Teacher Training or Teacher Draining: A Critical Analysis of Iranian Teacher Training Courses (TTC)
Subject Areas : Applied Linguistics
Hamed Zarabi
1
,
Nadia Gharani
2
,
Nima Yamrali
3
1 -
2 -
3 -
Keywords: Trainers, Teacher Education Programs, Trainees, Teacher Training Courses (TTC),
Abstract :
This paper sought to look critically at Iran’s teacher training courses (TTCs) to discover the main problems and missing links. To this aim, twenty English teachers (8 men and 12 women) teaching general English courses at five private language institutes in Tehran and Mashhad participated in this study. Through a qualitative approach employing semi-structured interviews the needed data were collected and analyzed. It was worth mentioning that the researchers observed around 200 hours of teacher training courses in Iran for even delving deeper into the problem. By using inductive content analysis, the data were analyzed and the results and findings showed miscellaneous problems in Iran’s teacher training courses. The main problems detected were Lack of THEORY, Lack of FREEDOM of CHOICE, Lack of SUPERVISION in the courses, Lack of Teacher REFLECTION, Lack of TECHNOLOGY in education, and Lack of consideration for teachers’ PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE. This study had important implications for teacher trainers to work more on their theoretical knowledge and for teachers to choose the right courses for their professional development. Also, this study helps managers and lesson planners to hold better courses by eradicating these problems.
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