Iranian EFL Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices on Effective Teaching: The Case of Gender and Level of Experience

Subject Areas : Research in English Language Pedagogy

Mahsa  Shahvand ¹ (Sobhe Sadegh Institute of Higher Education, Isfahan, Iran)
Ehsan  Rezvani ² (Sobhe Sadegh Institute of Higher Education, Isfahan, Iran)

Received: 2015-11-06 Accepted : 2016-02-14 Published : 2016-02-14

Keywords: gender, teachers&rsquo, practices, experienced teachers, novice teachers, Teachers&rsquo, Beliefs, effective teaching,

Abstract :

This study was an attempt to investigate Iranian EFL teachers’ beliefs about effective teaching in foreign language classrooms. More specifically, the study addresses the need for a clear understanding of the role of teaching effectiveness in EFL classrooms by looking at Iranian EFL teachers’ own beliefs. To this end, 90 Iranian EFL instructors of the English language voluntarily participated in the study. A closed-ended questionnaire was employed as a prime quantitative data collection tool to investigate teachers’ beliefs about effective teaching in EFL classrooms. The respondents answered the three parts of the “Effective Teacher” questionnaire. The data analysis indicated 1) there was no significant difference in teaching effectiveness between male and female Iranian EFL teachers, 2) there was no significant difference between experienced and novice Iranian EFL teachers’ stated beliefs regarding their effective teaching, and 3) there was no significant relationship between Iranian EFL teachers’ beliefs about effective teaching and their practice of effective teaching.

References:

Ansari, S. (2003). The impact of task-based approach vs. text- based approach on EFL students writing skill Unpublished master thesis, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch, Tehran, Iran.
Bandura, A. (1982). Self -efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37, 122-147.
Birjandi, P., & Mosallanejad, P. (2010). Research methods for English major students 1&2. Isfahan, Iran: Sepahan.
Borg, S. (1998). Teachers’ pedagogical systems and grammar teaching: A qualitative study. TESOL Quarterly. 32(1), 9-38.

Borg, S. (2003). Teacher Cognition in Language
Teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, believe, and do.” Language Teaching, 36, 81-109.
Borg, S., (2006). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. Continuum, London.
Brace. I. (2004). Questionnaire design: How to plan, structure and write survey material for effective market research. London: Kogan Page.
Burns, A. (1992). Teacher beliefs and their influence on classroom practice. Prospect, 7(3), 56-65.
Dornyei, Z. (2003). Questionnaires in second language research: construction, administration, and processing. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Dornyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  
Eslami, Z.R., & Burlbaw, L. (2006). ESL teachers' perceptions and factors influencing their use of classroom-based reading assessment. Bilingual Research Journal, 29(2),459-482.
Fang, Z. (1996). A review of research on teacher beliefs and practices. Educational Research, 38(l), 47-65.
Gencer, A.S., & Cakiroglu, J. (2007). Turkish preservice science teachers’ efficacy beliefs regarding science teaching and their beliefs about classroom management. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23 (5), 664–675.
Kagan, D.M. (1992). Implication of research on teacher belief. Educational Psychologist- 27
(10), 65 – 90.
Kagathala, A.B, (2002). A study of the effectiveness of teachers of secondary school in Gujarat. Journal of Education and Psychology, 59 (1), 26-33.
Kalra, R.K. (2010). Effect of gender and adjustment on teaching effectiveness of higher secondary teachers. Indian Psychological Review, 74(3), 141-146.
Kennedy, C. & Kennedy, J. (1996). Teacher attitudes and change implementation. System 24: 351-360.
Krishnan, S.S., & Singh, J.R. (1994). Impact of teachers sex, socio-economic status and locale on teacher effectiveness. Journal of Educational Research and Extension, 31(2), 104-108.
Mohamed, N. (2006). An Exploratory Study of the  interplay  between  teachers’  beliefs, instructional practices and professional development. Doctoral dissertation, The University of Auckland.
Pajares,  M.F.  (1992).  Teachers’  beliefs  and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307-332.
Pandey, M. & Maikhuri, R. (1999). A study of the attitude of effective and ineffective teachers towards teaching profession. Indian Journal of Psychometry and Education, 30(1), 43-46.
Penrose, A., Perry, A., & Ball, I. (2007). Emotional intelligence and teacher self-efficacy: The contribution of teacher status and length of experience. Educational Research, 17(1), 107-125.
Phipps, S., & Borg, S. (2009). Exploring tensions between teachers’ grammar teaching beliefs and practices. System, 37(3), 380-390.
Rajammal, T. & Muthumanickam, R. (2012). A study on the job involvement of school teachers. International Journal of Arts and Education, 2(2), 3-7.
Reber, T. (2001). Effective teaching behaviors and attitudes as perceived by foreign language teachers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson.
Rezaiyan, F. (2001). High school EFL teacher performance : Task-form-based approaches to reading. Unpublished master thesis, Isfahan University, Isfahan, Iran.
Richardson, V. (1996). The role of attitudes and beliefs in learning to teach. In J. Sikula, T. J. Buttery, and E. Guton (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education (pp. 102-119). New York: Macmillan Libreary Reference.
Riti, A. (2010). A study of teacher effectiveness in relation to school organizational climate and administrative behavior of school heads of Himachal Pradesh. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Punjabi University, Patiala.
Roul, S. (2007). Teacher effectiveness of autonomous and non-autonomous college teachers. Journal of Community Guidance and Research, 24(3), 326-339.