helpful recommendations. It was also found that less experienced teachers had more negative attitudes toward supervision practice than more experienced teachers (Rahmany et al., 2014), and they supposed supervisors as fault finders that report their weaknesses to the school managers (Zepeda & Ponticell, 1998). Hence, it is necessary to employ qualified supervisors and evaluators to improve the quality of language instruction (Mette et al., 2020), help teachers to connect theory to practice (Diacopoulos & Butler, 2020), foster their growth, and enhance learners’ achievement (Brandon et al., 2018) based on their needs and their parents’ satisfaction (Janssens & van Amelsvoort, 2008).
During the history of teacher supervision in Iran, there were many supervisors and a lot of programs but they did not meet the predetermined goals and teachers’ expectations. Maybe the programs were not suitable and efficient, or they were not fulfilled as they should. Therefore, expert and professional supervisors should administer more efficient supervision programs to solve some problems of teachers. On the other hand, as Azizpour and Gholami (2021a) stated, investigating teachers’ attitudes toward teacher supervision can inform school principals, supervisors, and EFL teachers of the nature of teacher supervision and increase the benefits of supervisory practices. Considering these reports, the researchers attempted to do this research to change the procedure of teacher supervision by presenting a new model and changing teachers' perceptions toward supervision programs.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Supervision
Gebhard (1990) defines supervision in teacher education as “an ongoing process of teacher education in which the supervisor observes what goes on in the teacher's classroom with an eye toward the goal of improved instruction” (p. 1). Amini and Gholami (2018) define supervision as “an evaluative process which can lead to some improvements within the area of education” (p. 103).
Moradi et al. (2014) explored the perceptions of EFL teachers concerning being observed during teaching by a supervisor. It was found that teachers tried to please the supervisors, they were worried about their scores and their consequences. Sometimes they believed observation and feedback were superficial and sometimes they felt, the supervisors were intentionally finding weaknesses, causing trouble and damaging their confidence.
Azizpour and Gholami (2021b) investigated EFL teachers’ attitudes toward supervision in Iranian language schools. The findings revealed that a great number of the participants found the implemented supervision useful for themselves and necessary for novice teachers; however, some had negative attitudes toward supervision and their supervisors’ feedback. For supervision improvement, they suggested the development of transparent criteria and the discontinuation of unannounced observation.
Teachers’ Professional Development (TPD)
TPD programs assist teachers to develop their competence and improve their teaching performance (Arjmand et al., 2021).
Karanfi̇l and Atay (2020) was conducted in government schools in Turkey. The participants of the study were six novice teachers with less than two years of experience. It was found that mentoring and teacher involvement programs should be given priority within professional development programs. It was also detected that factors such as appropriate seminars, the physical condition of schools, and other teacher involvement programs should be taken into consideration for well-being of the novice state school teachers.
Jamalizade and Fatehi Rad (2022a) analyzed the EFL teachers’ barriers to professional development as well as the relationship between EFL teachers’ gender, level of education, and teaching experience and their barriers to continuous PD. The study participants were 41 EFL teachers from different language institutes in Kerman, Iran. The data were gathered through a questionnaire focusing on EFL teachers' barriers. The results indicated that teachers' barriers referred to system and schools rather than personal matters. It was supposed that the educational system does not support and encourage PD activities or the teachers believe PD programs should be administered in schools. Further, it was found that there is no significant difference between male and female EFL teachers’ barriers and constraints in their PD. Furthermore, the results showed that there is not any significant difference between teachers' level of education and teaching experience and their barriers and constraints for PD.
Jamalizade and Fatehi Rad (2022b) investigated a sample of EFL teachers’ motivations to engage in continuous professional development. It also examined the influence of gender, academic degree, and work experience on EFL teachers’ motivations in CPD. The study participants were 41 EFL teachers working at various language schools in Kerman, Iran. The instrument was an online survey focusing on EFL teachers' motivation. The results of the study revealed that English teachers have different motivational factors. It was also found that there is no significant difference in EFL teachers' context regarding gender or university level of education and teaching experience.
Novice and Experienced Teachers
Novice teacher is a teacher with less than two years of experience (Gatbonton, 2008) and experienced teacher is a teacher with more than three years of experience (Tesfaw & Hofman, 2012).
Tesfaw and Hofman (2012) investigated the viewpoints of instructors about instructional supervision in secondary schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The purpose of the study was to determine the difference between experienced and novice instructors' attitudes toward supervisory practices and their relationship with perceived professional development. The findings indicated that there was not any significant difference between experienced and novice instructors' perceptions of supervisory practices. It was concluded that instructors' attitudes had the most significant role in their professional development and growth.
Rahmany et al. (2014) explored the Iranian EFL teachers’ attitude toward supervision, and also examined the relationship between teachers’ teaching experience and their attitude toward classroom supervision. It was found that teachers with less than five years of experience were more influenced by the supervision process. They believed that supervision programs were very important for their classroom improvement and their teaching skills. The most pessimist teachers had six to ten years of experience. The results of the qualitative analysis revealed that the supervision program seemed to be only paperwork for teachers with more than 16 years of experience.
Estaji and Ghiasvand (2022) examined the perceptions of Iranian EFL teachers with different experience levels toward various supervisory practices and their contribution to teacher pedagogical growth. It was found that both novice and experienced teachers had a negative view concerning the existing supervision system in Iran and there was not any significant difference between the novice and experienced EFL teachers’ attitudes about classroom supervision. Both groups considered supervision a bureaucratic, fault-finding, confidence-reducing practice with little to no educational value. They believed that the quality of supervision affects its results, and it is useful only for novice teachers.
Reviewing literature revealed that there is not any Iranian research comparing the effect of a specific teacher supervision model on different components of novice versus experienced EFL teachers’ professional development considering a specific TPD model. To fill this gap, the researchers were motivated to conduct this study, perhaps some of the shortcomings of teacher training programs and teacher supervision practices would be removed.
This study will address the following quantitative research questions:
2. Does teacher supervision through the Standard TPD Model have any significant effect on different components of the professional development of Iranian EFL novice teachers?
METHOD
Participants
One hundred novice and 100 experienced, male and female (41 male and 59 female) EFL teachers from urban and rural regions of Alborz Province, teaching in state junior and senior high schools with different degrees of education, BA, MA, and PhD participated in this study voluntarily. Novice teachers were beginner teachers aged between 22-40 and experienced teachers were teachers with more than three-year experience (Tesfaw & Hofman, 2012) aged between 25-48. The participants were not informed about the purpose of the study and they had chance to withdraw from the study anytime they wanted.
Instruments
In this study, two types of instruments were used for triangulation and cross-checking the findings. These instruments were questionnaire and observation.
Questionnaire
The TPD questionnaire, adapted from Khany and Azimi Amoli (2016), consists of 102 items on a Likert scale ranging from 1= not at all to 5= very much and addresses teacher professional development under 3 main components of Teacher Knowledge (7 subcomponents), Teacher Skills (8 subcomponents) and TPD programs (3 subcomponents). It was validated on a sample of 450 EFL teachers through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. After the validation process of 130 tentative items, 28 items were deleted.
The reliability of the adapted version was examined through Cronbach Alpha separately for each of the 3 main components and the subcomponents within each as well as the whole questionnaire. The results are reported in Table 1. As can be seen, the whole questionnaire, the main components, and the subcomponents included enjoyed acceptable indexes of reliability ranging from .641 to .960.
Table 1
Questionnaire Reliability Statistics
Scale/Subscale | Cronbach's Alpha | N of Items |
TEACHER KNOWLEDGE (TKN) | .927 | 29 |
Content knowledge (CK) | .641 | 4 |
Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) | .722 | 5 |
Technological Knowledge (TK) | .760 | 3 |
Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) | .661 | 4 |
Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) | .719 | 4 |
Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) | .828 | 4 |
Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) | .816 | 5 |
TEACHER SKILLS (TS) | .946 | 46 |
Planning and Preparation (PAP) | .712 | 4 |
Lesson Presentation (LP) | .791 | 5 |
Lesson Management (LM) | .801 | 6 |
Classroom Climate Control (CCC) | .787 | 6 |
Assessing Students Progress (ASP) | .819 | 6 |
Reflection and self-evaluation (RAS-E) | .716 | 5 |
Critical Thinking Skills (CT) | .808 | 8 |
Supportive Emotional Skills (SES) | .766 | 6 |
TPD PROGRAMS | .955 | 27 |
Content of TPD Programs | .914 | 8 |
Pedagogies of TPD Programs (84-94) | .918 | 11 |
Institutional Forms of Delivery in TPD Programs | .883 | 8 |
The Whole Questionnaire | .960 | 102 |
Observation
The observation form was designed based on Khany and Azimi Amoli's (2016) questionnaire. The content validity of the form was examined by five experienced, expert, and Ph. D holder supervisors. It consists of 75 items and addresses teacher professional development under 2 main components, Teacher Knowledge (7 subcomponents), and Teacher Skills (8 subcomponents). Each subcomponent was examined by some items and each item was checked by three degrees: yes, so-so, and no.
PROCEDURE
The procedure of this study was carried out based on a four-stage model proposed by Eryilmaz and Mutlu (2017). Eryilmaz and Mutlu (2017) designed this model based both on Egan's (1975) skilled helper model and on the principles and techniques of counseling (Carkhuff, 2000; Cormier & Hackney, 2008; Egan, 1975; Ivey et al., 2010). This model encompasses four stages: readiness stage, informing stage, improvement stage, and evaluation stage.
Supervision was administered by four experienced, knowledgeable, TEFL Ph. D holder supervisors with professional ethics and behavior, each one from one main district of Alborz Province; with the cooperation of six experienced, knowledgeable, Ph. D. holder teacher trainers with professional ethics and behavior, each one expert in some subcomponents of TPD, under the leadership of the researcher.
Stage 1 (Readiness)
All the EFL teachers of Alborz Province were invited to participate in a specific supervision program through the province group in the local application SHAD. As incentives to augment cooperation, a poster containing the names, positions, and academic degrees of supervisors and teacher trainers was designed and shared with them in the mentioned group. It was pointed out that priority is given to those who register earlier. Then, 100 novice and 100 experienced EFL teachers were registered (25 novice and 25 experienced by every supervisor) to participate in this study. A new virtual group was established in SHAD and the TPD questionnaire was shared with the members and they were asked to complete it carefully because it was the prerequisite of participation in the TPD course. The purpose of completing it was to find the needs of participants and existing shortcomings and weaknesses. The candidates had the chance to withdraw from participation but all of them were interested to continue. The reason was that this program had seemed new and creative to them. Moreover, the comprehensive, multi-dimensional and diverse content of the questionnaire had aroused their curiosity. The study participants were informed that their classes would be observed by one supervisor. Behind receiving permission on the part of school principals and teachers (a short time about one hour before observation) the supervisors had a warm dialogue with the teachers. After that they observed the classes so that they entered the classes with the teachers and left the classes with them. During the class, the supervisors as participant observers, observed everything, carefully, and filled out the observation form. After observing and determining the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher’s performance, the supervisors gave feedback to the teacher so that they reported the strong points and particular abilities of the teachers to the teachers themselves and the school principals to encourage the teachers to develop them and then told the weak points to the teachers mildly and confidentially and offered lucrative and constructive guidelines. If a teacher lacked the capacity for hearing weak points the supervisors kept them and added them to their collection to bring up them during the TPD course indirectly and offer recommendations for removing or decreasing them. The teachers’ virtual classes in SHAD were also observed so that the supervisors were added to the classes by the school principals or the teachers, and they were allowed to observe the classes online or offline (after the QVID-19 pandemic, in addition to face-to-face classes, every teacher has a virtual class in SHAD).
Stage 2 (Informing Stage)
After supervisors had finished the pre-observations, all the participants were invited to a gathering. Through the gathering, one of the supervisors explained the weak points and shortcomings during the pre-observations, and the participants’ questions were answered. The attendees were informed of the existing problems and invited to attend a TPD course in the form of a series of workshops to solve the mentioned problems. They were informed of the timetable and the number of workshops as well as activities and practices that would be performed there. The experienced and knowledgeable teachers who had been identified and determined through the pre-observations were also introduced through this gathering, and they were respectfully invited to share their experiences with other teachers, particularly novice teachers, through sample teachings.
Stage 3 (Improvement Stage)
In this stage, the participants attended the workshops so that 45 two-hour workshops were predesigned, and each week, one subcomponent of the standard TPD model was taught and practiced during three two-hour workshops. Shortcomings and weak points regarding each sub-component of the Standard TPD Model were explained, clarified, and discussed; and constructive suggestions were offered by supervisors. Needed theories and principles were also taught theoretically by teacher trainers. Subcomponents of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge were taught by a knowledgeable TEFL Ph. D. holder teacher trainer, subcomponents of lesson management, classroom climate control, and supportive emotional skills were taught by a psychology Ph. D. holder teacher trainer, critical thinking skills, and reflection, and self-evaluation were taught by a sociology Ph. D. holder teacher trainer, technological knowledge and its subcomponents were taught by a TEFL Ph. D. holder, teacher trainer expert in educational technology, planning and preparation and lesson presentation were taught by a TEFL Ph. D. holder teacher trainer expert in curriculum development, and assessing students’ progress was taught by a TEFL Ph. D. holder teacher trainer expert in assessment and evaluation. It should be added that all the teacher trainers had experience in supervision, too. The knowledgeable, experienced, skillful, and professional teachers who had been selected and invited by the supervisors were asked to demonstrate their best teaching in front of the participants (each day, one or two demonstrations); they were also asked to share their experiences with the participants and mention the key and strong points of their practices in the classroom. After each demonstration, a critical interaction was run among participants respectfully, and during critical interactions, the supervisors managed the workshops and also recommended useful guidelines with consideration of the dignity of the demonstrators. In fact, they played the role of a leader, advisor, counselor, and guide during discussions and interactions. The workshops finished after the 15th week.
It should be noted that no participant left the program, but they were more interested in continuing after each session. If any participant could not participate in one or more sessions (three sessions were permitted), s/he could use the shared files or the recorded session in the LIVE capability of SHAD that could be accessed up to 24 hours later.
Stage 4 (Evaluation Stage)
The same supervisors conducted the second series of observations (post-observations) in face-to-face and virtual classes. The post-observations were carried out to investigate the effect of the supervision programs, specifically the TPD course, on the different components and sub-components of the professional development of all the participants. If there were some deficiencies, the supervisors tried to eliminate them by providing solutions. If necessary, the classes were observed more than once to resolve the problems and reach the ideal points. After finishing the post-observations, the TPD questionnaire was distributed again, and the participants were asked to complete it carefully.
Data Collection
The registration of volunteer participants was started at the beginning of the academic year (October 2022). After registration, the pre-questionnaire was distributed and completed, and pre-observations were started by supervisors. The pre-observations lasted for about two and half a month, after that TPD course was held and ended after fifteen weeks, something about three and half a month. After the course, post-observations were started and post-questionnaire was distributed and completed, and after about two and half a month finished.
Data Analysis
Answering questions one and two required comparing the pretest and posttest means of the experienced and novice teachers on the main and sub-subcomponents of professional development to see if there was any improvement as a result of supervision through the TPD Model. The comparisons were made using separate Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests. In order to discover whether changes from the pretest to the posttest were statistically significant or not, separate Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests were used.
Question three required comparisons between the posttest means of the experienced and the novice teachers for the main and sub-components of professional development. Separate Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare the posttest means across the two groups of experienced and novice teachers. Prior to comparisons of the posttest means, the two groups were compared on their pretest to detect any possible significant difference at the outset of the study. The statistical significance of the mean rank differences between the experienced and novice teachers was examined through Mann-Whitney U tests.
For triangulation, the data gathered through the observations were used to evaluate the validity of the data gathered through the questionnaire. To this end, a correlation was run between each component on the questionnaire and observation checklist at post-test.
RESULTS
This chapter presents the results of the statistical analyses employed to answer the research questions. Results are interpreted within the context of the present study and also in relation to findings from previous researches.
Answering Research Question 1
The first research question examined if supervision through the Standard TPD Model had any significant effect on different components of professional development of the Iranian experienced EFL teachers:
1. Does teacher supervision through the Standard TPD Model have any significant effect on different components of professional development of Iranian experienced EFL teachers?
Answering this question required comparing the pretest and posttests means of the experienced teachers on the main and subcomponents of professional development. The questionnaire on the professional development consisted of 3 main components with several sub-components within each. It was necessary to compare each component/sub-component on the pretest and posttest to see if there was any improvement as a result of supervision through the TPD Model.
Descriptive statistics are presented in Table 2. Reading the mean column indicated that the posttest means on all the main and sub-components for the experienced teachers were higher than the pretest means, suggesting improvement in all aspects of professional development as a result of supervision using the TPD model.
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics for Experience EFL Teachers on Pretest and Posttest | ||||||
| N | Mean | Std. Deviation | Minimum | Maximum | |
ExpPreTKN | 100 | 2.4917 | .34652 | 1.59 | 3.38 | |
ExpPreTS | 100 | 2.7974 | .36361 | 2.07 | 3.89 | |
ExpPreTPD | 100 | 2.0456 | .47213 | 1.07 | 3.07 | |
ExpPreCK | 100 | 2.3575 | .40554 | 1.25 | 3.50 | |
ExpPrePK | 100 | 2.9280 | .38088 | 1.80 | 4.00 | |
ExpPreTK | 100 | 2.2867 | .52974 | 1.33 | 3.33 | |
ExpPrePCK | 100 | 2.7125 | .41648 | 1.50 | 3.75 | |
ExpPreTCK | 100 | 2.4925 | .44304 | 1.50 | 3.75 | |
ExpPreTPK | 100 | 2.2875 | .49794 | 1.25 | 3.25 | |
ExpPreTPACK | 100 | 2.2720 | .49606 | 1.20 | 3.20 | |
ExpPrePAP | 100 | 2.5700 | .48472 | 1.00 | 4.00 | |
ExpPreLP | 100 | 2.9700 | .45427 | 2.00 | 4.00 | |
ExpPreLM | 100 | 2.9167 | .46209 | 1.83 | 4.00 | |
ExpPreCCC | 100 | 2.9950 | .43258 | 2.00 | 4.00 | |
ExpPreASP | 100 | 2.6900 | .46058 | 1.83 | 4.00 | |
ExpPreRAS_E | 100 | 2.6140 | .42569 | 1.60 | 4.00 | |
ExpPreCT | 100 | 2.4888 | .49718 | 1.63 | 4.00 | |
ExpPreSES | 100 | 3.1600 | .50024 | 2.17 | 4.67 | |
ExpPreTPDC | 100 | 2.0938 | .52865 | 1.00 | 3.25 | |
ExpPreTPDP | 100 | 2.0773 | .50779 | 1.00 | 3.27 | |
ExpPreTPDD | 100 | 1.9538 | .54200 | 1.00 | 3.00 | |
ExpPostTKN | 100 | 4.6283 | .27039 | 3.76 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostTS | 100 | 4.7972 | .18128 | 4.17 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostTPD | 100 | 4.4496 | .26479 | 3.67 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostCK | 100 | 4.6325 | .31474 | 3.25 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostPK | 100 | 4.8800 | .19069 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostTK | 100 | 4.3200 | .52741 | 3.33 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostPCK | 100 | 4.8075 | .28836 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostTCK | 100 | 4.7900 | .30509 | 3.75 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostTPK | 100 | 4.4400 | .45522 | 3.25 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostTPACK | 100 | 4.4360 | .45958 | 3.20 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostPAP | 100 | 4.7325 | .33944 | 3.00 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostLP | 100 | 4.8980 | .15953 | 4.40 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostLM | 100 | 4.8717 | .23434 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostCCC | 100 | 4.8683 | .19288 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostASP | 100 | 4.8467 | .22558 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostRAS_E | 100 | 4.7180 | .29555 | 3.60 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostCT | 100 | 4.5938 | .31900 | 3.63 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostSES | 100 | 4.8983 | .17065 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostTPDC | 100 | 4.6963 | .26067 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostTPDP | 100 | 4.5227 | .30588 | 3.55 | 5.00 | |
ExpPostTPDD | 100 | 4.1025 | .38533 | 2.63 | 5.00 | |
In order to discover whether these changes from pretest to posttest were statistically significant or not, separate Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests were used. The Wilcoxon test values (Table 3) for all the pairs indicated that the changes from pretest to posttest were all statistically significant. As a result, the hypothesis to this question was rejected. Supervision through the Standard TPD Model significantly improves different components of professional development of the Iranian experienced EFL teachers.
Table 3
Test Statistics for Experienced EFL Teachers on Pretest and Posttest
| Z | Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) |
ExpPostTKN - ExpPreTKN | -8.687b | .000 |
ExpPostTS - ExpPreTS | -8.683b | .000 |
ExpPostTPD - ExpPreTPD | -8.684b | .000 |
ExpPostCK - ExpPreCK | -8.756b | .000 |
ExpPostPK - ExpPrePK | -8.741b | .000 |
ExpPostTK - ExpPreTK | -8.875b | .000 |
ExpPostPCK - ExpPrePCK | -8.764b | .000 |
ExpPostTCK - ExpPreTCK | -8.726b | .000 |
ExpPostTPK - ExpPreTPK | -8.774b | .000 |
ExpPostTPACK - ExpPreTPACK | -8.752b | .000 |
ExpPostPAP - ExpPrePAP | -8.758b | .000 |
ExpPostLP - ExpPreLP | -8.757b | .000 |
ExpPostLM - ExpPreLM | -8.725b | .000 |
ExpPostCCC - ExpPreCCC | -8.711b | .000 |
ExpPostASP - ExpPreASP | -8.712b | .000 |
ExpPostRAS_E - ExpPreRAS_E | -8.774b | .000 |
ExpPostCT - ExpPreCT | -8.701b | .000 |
ExpPostSES - ExpPreSES | -8.696b | .000 |
ExpPostTPDC - ExpPreTPDC | -8.689b | .000 |
ExpPostTPDP - ExpPreTPDP | -8.688b | .000 |
ExpPostTPDD - ExpPreTPDD | -8.689b | .000 |
a. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test | ||
b. Based on negative ranks. | ||
Answering Research Question 2
The second question examined if teacher supervision through the Standard TPD Model had any significant effect on the components of professional development in Iranian EFL novice teachers:
2. Does teacher supervision through the Standard TPD Model have any significant effect on different components of professional development of Iranian EFL novice teachers?
Answering this research question required comparing the pretest and posttests scores of the novice teachers on the main and sub-subcomponents of professional development. Each component/sub-component on the pretest was compared with its posttest to examine if supervision through the standard TPD Model could positively affect the professional development of the novice teachers.
The comparisons between pretest and posttest means of the main and sub-components of professional development were made using 21 separate Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests. The level of significance was adjusted using Bonferroni correction approach to avoid type I error. Since there were 21 comparisons, the intended level of significance (i.e., .05) was divided by 21 yielding .002 as the new level of significance.
Tale 4 presents descriptive statistics on both pretest and posttest for this group. As it is evident in the mean column, the posttest means on all the main and sub-components for the novice teachers were higher than the pretest means, suggesting that supervision through the standard TPD Model had positive effect on the professional development of the novice teachers.
Table 4
Descriptive Statistics for Novice Teachers on Pretest and Posttest | ||||||
| N | Mean | Std. Deviation | Minimum | Maximum | |
NovPreTKN | 100 | 2.5186 | .37393 | 1.66 | 3.76 | |
NovPreTS | 100 | 2.8126 | .33126 | 2.11 | 3.83 | |
NovPreTPD | 100 | 2.1822 | .48900 | 1.00 | 3.07 | |
NovPreCK | 100 | 2.5075 | .43730 | 1.25 | 3.50 | |
NovPrePK | 100 | 2.8640 | .33979 | 1.80 | 3.80 | |
NovPreTK | 100 | 2.4633 | .62656 | 1.33 | 4.33 | |
NovPrePCK | 100 | 2.7425 | .41811 | 1.75 | 4.00 | |
NovPreTCK | 100 | 2.4125 | .56784 | 1.00 | 4.00 | |
NovPreTPK | 100 | 2.2800 | .58526 | 1.00 | 4.50 | |
NovPreTPACK | 100 | 2.3120 | .56520 | 1.20 | 4.20 | |
NovPrePAP | 100 | 2.6325 | .48128 | 1.50 | 4.25 | |
NovPreLP | 100 | 2.9360 | .46439 | 1.60 | 4.20 | |
NovPreLM | 100 | 2.8833 | .43648 | 1.83 | 4.17 | |
NovPreCCC | 100 | 3.0283 | .41375 | 2.17 | 4.50 | |
NovPreASP | 100 | 2.6817 | .43686 | 1.67 | 4.00 | |
NovPreRAS_E | 100 | 2.6040 | .42827 | 1.60 | 3.60 | |
NovPreCT | 100 | 2.5600 | .44928 | 1.63 | 3.63 | |
NovPreSES | 100 | 3.1850 | .42633 | 2.33 | 4.67 | |
NovPreTPDC | 100 | 2.2075 | .56358 | 1.00 | 3.38 | |
NovPreTPDP | 100 | 2.2045 | .52125 | 1.00 | 3.18 | |
NovPreTPDD | 100 | 2.1263 | .52087 | 1.00 | 3.00 | |
NovPostTKN | 100 | 4.6128 | .25320 | 3.83 | 5.00 | |
NovPostTS | 100 | 4.7574 | .17936 | 3.96 | 5.00 | |
NovPostTPD | 100 | 4.4693 | .29747 | 3.52 | 5.00 | |
NovPostCK | 100 | 4.7075 | .30784 | 3.75 | 5.00 | |
NovPostPK | 100 | 4.8400 | .22563 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
NovPostTK | 100 | 4.3800 | .47383 | 3.33 | 5.00 | |
NovPostPCK | 100 | 4.7975 | .25548 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
NovPostTCK | 100 | 4.7500 | .33143 | 3.75 | 5.00 | |
NovPostTPK | 100 | 4.4075 | .45318 | 3.25 | 5.00 | |
NovPostTPACK | 100 | 4.3560 | .42600 | 3.40 | 5.00 | |
NovPostPAP | 100 | 4.7325 | .29995 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
NovPostLP | 100 | 4.7800 | .25820 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
NovPostLM | 100 | 4.8167 | .24675 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
NovPostCCC | 100 | 4.8367 | .21185 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
NovPostASP | 100 | 4.7850 | .24878 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
NovPostRAS_E | 100 | 4.6920 | .27913 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
NovPostCT | 100 | 4.5850 | .31726 | 3.63 | 5.00 | |
NovPostSES | 100 | 4.8733 | .18060 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
NovPostTPDC | 100 | 4.6987 | .29253 | 3.88 | 5.00 | |
NovPostTPDP | 100 | 4.5200 | .30607 | 3.64 | 5.00 | |
NovPostTPDD | 100 | 4.1700 | .41382 | 2.75 | 5.00 | |
Separate Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests were used in order to examine if the differences between the pretest and posttest means were statistically significant. As reported in Table 5, the Wilcoxon test values for all the pairs showed that these differences were all statistically significant. As a result, the hypothesis to this question was rejected. Supervision through the Standard TPD Model had significantly positive effect on all the main and sub-components of professional development in the Iranian novice EFL teachers.
Table 5
Test Statistics for Novice EFL Teachers on Pretest and Posttest
| Z | Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) | |
NovPostTKN - NovPreTKN | -8.688b | .000 | |
NovPostTS - NovPreTS | -8.684b | .000 | |
NovPostTPD - NovPreTPD | -8.683b | .000 | |
NovPostCK - NovPreCK | -8.784b | .000 | |
NovPostPK - NovPrePK | -8.811b | .000 | |
NovPostTK - NovPreTK | -8.882b | .000 | |
NovPostPCK - NovPrePCK | -8.789b | .000 | |
NovPostTCK - NovPreTCK | -8.733b | .000 | |
NovPostTPK - NovPreTPK | -8.782b | .000 | |
NovPostTPACK - NovPreTPACK | -8.737b | .000 | |
NovPostPAP - NovPrePAP | -8.756b | .000 | |
NovPostLP - NovPreLP | -8.752b | .000 | |
NovPostLM - NovPreLM | -8.730b | .000 | |
NovPostCCC - NovPreCCC | -8.738b | .000 | |
NovPostASP - NovPreASP | -8.721b | .000 | |
NovPostRAS_E - NovPreRAS_E | -8.739b | .000 | |
NovPostCT - NovPreCT | -8.720b | .000 | |
NovPostSES - NovPreSES | -8.707b | .000 | |
NovPostTPDC - NovPreTPDC | -8.691b | .000 | |
NovPostTPDP - NovPreTPDP | -8.688b | .000 | |
NovPostTPDD - NovPreTPDD | -8.693b | .000 | |
a. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test | |||
b. Based on negative ranks. | |||
Answering Research Question 3
The third question examined if there were any significant differences between experienced and novice teachers in terms of the main and sub-components of professional development resulting from the supervision through the Standard TPD Model:
3. Does teacher supervision through the Standard TPD Model have any differential effects on different components of professional development of Iranian EFL experienced and novice teachers?
This question addressed between-groups differences (experienced vs. novel teachers), requiring comparisons to be made between the posttest means of the experienced teachers and those of the novice teachers for the main and sub-components of professional development. The comparisons were made using non-parametric tests. Since there were 21 main and sub-components and 1 total mean to be compared, 22 separate Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare the posttest means across the two groups of experienced and novice teachers. In order to control for family-wise error rate and avoid type I error due to multiple comparisons, the level of significance (i.e., .05) was divided by 22, which yielded .002. As a result, any p-value smaller than .002 was interpreted as being significant.
Results of Mann-Whitney U tests, displayed in Tale 4.5, indicated the two groups were not significantly different on the total construct and on any of the main and sub-components, with all the p-values being greater than .002. As a result, any significant difference on the posttest means could be attributed to the effect of treatment, i.e., supervision through the standard TPD Model.
The third research question was answered by comparing the posttest means of the two groups using separate Mann-Whitney U tests. The mean ranks for the experienced teachers were higher than those for the novice teachers except for TPD, CK, TK, TPDC, and TPDD. In these main/sub-components, the novice teachers showed more improvement, that is, their mean ranks were higher. These results suggested that supervision through the standard TPD Model resulted in more improvement in experienced teachers rather than novice teachers, except for the components mentioned above.
The statistical significance of the mean rank differences between the experienced and novice teachers were examined through Mann-Whitney U tests. Results for the comparison of the means ranks for the total construct and main and sub-components, are displayed in Table 6. The Mann-Whitney U test values indicated that the two groups were not significantly different, except for the sub-component of LP. In other words, the mean rank differences between the two groups, except for LP, were not found to be statistically significant as all the p-values were greater than the adjusted alpha level (i.e., .002). As a result, the hypothesis to this research question was mainly retained. Teacher supervision through the Standard TPD Model does not have any differential effects on different components of professional development in Iranian EFL experienced and novice teachers, except for the LP component.
Table 6
Test Statistics for Posttest of Experienced and Novice Teachers
| Mann-Whitney U | Wilcoxon W | Z | Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) | |
Post_TPD_All | 4650.500 | 9700.500 | -.854 | .393 | |
PostTKN | 4740.000 | 9790.000 | -.636 | .525 | |
PostTS | 4166.000 | 9216.000 | -2.040 | .041 | |
PostTPD | 4597.500 | 9647.500 | -.985 | .325 | |
PostCK | 4258.000 | 9308.000 | -1.881 | .060 | |
PostPK | 4558.500 | 9608.500 | -1.214 | .225 | |
PostTK | 4709.500 | 9759.500 | -.725 | .468 | |
PostPCK | 4659.000 | 9709.000 | -.920 | .358 | |
PostTCK | 4719.500 | 9769.500 | -.748 | .454 | |
PostTPK | 4776.000 | 9826.000 | -.555 | .579 | |
PostTPACK | 4364.000 | 9414.000 | -1.569 | .117 | |
PostPAP | 4894.500 | 9944.500 | -.273 | .785 | |
PostLP | 3753.000 | 8803.000 | -3.361 | .001 | |
PostLM | 4265.000 | 9315.000 | -2.034 | .042 | |
PostCCC | 4545.000 | 9595.000 | -1.211 | .226 | |
PostASP | 4260.000 | 9310.000 | -1.941 | .052 | |
PostRAS_E | 4654.500 | 9704.500 | -.871 | .384 | |
PostCT | 4920.500 | 9970.500 | -.196 | .845 | |
PostSES | 4520.000 | 9570.000 | -1.322 | .186 | |
PostTPDC | 4784.500 | 9834.500 | -.534 | .593 | |
PostTPDP | 4948.500 | 9998.500 | -.127 | .899 | |
PostTPDD | 4503.500 | 9553.500 | -1.221 | .222 | |
a. Grouping Variable: Group | |||||
Data Triangulation
The data on the components of teacher professional development were gathered using a questionnaire and the observation sessions. The data gathered through observation were used to evaluate the validity of the data gathered through the questionnaire. To this end, a correlation was run between each component on the questionnaire and observation checklist at posttest. In the majority of the sets, the correlation is significant, indicative of the relative reliability of the data gathered through the questionnaire.
Table 7
Correlations
Variables | Correlation Coefficient (Spearman's rho) | Sig. (2-tailed) | N |
ExpPostTKN - ExpPostObsTKN | .675** | .000 | 100 |
ExpPostTS - ExpPostObsTS | .467** | .000 | 100 |
ExpPostCK - ExpPostObsCK | .177 | .079 | 100 |
ExpPostPK - ExpPostObsPK | .249* | .012 | 100 |
ExpPostTK - ExpPostObsTK | .594** | .000 | 100 |
ExpPostPCK - ExpPostObsPCK | .163 | .105 | 100 |
ExpPostTCK - ExpPostObsTCK | .188 | .061 | 100 |
ExpPostTPK - ExpPostObsTPK | .530** | .000 | 100 |
ExpPostTPACK - ExpPostObsTPACK | .722** | .000 | 100 |
ExpPostPAP - ExpPostObsPAP | .239* | .017 | 100 |
ExpPostLP - ExpPostObsLP | .197* | .050 | 100 |
ExpPostLM - ExpPostObsLM | .080 | .428 | 100 |
ExpPostCCC - ExpPostObsCCC | .168 | .094 | 100 |
ExpPostASP - ExpPostObsASP | .157 | .118 | 100 |
ExpPostRAS_E - ExpPostObsRAS_E | .352** | .000 | 100 |
ExpPostCT - ExpPostObsCT | .558** | .000 | 100 |
ExpPostSES - ExpPostObsSES | .319** | .001 | 100 |
NovPostTKN - NovPostObsTKN | .578** | .000 | 100 |
NovPostTS - NovPostObsTS | .590** | .000 | 100 |
NovPostCK - NovPostObsCK | .171 | .088 | 100 |
NovPostPK - NovPostObsPK | .137 | .175 | 100 |
NovPostTK - NovPostObsTK | .374** | .000 | 100 |
NovPostPCK - NovPostObsPCK | .170 | .091 | 100 |
NovPostTCK - NovPostObsTCK | .143 | .157 | 100 |
NovPostTPK - NovPostObsTPK | .434** | .000 | 100 |
NovPostTPACK - NovPostObsTPACK | .631** | .000 | 100 |
NovPostPAP - NovPostObsPAP | .209* | .037 | 100 |
NovPostLP - NovPostObsLP | .144 | .153 | 100 |
NovPostLM - NovPostObsLM | .151 | .134 | 100 |
NovPostCCC - NovPostObsCCC | .338** | .001 | 100 |
NovPostASP - NovPostObsASP | .057 | .575 | 100 |
NovPostRAS_E - NovPostObsRAS_E | .489** | .000 | 100 |
NovPostCT - NovPostObsCT | .678** | .000 | 100 |
NovPostSES - NovPostObsSES | .332** | .001 | 100 |
DISCUSSION
The results of questions one and two indicate that the newly implemented teacher supervision through the standard TPD model significantly affected all the main and sub-components of the experienced and novice EFL teachers’ professional development. The findings represent that in line with (Lee, 2009) teachers’ knowledge including CK, PK, and TK was improved after passing the supervision programs, specifically the TPD course. Supporting (Guerriero, 2017), teachers’ different skills such as creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication were developed, and they were able to use different methods according to the context of the classroom and in agreement with Mette et al. (2020) the quality of their instruction was developed by considering student’s needs (Brandon et al., 2018). Overall, strengthening the findings of Amini and Gholami (2018), Brandon et al. (2018), Chen and Cheng (2013), teachers’ (both novTs and ExpTs) professionalism in different components of TPD was developed; however, there were some weaknesses and shortcomings in the administration of TPD programs in this study, too.
The findings of the third question reveal that teacher supervision through the Standard TPD Model does not have significant different effects on different components of professional development in Iranian EFL experienced and novice teachers, except for the LP component. The items of the LP sub-component are: “1. I can present my lessons with enthusiasm and interest to my students. 2. I can deliver instructions and explanations which are clear and matched to my students’ needs. 3. I am able to ask a variety of questions to review, revise, recall, and reinforce recently learned points as well as encourage thought in my students. 4. I am able to actively involve my students in the lesson and give them opportunities to organize their own work. 5. I am able to present learning activities that give students a marked degree of autonomy and control over the organization, conduct, and direction of the learning activity.” The reason for the unexpectedly significant higher mean score of this sub-component for ExpTs compared to NovTs is related to forgetfulness, frustration, burnout, shortcomings and deficiencies in the Education System, and the lack of fun, welfare, and at the same time valuable TPD programs for developing and updating teachers. These reasons can be generalized to other main/sub-components whose mean scores are higher for ExpTs. These results show that experienced teachers were in severe need of such a program to create motivation, enthusiasm and vitality in them. On the other hand, novice teachers’ more improvement in TPD, CK, TK, TPDC, and TPDD in comparison to experienced teachers shows that novice teachers severely needed such an appropriate and valuable program for development because they had not passed such TPD programs with worthy content and proper delivery. Although they were more familiar with theories and different methods of teaching, they did not know how to teach the content of textbooks practically in a comprehensible and useful manner. In addition, however, they were more capable in TK but they did not have any experience in online teaching and testing particularly teaching and testing in SHAD and other popular applications such as Adobe Connect, Skyroom, and Google Meet, … while experienced teachers had passed virtual courses for virtual or online teaching and testing and working with useful sites and tools.
Contrary to the plethora of searches, the researchers did not found any experimental research investigating the effect of a specific model of supervision through a standard TPD model on different components of professional development of EFL ExpTs versus NovTs in the literature and this study was done to fill this gap, but there are some Iranian and non-Iranian studies exploring the perceptions of EFL teachers toward supervision system. Through this study, following the recommendations of Azizpour and Gholami (2021c), Chen and Cheng (2013), Janssens and Van Amelsvoort (2008), and Moradi et al. (2014), the supervisors after observing the classes, consultation with teachers and collecting a corpus of shortcomings, weaknesses, and needs of teachers and students, administered a comprehensive teacher training course that highly improved the participants’ professionalism, and the quality of their instruction (Danielson & McGreal, 2000). Also following the suggestion of Azizpour and Gholami (2021c), the manner of giving feedback and presenting recommendations in the current supervision program was so that improved the teachers’ specifically, NovTs’ self-confidence and certainty of the correctness of their performance in the classroom. In contrast to the claims of some studies such as Azizpour and Gholami (2021c), Amini and Gholami (2018), Glickman et al. (2005), Moradi et al.(2014), Nolan and Hoover (2007), and Pawlas and Oliva (2007), the procedure of the current supervision programs and the behavior of the supervisors did not increase the teachers’ anxiety, did not damage their self-confidence and motivation, was not bureaucratic, autocratic, or paperwork, instead considering the recommendations of Azizpour and Gholami (2021b), and Moradi et al. (2014) it was helpful, humanitarian, constructive, encouraging and problem solving with mutual respect and rapport. In contrast to the claims of Azizpour and Gholami (2021c), and Moradi et al. (2014) the comments and guidelines of the supervisors were not imposed on the teachers, and their feedbacks were not superficial or unsatisfactory, but in opposition to the claim of Rahmany et al. (2014), all the participants were satisfied and all the programs were voluntary and in line with the development of teachers’ professional growth and students’ achievement. In response to the claim of Azizpour and Gholami (2021b), the four supervisors of the current study were knowledgeable, Ph. D holder TEFL teachers with more than five years of experience in supervision; they were expert and skillful, and considering the recommendations of Esia-Donkoh and Ofosu-Dwamena (2014), as the responses of the participants to the questionnaire revealed, the supervisors were not fault finders, they were trustful, committed, empathetic, with professional behavior and flexibility, and they tried to find shortcomings, and remove them through constructive and friendly dialogue, and implementing useful TPD programs. As it is inferred from the results, weakening the claim of Azizpour and Gholami (2021b, 2021c) all the teacher supervisors in the Education System have some checklists for different purposes, such as observation, inspection, and evaluation of final exam questions, but they have some shortcomings and deficiencies that must be removed. It is also worth noting that the supervisors of this study had a comprehensive 75-item observation form adapted from the standard TPD model of Khany and Azimi Amoli (2016) which is recommended to be revised by eliminating some unnecessary items and be used for future observations. Considering the suggestion of Azizpour and Gholami (2021c) all the observations were administered with the announcement but less than one hour before observation in order to lower the teacher’s stress and at the same time, limit the opportunity of artificial performance in the classroom.
Regarding triangulation data, the correlation between each main and sub-component on the questionnaire and observation checklist at posttest indicates the relative reliability of the data gathered through the questionnaire in majority of the sets: TKN, TS, PK, TK, TPK, TPACK, PAP, LP, RAS-E, CT, SES for ExpTs, and TKN, TS, TK, TPK, TPACK, PAP, CCC, RAS-E, CT, SES for NovTs. The results in Table 4.8 demonstrate that the data gathered through the questionnaire on the other sub-components do not enjoy acceptable reliability. The unreliability of some of the data may be the result of the high number of the questionnaire items that leads to inaccuracy and tiredness of the respondents, or the participants’ doubt of being under the process of research, and other such reasons. It is worth noting that the observation form did not include the TPD component.
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The results of the current study revealed that the newly implemented teacher supervision through the standard TPD model significantly affected all the main and sub-components of the experienced and novice EFL teachers’ professional development. It was found that teacher supervision through the Standard TPD Model did not have any differential effects on different components of professional development in Iranian EFL ExpTs and NovTs, except for the LP subcomponent.
According to the procedure of the current supervision model and the results of the study, it is needed that the Department of Technology and Educational Groups of each district select a group of experienced and knowledgeable teachers and train them for observation under the leadership of the district or province supervisor, and in return give them some privileges. The classes of all the teachers should be observed by the observers at least once per every semester and if there is a problem, it should be solved by the observers and district supervisor; if not, help should be sought from the province supervisor.
For the supervisor to gain the trust of the teachers, it is better to fill the observation form with a positive view, to announce the strengths to the manager, and if there are any weaknesses, tell the teacher in a friendly manner and confidential, and give constructive and practical recommendations. If the teacher lacks enough capacity, talk to him gently and invite him/her to the teacher’s professional development programs, and those weaknesses that s/he could not bear to hear directly should be pointed out through indirectly programs such as workshops, webinars, gatherings, …, and appropriate solutions should be provided.
The supervisors of each district should collect the shortcomings and weak points of teachers’ performances after the first series of observations and considering their needs, establish a teachers’ professional development course. It is recommended that the course be a combination of virtual and face-to-face training because teaching some components of TPD such as technology is more successful in virtual form.
As the TPD model used in this study is a broad model that includes seven sub-components with 29 items for the knowledge component and eight sub-components with 68 items for skills, it takes into account almost all the needs of a NovT and an ExpT. Although there were some slight differences between the NovTs and ExpTs, it highly developed both groups’ professionalism and it is recommended to be used in future supervision programs. The NovTs participated in this study were at a higher level in general English and theoretical parts such as different learning theories, post-method theories, and different methods of teaching, but they did not know how to use the theories effectively in practice. They did not have any practical experience in formative and summative assessment of different skills, as well as online or virtual teaching and assessment and the related needs specifically through SHAD. On the other hand, the old teachers had good experiences in classroom management, dealing with different students, directions, frameworks and criteria for formative and summative assessments, and also, after COVID-19, they had gained some experiences regarding teaching and assessment through SHAD and other local applications and online assessment which they shared in this course and both groups benefited from each other’s attendance. In addition, sample teachings presented by capable teachers and followed by interactive criticisms, psychological techniques practically trained by the psychologist, different critical thinking skills taught by the sociologist, writing a unite national lesson plan taught by a TEFL teacher trainer, and supervisors’ guidelines and hints were other prominent parts of the current TPD course which were highly received by the teachers.
After passing the TPD course, it is recommended that the classes of all the participants be observed again to see the results of the teacher training course and other efforts and guidance of the supervisors, and if there are any remaining shortcomings, the problems should be solved by providing appropriate feedback and useful recommendations in one or more sessions.
The findings of this study have some implications for policymakers, teacher supervisors, teachers, and school principals.
Policymakers should allocate more budget to supervision programs specifically observation, and teacher training courses; increase the working hours of supervisors to concentrate more on supervision programs and employ a group of professional pre-trained supervisors for each subject, the most experienced as the head member and others as the group members. They should also increase the executive power and authority of supervisors to be able to give financial and non-financial privileges to active teachers and attract them to different programs and improve competition among them. Moreover, policymakers need to allocate fees, transportation, and catering to teacher trainers and participants of TPD courses who participate in out-of-duty hours, and eventually, repeat the current administered supervision model in future years by supporting the supervisors.
Teacher supervisors should observe the classes patiently; they should not be disappointed and unmotivated because positive actions can be taken despite all the shortcomings. They need to have a deep sense of responsibility, and compassionately seek to solve the teachers’ problems and meet their needs. They are also required to concentrate on supervision programs and answer the teachers’ questions because supervisors are the communication channel between the teachers and the Education Office.
On the other hand, teachers should welcome the supervisors to observe their classrooms and cooperate with them. They should be open to supervisors’ comments, and show respect for their feedback, and improve their capacity for criticism and hearing weak points. They need to listen to the supervisors’ recommendations and make autonomous decisions by considering the school and class conditions.
Finally, school principals should cooperate with supervisors, and present the realities to them; they should not hide anything from their view, nor should they consider teacher supervision as a means to trouble the teacher and to expel him/her from the school, but consider it as a means to improve the quality of the teacher’s professionalism.
As a new model of supervision in the Education System, this study suffered some limitations. First, the participants of this study included both genders with different ages and different academic degrees which may have affected the results. Second, the population of this study included just 100 novice and 100 experienced EFL teachers from Alborz Province. Third, the questionnaire used in this study was very long and according to the data triangulation results, the data of some sub-components did not enjoy acceptable reliability. Fourth, this study was administered at the expense and efforts of the researcher. Therefore, replication of the study with the participation of all the Iranian EFL teachers or EFL teachers of other provinces and controlling gender, age, and degree of academic education may yield different results. Further, using a shorter questionnaire may delve into more reliable and precise findings. Furthermore, replication of this study with financial and non-financial support on the part of the Education System may also entail different results.
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Biodata
Ashraf Montaseri received her B.A. degree in English Language Translation from Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, and she received her M.A. degree in TEFL from Islamic Azad University, Takestan Branch, and now, she is a Ph. D candidate in TEFL in Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch. She has published three international papers in Applied Linguistics and two papers in the Teacher Supervision field. She has attended two international conferences on applied research in language studies with presenting two papers. She is an EFL teacher with more than 27 years of experience and she teaches general English and ESP at Farhangian University in Karaj. Her fields of interest are Teaching, Applied Linguistics, Teacher Education, and Supervision.
Reza Pajoohan Doost received his Ph.D. degree in TEFL from Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch. He is an assistant professor in Islamic Azad University, Garmsar branch with more than 26 years of experience. He is an expert IELTS trainer, too. His field of interest is Teacher Education, Testing, and Research. He has published three books and five papers.
Davood Ghahremani holds a Ph.D. in applied linguistics. He is the assistant professor of Islamic Azad University, Garmsar Branch. He has taught various courses in TEFL, TESOL, and translation since 2005. His fields of interest are Academic Research, Language testing, Psychology of Teaching and Learning, and Psycholinguistics. He has published two papers in the Teacher Supervision Field.