Developing and Validating a Scale for Assessing Iranian EFL Teacher Educators’ Perspectives towards Twenty-first Century Skills

Subject Areas : Research in English Language Pedagogy

Mahboobeh Khosrojerdi ¹ , Khalil Motallebzadeh ² , Hamid Ashraf ³ , Gholam Reza Zareian ⁴

1 - Department of English, Torbat-e Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran
2 - Department of English, Torbat-e Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran|Department of English, Tabaran Institute of Higher Education
3 - Department of English, Torbat-e-Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e-Heydarieh, Iran,
4 - Department of English, Torbat-e Heydarieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran |Department of English, Hakim Sabzevari University

Received: 2023-05-27 Accepted : 2023-08-06 Published : 2023-09-01

Keywords: Scale, Twenty-first Century Skills, Professional Development, Teacher Education, Teacher Educator, EFL Iranian Teachers,

Abstract :

Teacher education had been addressed in various studies. Although many studies attempted to measure teachers' twenty-first century skills, there is still a gap that prompted us to investigate the area from the teacher-educators' perspectives. To accomplish the purpose, this mixed-method study aimed to develop and validate a scale to assess Iranian EFL teacher-educators’ perceptions of twenty-first century skills. To this end, the developed scale was answered by 15 teacher educators through a semi structured interview. After transcribing and analyzing the interview responses, the researcher developed a tentative version of a twenty-first century skills scale which included 26 items. Finally, the researcher distributed the scale among 351 EFL teacher educators. The results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis indicated that the scale enjoyed high validity and reliability. The extracted factors making up three components included agreement, challenges, and implementation. Based on the rotated component matrix, some changes in the organization of the items were made. This study has implications for language teachers, and teacher trainers to design teacher training courses as well as professional development programs.

References:

Bellei, C., Morawietz, L., Valenzuela, J. P., & Vanni, X. (2020). Effective schools 10 years on: factors and processes enabling the sustainability of school effectiveness. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 31(2), 266-288.

Borg, M. (2001). Teachers' Beliefs. ELT Journal, 55(2), 186-87.

Cochran-Smith, M. (2000). The future of teacher education: Framing the questions that matter. Teaching Education, 11(1), 13-24.

Corbett, D., & Wilson, B. (2002). What­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ urban students say about good teaching? Educational Leadership, 60(1), 18-23.

Cothran, D. J., & Kulinna, P. H. (2008). Teachers’ knowledge about and use of teaching models. Physical Educator, 65(3), 122-133.

Creswell, J. W. (2009). Mapping the field of mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 3(2), 95-108.

Cuban, L. (2008). US school reform and classroom practice. In The future of educational change (pp. 93-106). Routledge.

Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). Evaluating teacher effectiveness: How teacher performance assessments can measure and improve teaching. Center for American Progress.

Douglas, C. J. (2009). A comparison of what teachers know versus what teachers practice (Doctoral dissertation, Northcentral University).

Elhensheri, N. (2004). An investigation into academic, professional and pedagogic aspects of the training programme for teachers of English as a foreign language at Al-Fateh University, Libya.

Freeman, D., & Johnson, K. (1998). Reconceptualizing the knowledge base of language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly, 32(3), 387-417.

Friedman, T. L. (2007). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first Century. New York, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Gándara, P., & Santibañez, L. (2016). The teachers our English language learners need. Educational Leadership, 73(5), 32-37.

Grose, M. (2013). The good and the bad of digital technology for kids. Retrieved May, 7, 2022.

Hanegan, N., Friden, K., & Nelson, C. R. (2009). Authentic and simulated professional development: Teachers reflect what is modeled. School Science and Mathematics, 109(2), 79-94.

Hökkä, P., Vähäsantanen, K., & Mahlakaarto, S. (2017). Teacher educators' collective professional agency and identity–transforming marginality to strength. Teaching and Teacher Education, 63, 36-46.

Hung, H. T. (2017). The integration of a student response system in flipped classrooms. Language Learning & Technology, 21(1), 16-27.

Jeong, K. O. (2017). The use of Moodle to enrich flipped learning for English as foreign language education. Journal of Theoretical & Applied Information Technology, 95(18).

Johnson, K. E. (2009). Trends in second language teacher education. In A. Burns & J. C. Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 20-29). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Killion, J., & Roy, P. (2009). Becoming a learning school. National Staff Development Council.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E. (2001). Promoting inclusion in secondary classrooms. Learning Disability Quarterly, 24(4), 265-274.

Moore, B. (2009). Emotional intelligence for school administrators: A priority for school reform? American Secondary Education, 20-28.

Motallebzadeh, K., Ahmadi, F., & Hosseinnia, M. (2018). The relationship between EFL teachers’ reflective practices and their teaching effectiveness: A structural equation modeling approach. Cogent Psychology, 5(1), 1424682.

Motallebzadeh, K., & Kafi, Z. (2015). Place-based education: Does it improve twenty-first century skills? International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 4(1), 89-94.

Murnane, R., & Steele, L. (2007). What is the problem: The challenge of providing effective teachers of all children. The Future Children, 17(1) 15-43.

Nouri, J. (2016). The flipped classroom: For active, effective, and increased learning-Especially for low achievers. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 13(1), 33-42.

Pink, D. (2009, Jul). Daniel Pink: The puzzle of motivation. [Video] Available: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation [2009, July].

Pllana, D. (2019). Creativity in Modern Education. World Journal of Education, 9(2), 136-140.‏

Sahlberg, P. (2011). The professional educator: Lessons from Finland. American Educator, 35(2), 34-38.

Shattuck, G. (2007). The historical development of instructional technology integration in K-12 education. Retrieved July, 16, 2014.

Verloop, N., Van Driel, J., & Meijer, P. (2001). Teacher knowledge and the knowledge base of teaching. International Journal of Educational Research, 35(5), 441-461.

Wagner, T. (2008). The global achievement gap: Why even our best schools don't reach the new survival skills our children need and what can we do about it. A Member of the Perseus Books Group.