Iranian EFL Teachers’ Attitudes towards Ministry of Education Top Model Teaching Festivals

Subject Areas :

Mohammad Nasimfar ¹ , Javad Gholami ² , Zhila Mohammadnia ³

1 - English Language Department, Faculty of Humanities, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
2 - English Language Department, Faculty of Humanities, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
3 - English Language Department, Faculty of Humanities, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

Received: 2022-01-16 Accepted : 2022-06-20 Published : 2022-06-01

Keywords:   EFL teachers, sustainable learning, top teaching models,

Abstract :

Teaching practices are believed to be a determining factor in educational systems. For over two decades, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Iran has been organizing Top Model Teaching Festivals to address the changes required to promote English teachers' professional development. Considering the high amounts of investment in such programs and their impacts on teaching and sustainable learning, this study probed into how the award-winning teachers critically view and evaluate the efficacy of such nationwide festivals. To this end, ten award-winning EFL teachers in the festivals were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol to qualitatively elicit their attitudes towards the program. The results obtained from the content analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that such festivals have not adequately fulfilled their main objective, which is to improve the teaching quality and potential of teachers and promote their professional development. Thus, the study calls for a reassessment of the effectiveness of such programs to find alternative ways for empowering teachers.

References:

Faez, F. & Kars, M. (2020). Teacher Perceptions of Best Practices in English Language Teaching. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 29, 77-94.

Feeney, E. J. (2007). Quality feedback: The essential ingredient for teacher success. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues, and Ideas, 80(4), 191-198.

Festival guidebook (2016). Guidelines of Active Methods Festivals. South Khorasan Education Organization, 56556/330-12/10/2008.

Forghani, N., Bavali, M., & Hadipour Fard, E. (2021). Reconceptualizing the Main Factors of Reflection-for-Action in an Iranian EFL Context. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 9(38), 143-163.‏

Hargreaves, A., Earl, L., & Schmidt, M. (2002). Perspectives on alternative assessment reform. American Educational Research Journal, 39, 69-95.

Ingvarson, L. C. (2009). Developing and Rewarding Excellent Teachers: The Scottish Chartered Teacher Scheme. Professional Development in Education, 35, 451-468. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 19415250903016707.

Khanifar, H. (2001). Looking again at teaching methods and techniques. Islamic Propaganda Office: Tehran.

Koosha, M., & Yakhabi, M. (2013). Problems associated with the use of communicative language teaching in EFL contexts and possible solutions. International Journal of Foreign Language teaching and research, 1(2), 77-90.

Kumaravadeivelu, B. (2006). Understanding language teaching: From method to post method. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Landis J, Koch G (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159-174.

Madrid, D. (1995). Internal and external factors affecting foreign language teaching and learning. Actas de las Segundas Jornadas de Estudios Ingleses, 59-82.‏

Mayer, C. (1989) (Translated by Mohammadreza Behrangi). Teaching patterns. Kamal Tarbiat: Tehran.

Redman, E. (2013). Opportunities and challenges for integrating sustainability education into k-12 schools: case study phoenix, az.  Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 15(2).

Richards, J. (2001). Curriculum development in language education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sarani, A., & Malmir, A. (2019). The effect of Dogme language teaching (Dogme ELT) on L2 speaking and willingness to communicate (WTC). Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 11(24), 261-288.

Shim, H. S., & Roth, G. (2009). Expert Teaching Professors: Sharing Their Expertise. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3(2). doi:10.20429/ijsotl.2009.030213

Soobik, M. (2014). Teaching Methods Influencing the Sustainability of the Teaching Process in Technology Education in General Education Schools. Journal of teacher education for sustainability, 16(1), 89-101.

Tang, S. Y. F., & Chow, A. W. K. (2007). Communicating feedback in teaching practice supervision in a learning-oriented field experience assessment framework. Teaching and teacher education, 23(7), 1066-1085.

Thornbury, S. (2000). A dogma for EFL. IATEFL, 2-2.‏

Tomlinson, B. (2012). Materials development for language learning and teaching. Language  Teaching. 45(2), 143-179.

Watson, A., & Williams, M. (2004). Post‐lesson debriefing: delayed or immediate? An investigation of student-teacher talk. Journal of education for teaching, 30(2), 85-96.