Developing and Validating a Model of Pluralistic Teacher Effectiveness for Iranian EFL Teachers
Subject Areas : Journal of Language, Culture, and Translation
Fahimeh Karvandi
1
(Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran)
Afshin Soori
2
()
Mohammad Ali Ayatollahi
3
(Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sepidan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sepidan, Iran)
Keywords: Effective teaching, pluralism, pluralistic education, teacher effectiveness,
Abstract :
This study aimed to develop and validate a model of pluralistic teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers through an exploratory sequential mixed-method design. Two groups of participants took part in the present study. The first group who participated in the study included male and female Iranian English teachers (n=51 in the qualitative phase and n=196 in the quantitative phase) who were selected through available sampling from private language institutes in Iran. The second group consisted of male and female Iranian intermediate EFL learners (n=46 in the qualitative phase and n=201 in the quantitative phase) who were selected through available sampling from private language institutes in Iran. A one-on-one semi-structured interview and a closed-ended questionnaire were used to collect data. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Cronbach's Alpha test. As revealed by the results, a pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers emerged from the participants’ perceptions in three main categories including pluralistic classroom management, pluralistic pedagogy, and pluralistic ethics. Moreover, it was revealed that the developed model is valid and reliable. The findings have some implications for EFL teachers, teacher educators, and teacher education curriculum planners.
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Journal of Language, Culture, and Translation (LCT), 6(2) (2024), 25–45 | |||
Developing and Validating a Model of Pluralistic Teacher Effectiveness for Iranian EFL Teachers
Fahimeh Karvandi1, Afshin Soori12, Mohammad Ali Ayatollahi3
1Ph.D. Candidate, Department of English, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran
2Assistant Professor, Department of English, Larestan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Larestan, Iran
3Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sepidan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sepidan, Iran
Received: 27/01/2024 Revised: 19/04/2024 Accepted: 11/05/2024
Abstract
This study aimed to develop and validate a model of pluralistic teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers through an exploratory sequential mixed-method design. Two groups of participants took part in the present study. The first group who participated in the study included male and female Iranian English teachers (n=51 in the qualitative phase and n=196 in the quantitative phase) who were selected through available sampling from private language institutes in Iran. The second group consisted of male and female Iranian intermediate EFL learners (n=46 in the qualitative phase and n=201 in the quantitative phase) who were selected through available sampling from private language institutes in Iran. A one-on-one semi-structured interview and a closed-ended questionnaire were used to collect data. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Cronbach's Alpha test. As revealed by the results, a pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers emerged from the participants’ perceptions in three main categories including pluralistic classroom management, pluralistic pedagogy, and pluralistic ethics. Moreover, it was revealed that the developed model is valid and reliable. The findings have some implications for EFL teachers, teacher educators, and teacher education curriculum planners.
Keywords: Effective teaching, pluralism, pluralistic education, teacher effectiveness
1. Introduction
Lately, English language learning for non-native speakers has encountered several challenges stemming from various factors, particularly the widespread influence of globalization. A noticeable consequence of societal transformations is the rise of multicultural communities, necessitating the integration of diverse educational elements into learning systems (Zohrabi et al., 2019). Stika (2012) observes a paradigm shift occurring across different societies, wherein the promotion of pluralism, defined as the coexistence of diverse viewpoints, ideas, languages, values, cultures, and political structures (Hongladarom, 2011), takes precedence in educational frameworks. The aim is to develop fresh perspectives and knowledge through accepting diversity. Nanggala (2020) highlights the crucial role of pluralistic education in influencing the moral foundation of a society. Consequently, this can lead to the prevention of interpersonal conflicts within the community, as individuals are better equipped to perceive and comprehend events through the perspective of diversity. According to Wulandari (2020), and Beqiri and Sylaj (2021), pluralistic education serves as the primary conduit for fostering a diverse range of historical perspectives generated from community groups, raising awareness of various cultures in society, increasing the intercultural competence of cultures in society, reducing racism, discrimination, sexism, and various other prejudices, developing awareness to pay more heed to the preservation of the planet earth, and solving the social problems. The view held by Copeland and Tarver (2020) is that pluralistic education enhances instructors’ recognition of the complexities of different cultures and the integral connections between gender, race, class, and uniqueness of liberate learners from unfair societal structures.
Moreover, effective teaching and the role of the teacher have long been recognized as crucial factors in successful language-learning endeavors. Teacher effectiveness is considered a central element of the education system all over the world due to the belief that teachers are among the most important factors contributing to language learning in countries and effective teaching leads to effective learning, which is the ultimate goal of English classes (Richards, 2001). As mentioned by Vogt (1984), effective instruction is connected with the capacity to deliver teaching tailored to learners of varying skills, integrating instructional purposes and evaluating the most effective learning methods for every student. Anderson (1991) suggests that a skilled educator consistently attains goals that directly or indirectly prioritize student learning (p. 18). Despite the universal applicability of fundamental principles of effective teaching, when defining teacher effectiveness, it is essential to consider factors such as unique learning aims, tasks, and contexts distinct from those found in other subjects.
Furthermore, despite the widespread implementation of pluralistic education in the global community and the acknowledgment of cultural, communal, and identity diversity as valuable assets within educational systems across various societies (Ferrero, 2003), there are few evident indications of pluralistic education permeating the ELT system in Iran. Specifically, a predominant Unitarian approach still prevails within Iran's educational system (Motamed et al., 2013b). Advocates of pluralistic education argue that incorporating pluralistic elements is essential to align educational systems with social, political, and cultural advancements (Zohrabi et al., 2019). Kumar (2018) suggests that the primary reason for resistance to pluralistic education in some systems stems from educators' inability to comprehend the challenges posed by diverse learner groups.
Moreover, despite the contention that ELT authorities should endeavor to prepare learners for global citizenship through pluralistic education, in alignment with the educational preferences of global educational systems (Zohrabi et al., 2019), the principles of pluralistic education are noticeably absent from ELT systems in Iran. More particularly, the ELT system of Iran is characterized by the Unitarian views towards education (Motamed et al., 2013b). In unitarian education, pre-designed plans are followed to transmit knowledge to learners and produce unified beliefs in them. To this end, traditional teaching/learning techniques including lecturing, advising, and preaching to the students, with preservation of the teacher’s authority are administered. In such a system, there are limited opportunities for students’ interaction, participation, and creativity (Motamed et al., 2013b). Moreover, in the absence of pluralistic education within Iran's ELT system, and despite the crucial role of teacher effectiveness in ELT across various nations, including Iran, a review of the literature indicates that, to the researcher's knowledge, no model for pluralistic teacher effectiveness has been put forth specifically for Iranian EFL teachers. This is while the recent argument made by some scholars is that the current situation of world education is so that pluralistic education should be administered in different branches of English teaching (Parker, 2019).
On the one hand, to confirm the importance of teacher efficiency in the quality of EFL education, it is enough to say that it has been enumerated as one of the most salient factors in EFL learning success and a main part of educational systems in different parts of the world (Richards, 2001). As argued by Namdari and Sahragard (2021), because teachers play a key role in effective language learning by providing effective instruction in EFL classes, teacher effectiveness must be paid deep attention in studies in the ELT field as a main predictor of EFL learning success.
On the other hand, pluralistic education has been adopted as a main educational route in different educational settings and teacher preparation programs (TPPs) because (1) cultural diversity is a valued capital, (2) pluralistic education is a ground for celebrating and extending cultural diversity, and (3) adaptability with pluralism must be recognized in every part of TPPs (Banks, 2009). This is why TPPs have endeavored to develop and implement teacher training courses that are concerned with making teachers ready for teaching in pluralistic systems (Banks, 2009).
As pinpointed in reviews on teacher education, pluralistic teacher education is associated with many positive outcomes that act as evidence of the priority of pluralistic teacher education plans over unitary ones (Sleeter, 2008). This clearly leads to the acceptance of pluralistic teacher effectiveness over unitary teacher effectiveness. In unitary education, pre-set plans and materials are used to convey knowledge to learners and generate unified ideologies in them. Additionally, traditional and teacher-centered approaches are utilized. In the unitary approach, evaluation is conducted using pre-set criteria and purposes, disciplines, and frameworks, with a focus on memorization, reiteration, reviewing, and habit formation. On the contrary, in pluralistic education, the teacher is supposed to be the student’s learning facilitator and use teaching strategies that are helpful in this regard. There exists no particular pre-set teaching method for teaching in this approach. The teacher is supposed to help students learn in their own way (Bank, 2008).
Moreover, a recurrent argument is that TPPs should train teachers to be willingly engaged in the broadening of their social understanding. This presupposes the recognition that specific worldviews are not indisputably acceptable, but they are inevitably influenced by different features and properties such as ethnicity, social status, sex, race, and so on. Accordingly, if teachers reach this level of understanding, they can be expected to act as sources of change and transformation in EFL settings. Obviously, this requires going beyond the old role of content presenters and actively pursuing to expedite students' achievement and advancement (Sleeter, 2008). This again contributes to the conclusion that pluralistic education is worth penetrating into teacher effectiveness.
Teacher effectiveness minus pluralistic components generates problems and challenges since it promotes narrow-mindedness, and causes teachers to evaluate students through subjectivity and personal biases. Since students are different regarding their race, ethnicity, and culture, it seems necessary for teachers to teach pluralistically to efficiently fulfill the needs of all students (Enyew & Melesse, 2018). According to Wulandari (2020), pluralistic education is the salient route to the generation of diverse views, raising the consciousness of different cultures, increasing students’ cultural competence, removing racism, discrimination, and bias, and solving problems.
In spite of the above arguments, review of the related literature shows that, despite several explorations of pluralistic education from diverse angles (e.g., Enyew & Melesse, 2018; Motamed et al., 2013; Parker, 2019; Pourdavood & Yan, 2020; Vassallo, 2020; Zohrabi et al., 2019), investigation of pluralistic education within the realm of teacher effectiveness is still missing, specifically in the Iranian context. Among the related studies, for example, Enyew and Melesse (2018) explored the integration of pluralism into the environment of Ethiopian universities. Utilizing a researcher-made questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, the study employed one-sample t-tests and narrative analysis for data analysis. The results prompted the deduction that educational programs at Ethiopian universities have incorporated elements of pluralism. In the study conducted by Parker (2019), the author examined the significance of pluralistic education within the context of ELT and teacher education at the post-secondary level. The research examined diverse facets of critical pluralistic education, serving as influential factors for EFL learners in comprehending course content. The recommendation from the study encouraged stakeholders to consider these elements as starting points for re-conceptualizing teaching principles and methods. The research of Zohrabi et al. (2019) examined pluralistic ELT in high schools in Iran, while Motamed et al. (2013) addressed pluralistic education within the scope of general education in the Iranian context. To address this research gap, this investigation endeavored to develop and validate a model of pluralistic teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers based on Iranian EFL teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of pluralistic teacher effectiveness which can be used as a guideline or roadmap by EFL teachers, teacher educators, teacher education curriculum planners, and other groups of stakeholders. To this end, the following research questions were formulated:
RQ2. Is the proposed model of pluralistic teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers valid and reliable?
2. Methodology
2.1. Design
Because this study used qualitative procedures in data collection and analysis followed by quantitative ones, it benefited from a sequential exploratory mixed-methods (QUAL + quan) design (Ary et al., 2010).
2.2. Participants
In total, two groups of participants took part in the present study. However, the sample size was different in the qualitative and quantitative phases of the study. The first group who participated in the study included male and female Iranian English teachers who were selected through available sampling. They were selected from private language institutes in Iran. They were B.A, M.A, and PhD holders in different branches of English major with 6-15 years of teaching English experience. They were in the 40-50 age range. In the qualitative phase of the study, 51 (28 males and 23 females) teachers participated. After interviewing the 51st teacher, no new finding was obtained. This point is called data saturation. However, in the quantitative phase of the study, 196 Iranian English teachers (95 males and 101 females) with exactly the above features took part through availability sampling. In fact, because in the quantitative phase of the study, the data were exposed to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the sample size must be relatively large.
The second group that participated in the present study consisted of male and female Iranian intermediate EFL learners who were selected through availability sampling. They were selected from private language institutes in Iran. They were in the 18-32 age range. In the qualitative phase of the study, 46 (21 males and 25 females) EFL learners participated. After interviewing the 46th learner, no new information was gained (i.e., data saturation point). However, in the quantitative phase of the study, 201 Iranian EFL learners (99 males and 102 females) with the same characteristics as the learners who were recruited for the qualitative phase took part through availability sampling. This sample size was appropriate for EFA and CFA.
The participants were aware of the purpose of the study, and their participation consent was taken at the beginning of the study. Moreover, they were assured that the data would be kept confidential and their data would not affect their current status at all. Because the participants were from different cities in Iran, they were chosen from virtual groups of teachers and learners in social networks including Telegram and WhatsApp.
2.3. Instruments
A one-on-one semi-structured interview was used to collect data. The semi-structured interview is a qualitative research method that merges a pre-set series of open questions with the opportunity for the interviewer to explore the interviewees’ responses (Creswell, 2015). The semi-structured interview used in the present study included three open-ended questions which were carefully derived from similar previous studies. To ensure the credibility and dependability of the interview data, low-inference descriptors, and member checks were used.
A closed-ended questionnaire which was developed by the researcher based on the developed model was the second instrument of data collection. The questionnaire consisted of 24 five-point Likert items in a range from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
The rationale behind designing this questionnaire was that an accepted procedure that is followed in the validation of the newly developed models is that the model is converted into a questionnaire. Then, a considerably large number of the participants are asked to fill out the developed questionnaire. Finally, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Cronbach’s Alpha test are run to confirm the validity and reliability of the model (Zohrabi et al., 2019). To pilot this questionnaire, it was implemented with 100 participants (50 EFL teachers and 50 EFL learners) whose demographic features were the same as the participants of the study to ensure the comprehensibility of the items. However, they were not recruited in the main phase of the study. Then, the data were exposed to EFA to check the validity of the questionnaire. In this way, the validity of the questionnaire was confirmed. Moreover, its Cronbach’s Alpha reliability was calculated at .80.
2.4. Data Collection and Analysis Procedure
To start data collection, the selected participants were requested to attend a one-on-one interview. Local social networks were used for the convenience of the participants. The interview was conducted in English with no pre-set time boundary. Before the interview, the interviewees gave their consent to their voices being recorded. Then, the audio-recorded files were transcribed verbatim for thematic analysis. To analyze the data thematically, in the first step, the researchers familiarized themselves with the data by taking notes or reading through the data. Then, to code the data, some phrases were made bold to help them identify some codes as indicators of the bold parts. Next, the codes were again analyzed to recognize the recurrent themes. Finally, the identified themes were checked in terms of accuracy through a review. To observe intra-coder reliability issues, the researcher re-analyzed the existing literature manually after a one-month time interval. The intra-coder reliability was .95 through the Spearman Correlation Test.
Next, a core category was extracted from the already extracted themes to build the model (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). That is, in this stage, the identified similar themes were grouped under a main category, and the main categories and themes were linked together as an explanatory whole to develop the pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers. To elaborate more, for instance, the themes ‘building verbal relations with all students’, ‘having motivational skills’, and ‘giving corrective feedback to all the students’ were grouped together under the main category ‘pluralistic classroom management’. Finally, the main categories as well as the themes were linked together to make an "explanatory whole" or the pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers.
At this point, the turn reached the quantitative phase of the study. In this stage, to validate the developed pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers, a closed-ended questionnaire was developed based on the developed model. Thereafter, to validate the developed model, the questionnaire was distributed among the participants of the quantitative phase of the study in WhatsApp and Telegram to be filled. Finally, the collected data through the questionnaire were entered into SPSS 24 and AMOS24 for the purpose of data analysis. To analyze the data quantitatively, first, EFA was run using SPSS 24 to check the validity of the questionnaire which was developed based on the developed pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness. It is worth noting that the assumptions of EFA (i.e., the sphericity assumption and adequacy of content sampling) were checked using Bartlett Sphericity test and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test. Next, a parallel analysis was run to determine the optimal number of factors. Following these, EFA was run using Principal Components Analysis with Varimax rotation with the determined factors. Moreover, Cronbach’s Alpha test was run to check the reliability of the questionnaire.
Then, using the AMOS24 package, the higher order CFA was run to validate the developed model, through the Maximum likelihood estimation method, and through examining the goodness of fit of the model. Finally, the reliability of the developed model was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient.
3. Results
Figure 1. The Pluralistic Model of Teacher Effectiveness for Iranian EFL Teachers
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As demonstrated in Figure 1, the pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers consists of three main categories including pluralistic classroom management, pluralistic pedagogy, and pluralistic ethics. Each main category consists of some sub-categories which can be seen in Figure 1. Pluralistic classroom management consists of the following sub-categories: Building Verbal Relations with all Students, Showing Care and Support to all Students, Generating a Friendly class Environment, Having Motivational Skills, having warm interaction with all students, giving corrective feedback to all students, and generating equal learning opportunities for all the students. The sub-categories of Pluralistic pedagogy include Identifying the Learning Styles of all Students, Mastery over Content in Different Fields, Teaching through Different Teaching Methods or Strategies, Teaching Reflectively, Using Technology in Teaching & Assessment, Using Diverse Assessment Methods, Enacting Flexibility in Teaching & Assessment, Using the Same Teaching/ Assessment Method for Students with Different Socio-Cultural Backgrounds, and Selecting the Content from Different Cultures and Religions. Finally, pluralistic ethics include Being Accountable to Stakeholders, Enacting Classroom Fairness, Avoiding Discrimination, Avoiding Bias, Avoiding Racial Subjectivity, Being Objective in Teaching & Assessment, Respecting Retarded Students and Respecting Minority Students.
Then, to answer the second research question ‘Is the proposed model of pluralistic teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers valid and reliable?’, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied to the questionnaire data. Before running EFA, it was necessary to check out content sampling adequacy. So, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test was applied to the collected data whose results are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. KMO and Bartlett’s Test | ||
KMO and Bartlett's Test | ||
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. | 0.693 | |
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity | Approx. Chi-Square | 2745.113 |
df | 369 | |
Sig. | 0.0001 | |
The results presented in the first row of Table 1 indicate that the KMO measure is greater than 0.60 (0.693) and there is no evidence of inadequate content sampling. In addition, to ensure that there is enough correlation between items to warrant factor analysis, Bartlett's test of sphericity was performed. The result in the next rows of Table 1 shows that the approximate value of the Chi-Square test is 2745.113 which, with 369 degrees of freedom is, significant at 0.0001 level.
In the next step, to determine the exact number of extractable factors, the parallel analysis syntax was run in the SPSS. The results are presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Results of Parallel Analysis |
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Component number | E.A | M.E.R | Decision | |
1 | 3.98 | 2.13 | Accept | |
2 | 1.85 | 1.09 | Accept | |
3 | 1.46 | 1.00 | Accept | |
E.A = the eigenvalues derived from the actual data. M.E.R = the mean eigenvalues derived from the random data | ||||
Figure 2. The Scree Plot Resulted from EFA
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As shown in Figure 2, three factors (i.e., Pluralistic Classroom Management, Pluralistic Pedagogy, and Pluralistic Ethics) had eigenvalues exceeding 1. Table 3 shows the results of EFA.
Table 3 illustrates the factor loading for each item on its respective factor. The findings reveal that all 24 items of the Pluralistic Model of Teacher Effectiveness for Iranian EFL Teachers' scale possess acceptable factor loading on their respective factors (ranging between 0.42 and 0.75 for Pluralistic Classroom Management, 0.43 to 0.75 for Pluralistic Pedagogy and 0.41 to 0.66 for Pluralistic Ethics). These three factors accounted for 49% of the overall variance in the data.
Table 3. Results of EFA | ||||||
Pluralistic Pedagogy | Pluralistic Ethics | |||||
Items | loading | Items | loading | Items | loading | |
1. Building Verbal Relations with all Students | 0.60 | 8. Identifying Learning Styles of all Students | 0.50 | 17. Being Accountable to Stakeholders | 0.41 | |
2. Showing Care and Support to all Students | 0.75 | 9. Mastery of Content in Different Fields | 0.43 | 18. Enacting Classroom Fairness | 0.68 | |
3. Generating a Friendly Class Environment | 0.66 | 10. Teaching through Different Teaching Methods or Strategies | 0.51 | 19. Avoiding Discrimination | 0.73 | |
4. Having Motivational Skills | 0.42 | 11. Teaching Reflectively | 0.65 | 20. Avoiding Bias | 0.66 | |
5. Having Warm Interaction with all the Students | 0.70 | 12. Using Technology in Teaching & Assessment | 0.69 | 21. Avoiding Racial Subjectivity | 0.49 | |
6. Giving Corrective Feedback to all the Students | 0.45 | 13. Using Diverse Assessment Methods | 0.49 | 22. Being Objective in Teaching & Assessment | 0.60 | |
7. Generating Equal Learning Opportunities for All Students | 0.59 | 14. Enacting Flexibility in Teaching & Assessment | 0.60 | 23. Respecting Retarded Students | 0.66 | |
|
| 15. Using the Same Teaching/Assessment Method for Students with Different Socio-Cultural Backgrounds | 0.48 | 24. Respecting Minority Students | 0.62 | |
|
| 16. Selecting the Content from Different Cultures and Religions | 0.75 |
|
| |
Then, the factor structure obtained from the EFA was subjected to CFA using the AMOS24 package. Figure 3 displays a visual representation of the standardized path coefficients between each factor and its relevant indicators.
Figure 3. Results of CFA
As shown in Figure 3, all items demonstrate acceptable factor loadings on their relevant factor. In addition, there was a positive inter-correlation between latent variables (Pluralistic Classroom Management, Pluralistic Pedagogy, and Pluralistic Ethics). The correlation between Pluralistic Classroom Management and Pluralistic Pedagogy was significantly higher than the other inter-correlation coefficients (0.79).
To examine how well the proposed model fits with the data, the measures of the fit indices of the model were examined and presented in Table 4.
Table 4. Fit Indices of Pluralistic Model of Teacher Effectiveness for Iranian EFL Teachers | |||||||
| X2/df | GFI | AGFI | CFI | TLI | RMSEA | PCLOSE |
Fit indices | 2.48 | 0.93 | 0.90 | 0.91 | 0.96 | 0.03 | 0.19 |
Acceptable fit indices | < 3 | >0.90 | >0.90 | >0.90 | >0.90 | < 0.08 | >0.05 |
Table 4 shows that the absolute global goodness of fit index was 2.48, obtained by dividing χ2 by the degrees of freedom. The goodness of fit index (GFI) and adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI) illustrated the amount of variance and covariance explained by the model, and were 0.93 and 0.90, respectively. Additionally, the comparative fit index (CFI), which evaluated the proposed model against the baseline model, was 0.91. The Toker-Lewis index (TLI), a non-normed fit indicator, had a value of 0.96. The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) and P of Close Fit (PCLOSE) were 0.03 and 0.19, respectively. The fit indices of the model were all at an acceptable level, indicating a well-fitting model. Therefore, it can be concluded that the proposed model has acceptable validity.
Next, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was utilized to assess the model's reliability. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the questionnaire and its subscales are presented in Table 5.
Table 5. Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficients of the Model |
|
Subscales | Alpha coefficients’ |
Pluralistic Classroom Management | 0.74 |
Pluralistic Pedagogy | 0.71 |
Pluralistic Ethics | 0.76 |
Total scale | 0.82 |
The alpha coefficients displayed in Table 5 suggest that the questionnaire and its subscales exhibit a reliability exceeding 0.71, which in turn indicates good internal consistency. It can be concluded that the developed pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers is reliable.
4. Discussion
The present study sought to develop and validate a pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers. As revealed by the results, a pluralistic model of teacher effectiveness for Iranian EFL teachers emerged from the participants’ perceptions in three main categories including pluralistic classroom management, pluralistic pedagogy, and pluralistic ethics. Pluralistic classroom management consists of the following sub-categories: Building Verbal Relations with all Students, Showing Care and Support to all Students, Generating a Friendly Class Environment, Having Motivational Skills, having warm interaction with all the students, giving corrective feedback to all students, and generating equal learning opportunities for all the students. The sub-categories of Pluralistic pedagogy include Identifying the Learning Styles of all Students, Mastery over Content in Different Fields, Teaching through Different Teaching Methods or Strategies, Teaching Reflectively, Using Technology in Teaching & Assessment, Using Diverse Assessment Methods, Enacting Flexibility in Teaching & Assessment, Using the Same Teaching/Assessment Method for Students with Different Socio-Cultural Backgrounds, and Selecting the Content from Different Cultures and Religions. Finally, pluralistic ethics include Being Accountable to Stakeholders, Enacting Classroom Fairness, Avoiding Discrimination, Avoiding Bias, Avoiding Racial Subjectivity, Being Objective in Teaching & Assessment, Respecting Retarded Students and Respecting Minority Students.
The findings are in line with the findings of Aho et al. (2010), Bullock (2015), Danielson (2013), Kaboodvand (2013), Khojastehmehr and Takrimi (2008), Lee (2019), Reynolds et al. (2021), Ramos-Rodríguez et al. (2022), Shishavan and Sadeghi (2009), Shojaei et al. (2022), Starkey (2010), Strong (2007), Wichadee (2010), and Zein (2017) that reported similar characteristics for the effective teachers. Further, in the studies by Abdeli et al. (2016), Colombo (2013), Daryai-Hansen et al. (2015), Mostafazadeh et al. (2015), Sadeghi (2012), and Zohrabi et al. (2019), similar features were enumerated for pluralistic teachers.
To support the above arguments, as put by Starkey (2010), teacher effectiveness entails a series of basic knowledge and skill, subject matter knowledge, behavior in the classroom context, and teaching methods which make teaching remarkably different from many other professions. The important thing is that when pluralism comes into play, such types of knowledge, skill, and practice are queued in a specific direction so that pluralistic principles are not missed. In other words, the knowledge, skill, and practice of EFL teachers should have specific properties so that their teacher effectiveness becomes pluralistic.
Moreover, it can be argued that since pluralistic education is intermingled with diversity and variety as opposed to sameness and similarity, it seems reasonable that the participants perceive mastery over content in different fields, teaching through different teaching methods or strategies, and using diverse assessment methods as significant factors in pluralistic teacher effectiveness. The rationale behind this argument is that one single static and inflexible form of instruction or assessment cannot fully reveal learners' learning and development. Additionally, it seeks to promote the idea that diversity of teaching and evaluation methods indirectly leads to the development of teachers’ potential, and encourages democratic attitudes and values among them. In addition, it removes the domination of one type of teaching and assessment in educational contexts. Moreover, with a view to the fact equality and fairness have been assigned a high weight in pluralistic education, it is justified that the participants of this study refer to building verbal relations with all students, being accountable, identifying the learning styles of all students, showing care and support to all students, and enacting classroom fairness in stating their perceptions of pluralistic teacher effectiveness. Furthermore, participation, engagement, and active involvement of students via any practical and possible means are considered inevitable aspects of pluralistic education. This can be a reason for the participants’ mentioning generating a friendly class environment and having motivational skills in their views about pluralistic teacher effectiveness. Finally, teaching in line with the latest developments in the field of education is a main component of pluralistic education. Therefore, the participants did not ignore the role of technology and mentioned teaching reflectively and using technology in their opinions about pluralistic teacher effectiveness.
5. Conclusion
Based on the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that to teach effectively in line with pluralistic education, EFL teachers are required to build verbal and emotional interaction with all the students. This is a useful strategy to reduce discrimination in educational settings. Furthermore, it can be concluded that effective EFL teaching congruent with pluralistic education is contrary to old static assessment methods that are employed in many educational environments. More specifically, pluralistic effective EFL teaching should benefit from various assessment procedures to evaluate EFL learners’ English knowledge. Additionally, it is concluded that giving motivation to the students and remaining accountable to them in a warm and friendly situation are among the things that push EFL teachers forward to effective teaching based on pluralism. Also, EFL teachers should not confine themselves to textbooks in selecting the content of teaching. However, they should take different cultures and religions into account in developing the content. Finally, it can be concluded that to pave the ground for the reconciliation of effective teaching with pluralistic education, EFL teachers should resort to diverse teaching methods so that all the students can benefit from the method(s) that accords with their learning style. In sum, pluralistic EFL teacher effectiveness means a departure from traditional teaching methods, evaluation procedures, classroom management, class interaction, and teacher attitudes and behaviors. If these aspects of teaching are transformed in line with pluralistic agendas, pluralistic teacher effectiveness is expected to be achieved. The outcome would be effective teaching that is accompanied by pluralistic principles and agendas. In such kind of teaching, classroom management, pedagogy, and ethics are pluralistically arranged and corroborated to make a whole.
The pedagogical implications of the findings for EFL teachers, teacher educators, and teacher education curriculum planners are worth noting. The findings give useful insights to EFL teachers which can help them teach EFL effectively consistent with pluralistic education. EFL teacher educators can use the developed model in training pre-service and in-service teachers. EFL teacher education curriculum planners may plan future curricula based on the developed model in a way that pluralistic lessens and effective teacher characteristics are taken into consideration.
Funding: This research received no external funding from any agency. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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[1] * Corresponding Author's E-mail address: afshin.soori@gmail.com
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