English language teaching in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Innovations, trends and challenges

English language teaching in
the Islamic Republic of Iran:
Innovations, trends and challenges
Edited by Chris Kennedy

English language teaching in
the Islamic Republic of Iran:
Innovations, trends and challenges
Edited by Chris Kennedy
ISBN 978-0-86355-769-9
© British Council 2015 Design/E555
10 Spring Gardens
London SW1A 2BN, UK
www.britishcouncil.org
Contents | 1
Contents
Foreword........................................................................................................................................................3
Overview
Chris Kennedy.................................................................................................................................................. 5
1 To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian
education system
Hossein Davari and Ferdows Aghagolzadeh ...........................................................................13
2 A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini and Sepideh Khodakarami............................................23
3 How have political and socio-economic issues impacted on
the motivation of Iranian university students to learn English?
Shahrzad Ardavani and Philip Durrant.......................................................................................35
4 Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities
Golnar Mazdayasna and Gholam Ali Molaei.............................................................................49
5 Developing school English materials for the new Iranian
educational system
Elham Foroozandeh and Mohammad Forouzani....................................................................59
6 The impact of language games on the nature of interactions
in the Iranian EFL primary classroom
Mona Mohabbatsafa and Julia Hüttner......................................................................................73
7 EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances
of participatory structures
Zohreh Seifoori and Farinaz Fartash...........................................................................................83
8 Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience
Alireza Memari Hanjani and Li Li...................................................................................................95
9 Migrant literature and teaching English as an international
language in Iran
Samaneh Zandian .............................................................................................................................113
10 Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran
Martin Cortazzi, Lixian Jin, Shiva Kaivanpanah and Majid Nemati................................123
11 MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era
Parvaneh Tavakoli and Mostafa Hasrati..................................................................................139
12 Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in
post-observation meetings
Sasan Baleghizadeh.........................................................................................................................151
13 Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project:
a tale of insider-outsider collaboration
Sue Leather and Khalil Motallebzadeh.....................................................................................161
2 | Contents
Foreword | 3
Foreword
The teaching and learning of foreign languages is one of the most powerful
tools we have to build a better understanding of, and stronger connections with,
other parts of the world; through this process, we build trust for and of ourselves,
our communities, and our countries.
It is in the interests of both the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and the UK to improve
the bilateral relationship. The British Council believes that better teaching and
learning of English in the IRI, and better teaching and learning of Farsi/Persian
in the UK will lead to more interest in each other’s peoples and societies, a greater
understanding of each other’s cultures, and a deeper trust.
This volume explores the innovations, trends, and challenges of English language
teaching in the IRI (we hope that a future volume may explore the teaching of
Farsi/Persian in the UK). Despite the disconnect between the IRI and the major
English-speaking countries over the last 35 years, the teaching and learning of
English in the IRI is thriving. Demand for English is high, and its benefits recognised
at the most senior levels: IRI Ministry of Education officials have talked of the
English language’s ‘direct impact on [Iran’s] social, economic, and scientific growth’
(quoted in Borjian, 2013: 116). Looking beyond the internal benefits of English,
IRI’s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini recognised, in a quote which prefaces
the IRI’s new English language textbooks, Prospects, the way that English can be
powerfully used to build a better understanding of the IRI internationally: ‘[T]oday,
modern foreign languages should be included in the school curricula … we can use
foreign languages to promote ourselves abroad’ (Curriculum Development Centre
of IRI Ministry of Education, 2013: 5; British Council translation). English is a bridge
to other countries and communities, providing opportunities for individuals in
education, work, and mobility; it is an important part of the school curriculum,
and we see this as clearly in the IRI as in the other countries with which we work.
We hope that this publication will provide a platform to demonstrate the best practices
and research of teachers and teacher trainers in the IRI, which will be of interest and
great use to English language teaching professionals in other countries. Through the
chapters we see issues explored which will be familiar to educators in many countries:
the tensions between traditional practice and more recent pedagogical thought,
issues around the need to be sensitive to the promotion of English language teaching
and potential effects on local culture and identity, and important questions concerning
the importance of intercultural awareness and the protection of local values and
principles in the face of increasing international communication. These subjects will
be familiar to those working in language teaching around the globe, and we hope
that the particular context of these questions in the IRI will spur the development
of others’ work in their own countries and contexts.
The British Council has been supporting the teaching and learning of English in
the IRI since 1942, and we continue to support teachers and learners of English
across the country. As we are in the process of building stronger relations with the
IRI to better enable us to deliver a mutually beneficial cultural relations portfolio,
we sincerely hope that this volume is seen as another step forward in developing
more understanding, and rebuilding trust.
Danny Whitehead
Director Iran, British Council
March 2015
4 | Foreword
Overview | 5
Overview
Chris Kennedy
I have interpreted the design on this volume’s front cover as an abstract
representation of a mosaic. Such a design is appropriate and relevant since the
purpose of this collection is to provide a mosaic, although inevitably incomplete,
of English language teaching (ELT) developments in Iran, in order to give readers
a picture of the variety of impressive professional activity in that nation. I hope
this volume’s content will provide a state-of-the-art baseline of interest and use
to those outside Iran, and will encourage others working inside Iran to continue
to explore local connections between ELT theory and practice. I hope too it will
remind readers that their concerns, at first sight seemingly specific to their own
local context, may have much in common with other situations, and that the global
ELT profession shares unexpected similarities.
The organisation of this volume follows a standard systemic format, with 13 chapters
on the Iranian situation, moving from cultural and socio-economic influences on
language policy and practice, to syllabus and materials design (including needs
analysis), to methodologies and, finally, to teacher and trainer training, involving
primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education, and public and private
provision. However, in this brief overview, I would like to take a slightly different
approach, and attempt to group the chapter topics around the three themes
suggested by the title of the collection, namely Innovations, trends and challenges,
while accepting that the themes interlink. Figure 1 below shows the three themes
and their mutual linkage.
Figure 1: Interlocking themes
Innovations
Challenges
Trends
6 | Overview
Innovations
Foroozandeh and Forouzani (chapter 5) give a personal and informed history of
ELT materials in Iran, culminating in the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
approach of the current Prospect secondary school series, which, in its early
stages, highlights national culture and the importance to students of the local
context. Both Leather and Motallebzadeh, and Davari and Aghagolzadeh (chapters
13 and 1 respectively) mention the importance of the materials for the future of ELT
in Iran, but stress that the move towards CLT should not cause the abandonment
of current more traditional practices. It is premature to see how well the courses
will embed within the system, although student heterogeneity, variation in school
resources, and the mismatch between traditional national university entrance
examinations and Prospect pedagogy give a flavour of potential struggles ahead.
However, it is encouraging that the materials and particularly teachers’ reactions to
them are being evaluated and hopefully evaluation will continue and be extended
to feedback from students.
Other innovations relate to methodology and to examples of teacher-initiated
classroom-based research. Zandian (chapter 9) reminds us of the importance
of literature as an integral part of ELT classrooms. She suggests an effective
procedure for promoting both intercultural awareness and exposure to different
varieties of English in order to encourage student critical reflection on the nature
of native-speaker English, in the Iranian context, standard American and British
English. She achieves these aims by selecting literature written in English by
migrants, including those from Iran, who are able to give insights through their
writings into their bicultural lives. She draws on her experience in the secondary
school sector, but her approach could as effectively be used with older students
and adults. Mohabbatsafa and Hüttner (chapter 6) introduce language games
into a primary school classroom, and demonstrate that the new methodology
and materials change the nature of the communication from a teacher-dominated,
passive class to one where pupils play more interactive roles with each other and
the teacher. Seifoori and Fartash (chapter 7) investigate the attitudes of language
institute teachers and students to different types of classroom organisation,
whole-class work, group/pair work and individual work, and show that although
teachers declare a preference for the more student-organised group/pair work,
the class in reality remains teacher dominated. Memari Hanjani and Li Li (chapter 8)
explore the use of collaboration and peer review in university writing classes,
techniques according to the authors that are not common in the Iranian system,
as they involve considerable changes in attitudes and beliefs on the part of
teachers and students. The authors suggest a staged approach to the new
methodology, using collaborative techniques initially where students work together
on essay comments from the teacher, and then, depending on student motivation,
introducing the more radical peer review in which students evaluate each other’s
essays. The interesting question these four studies raise is how to move from
individual classroom innovation to its integration in the wider educational system,
which takes commitment, time, resources, attitudinal change and training.
These studies are characterised by a move towards a learner-centred curriculum,
something we shall see later in the Trends section below, and the article by
Cortazzi et al. (chapter 10) is also part of this development. Using the techniques
Overview | 7
of metaphor research on a large group of university students, the authors were
able to collect an array of metaphorical comments from the students, revealing
insights into student views of their teachers, and their cognitive and affective
characteristics. This creative exercise was of benefit to students who could
discuss their findings and reveal, through the mediation of metaphor, their
attitudes towards their teachers and towards teacher opinions of them as
students. Such identity research could also be a powerful awareness-raising
tool for supervisors (Baleghizadeh, chapter 12) and teacher training programmes.
Leather and Motallebzadeh (chapter 13) describe a project that has as its ultimate
objectives the training of English teachers, but they start from the premise that in
order to achieve successful teacher training, you need to train professional cohorts
of teacher trainers who can themselves train additional trainers to, in turn, develop
teachers. Such cascade models of trainer and teacher training are becoming
widespread in many situations in which large numbers of teachers need to be
trained nationally, although cascade projects are not easy to implement. The
authors present a detailed account of the processes needed for successful
implementation, and suggest that insider–outsider collaboration can work well
if both parties work together constructively in negotiating a trainer programme
content that is receptive to new ideas but can be adapted to fit local circumstances.
Trends
The ELT trends described in this collection derive from higher-order socioeconomic
and political developments occurring in Iran and in the wider world.
Tavakoli and Hasrati (chapter 11) see international trends such as globalisation
impacting on higher education (HE) worldwide, leading to HE expansion, businessoriented
HE institutions and transnational student mobility, developments which
in turn have affected Iranian state and private universities in general and MA ELT
programmes in particular. Intake in such programmes has increased, with some
worries about quality. The MA curriculum content, according to the authors, has
not radically changed, though younger staff introduce piecemeal changes to their
own courses, an example of bottom-up change which eventually might lead to
more widespread content change if a critical tipping point can be reached.
Iranian students, in common with students internationally, are concerned
about getting qualified, and wish to achieve academically in Iran, but HE
internationalisation has also led them to look outside the country for future
higher qualifications and in some cases longer-term careers. Indeed Ardavani
and Durrant (chapter 3) warn against an exodus of young professionals, though
they also state, together with Davari and Aghagolzadeh (chapter 1), that students
want to contribute to Iran’s growth and many state they wish to return after
qualification. One of the carriers of internationalisation and globalisation has of
course been the English language and Iran has not been immune from the results
of its expansion. Several authors in this collection (Ardavani and Durrant, chapter 3;
Davari and Aghagolzadeh, chapter 1; Zandian, chapter 9) believe that English is
now a necessity and is acting as a bridge between Iran and other communities
internationally, and, as a consequence, emphasise the need for intercultural
training. Mirhosseini and Khodakarami (chapter 2) examine the demand for private
sector English language institute provision and institutional language policies
resulting from the expansion of English as an International Language (EIL). It is
8 | Overview
clear the institutes surveyed are less concerned with national language policies
than with responding to student demands and satisfying client expectations in
order to create conditions for a successful business operation. Private institutes in
this sense may be regarded as more learner-centred than state organisations, and
such commercial attitudes may account for the use in the institutes of international
rather than local Ministry-endorsed textbooks, and a concern for international
measures of language achievement. However, I have already indicated in the
section on Innovations above that there is greater interest in learner-centeredness
also in the public sector, reinforced by Mazdayasna and Molaei’s work (chapter 4)
on needs analysis at secondary level, who argue strongly that researching learner
needs, wants and desires is a necessary first stage prior to designing syllabuses
and materials.
The widespread use of EIL may slowly be changing current Iranian attitudes towards
standard US and British varieties of English (Zandian, chapter 9). If students are
exposed to varieties of English spoken by expert users who are not American or
British, they may realise that the high prestige accorded to US and British standard
varieties may be misplaced, or, at least, may be too narrow a focus. Indeed, the
research conducted by Ardavani and Durrant (chapter 3) seems to indicate that a
number of university students wish to identify with an international community
outside Iran as well as with their local community, and that, although these
communities are accessed through languages including English, a ‘native-speaker’
variety is no longer appropriate or relevant. This is likely over the longer term to
lead to a situation of variety-switching or variety-mixing, in which individuals will
tune into a communication and unconsciously select an appropriate variety for
particular purposes.
Challenges
Mirhosseini and Khodakarami (chapter 2) argue for a more explicit, less fragmented
English in education policy and regret the lack of a fit between statements of policy
from official bodies and their implementation at lower levels in the educational
system. Such a loose linkage between policy and practice is common in many
national educational systems since, even in highly centralised systems, it is difficult
to control the variables and differing agendas existing between the various agents
of planning, from Ministry officials to curriculum teams, materials writers, testers,
inspectors, trainers, school directors, teachers, students and parents. Indeed,
there may be an argument for welcoming loose linkages, since they give a degree
of freedom to the various agents to innovate away from the constraints of policy,
though the danger is, of course, one of fragmentation of purposes and objectives.
An alternative is to replace a top-down process with a reverse planning approach,
which begins with an assessment of classroom realities and subsequently plans
upwards through the different layers of the policy-making process. As an example,
Mazdayasna and Molaei (chapter 4), Foroozandeh and Forouzani (chapter 5) and
Zandian (chapter 9) mention the small number of hours allocated to the English
language school curriculum, which means that English proficiency targets are
unlikely to be achieved. A reverse planning approach would either accept the
lack of learning time and consequently produce realistic curriculum objectives
or, alternatively, attempt to increase the number of hours to match desired
proficiency outcomes.
Overview | 9
One of the reasons for the hesitant Iranian language policy is an unresolved
ambivalence towards English reported by several contributors. The ambivalence
is expressed in different ways, as a tension between tradition and modernity
(Cortazzi et al., chapter 10), or as a struggle between an enemy of local culture
and a necessary tool for progress (Davari and Aghagolzadeh, chapter 1), and
between local and international identities, resulting, at least at lower secondary
level schooling, in an emphasis on local culture (Leather and Motallebzadeh,
chapter 13).
Training and development appears to be a crucial area. Mazdayasna and Molaei
(chapter 4) and Davari and Aghagolzadeh (chapter 1) appeal for language
awareness and language development training for both students and teachers
to ensure the success of the new school English coursebooks, and Baleghizadeh
(chapter 12) supports targeted cognitive and affective approaches in the training
of teacher supervisors to respond to the diverse needs and wants of supervisees.
Seifoori and Fartash (chapter 7) caution against a technocratic view of training,
preferring strategies that engage with teacher attitudes and beliefs to raise
awareness of and reflection on different modes of thinking and acting.
So I return to the mosaic. I have tried to present here a number of the mosaic
pieces and their size and significance to give readers an idea of the mosaic’s
composition. It is of course incomplete, as pieces remain to be added and some
have been lost. A finished mosaic is unlikely in any case, as it will constantly
change as pieces are replaced and renewed. But for a larger, more complete
picture, I recommend readers to the individual chapters in this collection.
You will enjoy them.
Acknowledgments
I should like to thank all those working in and for the British Council, especially
Ellen Berry, Leila Tehrani and Danny Whitehead, for their unstinting help and
assistance in producing this volume. My thanks in particular must go to the many
contributors who kept to tight deadlines, agreed without complaint to changes
and amendments, and produced work of high quality.
Chris Kennedy
University of Birmingham
10 | Overview
To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system | 11
To teach or not
to teach? Still an
open question
for the Iranian
education system
Hossein Davari and Ferdows Aghagolzadeh
12 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system
To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system | 13
1
To teach or not to teach?
Still an open question for
the Iranian education system
Hossein Davari and Ferdows Aghagolzadeh
Introduction
The story of English language teaching (ELT) in Iran, as one of the most notable
anti-imperialistic countries in the world, has experienced a host of extreme ups
and downs. English is simultaneously known as the language of enemies (i.e. the
United States and the United Kingdom) on the one hand (Borjian, 2013) and as a
tool for progress (Riazi, 2005) on the other. While Hayati and Mashhadi (2010)
believe that Iran’s policy on English stops short of nationwide dissemination of
the language, the last decade in particular has witnessed a remarkable increase
in the number of Iranians learning English. Davari (2013) points out that the rapidly
changing situation in Iranian society is transforming English language learning
into a fashionable trend, with the result that ELT is not only a flourishing market
in the private sector, but is also playing a major role in English language spread.
The undeniable shortcomings of English learning in centralised public sector English
learning, leading to low efficacy and inefficiency with the growth of a new booming
private sector ELT market, have been mainly rooted in policy makers’ ambivalence
towards English education. To prove this claim, instances of inconsistency between
available policy documents and paradoxical practices are reviewed to show that the
issue of ELT remains a sensitive and covert unsolved question.
The ups and downs of English in Iran
In recent years ELT in Iranian society has been documented in several publications
including Dahmardeh (2009), Farhady et al. (2010), Hayati and Mashhadi (2010),
Ataee and Mazloom (2013), Borjian (2013), Davari (2013), and Aghagolzadeh and
Davari (2014) among others. What these works have in common is the belief that
under succeeding political and social changes, English has ebbed and flowed in
this society. For example, before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, as a result of
extensive collaboration with the West, especially the USA and UK, on economics,
education, political and cultural affairs, English and English education received
much attention such that French lost ground to English, which at that time became
Iran’s principal foreign language. Two prominent centres, namely the British Council
14 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system and the Iran-American Society (IAS), contributed to the development and
expansion of English as their official mission. The list of their contributions
in this field is extensive:
■■ offering general English courses and international English proficiency exams
■■ conducting teacher training summer workshops
■■ providing consultation to Iran’s Ministry of Education
■■ promoting English for specific purposes (ESP) methodology and textbooks
at university levels
■■ recruiting native-speaker English language instructors
■■ providing grants for English language teachers and professors to study English
literature and teaching methodology in American and British universities
■■ holding teacher training seminars and setting up branches in major cities
(see Yarmohannadi, 2005; Hayati and Mashhadi, 2010; Borjian, 2013; Strain,
1971, cited in Khajavi and Abbasian, 2011).
Alongside such endeavours, with growing attention to English, private English
language institutes came into existence. They established a growing number
of large-city branches and shouldered the responsibility of English extension,
especially among well-off families.
But such a heyday for English did not last long and with the advent of the Islamic
Revolution, a change of scene took place. The newly established government
opposed Western cultural, political, social and educational elements, and English
language activity was no exception. Due to perceptions of parallelism between
English language and the USA and UK, the language was faced with waves of
hostility from some post-revolutionary officials. According to Aliakbari (2002),
negative attitudes towards English led to a closure of the private English language
institutes as well as a purge of ELT textbooks. According to Borjian (2013), during
these years, the questions as to what to do with English and whether it should
stay on school and university curricula or be entirely banned were at the centre
of heated debates among the new ruling powers. While such debates finally led
to teaching English (Tollefson, 1991), the Revolution sought to nationalise its use.
The first wave of localised ELT appeared. New localised ELT school and university
textbooks were developed and the name of the Iran-American Society was
changed to the Iran Language Institute (ILI) with new objectives and a curriculum
in line with the ideological orientation of the newly established government.
In this situation, influenced by the conservative actions and beliefs of the
government, the first educational plan with regard to foreign language learning
was formulated in 1982. Due mostly to the sensitivities towards English language,
despite a lack of human resources, five other foreign languages (German, French,
Italian, Spanish and Russian) were introduced as foreign language choices in the
Iranian education system. As Farhady et al. (2010) note, following this amendment,
the national curriculum committee prepared school textbooks for these languages.
It was not surprising that, because of a lack of teachers as well as applicants for
these languages, English remained the most dominant foreign language in the
education system.
To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system | 15
At the beginning of the second decade of the Revolution in 1989, accompanied
by a wave of economic privatisation, private language institutes, formerly closed
down, resumed their operations, and new private English language institutes were
established. A perceived failure of the public education system, characterised by a
traditional teacher-centered approach and a grammar-translation method, led to a
flourishing private sector, despite some officials’ sensitivity and resistance.
In the third decade onwards around the beginning of the 21st century, society
paid more attention to English as the language of globalisation, communication,
science and technology. Influences at this time were globalisation and the Internet,
as well as social, cultural and educational transformations such as the expansion
of higher education, the growth of mass media and the ease of communication
with other societies and cultures. In the absence of any acceptable and defensible
performance of public education in the field of English teaching, the private sector
flourished. Despite changes and innovations in the private sector, there was no sign
of change in the public education structure and an imposed top-down resistance
was apparent. For example, while junior and senior high school textbooks in
mathematics, literature and Arabic were revised, updated and developed in new
formats, the content and aims of teaching English did not undergo any essential
changes and English textbooks remained much the same.
Finally, after around three decades of stasis, resistance was partially overcome,
due to increasing criticism of the status quo, the growing attention paid to English
in educational and development documents, and also society’s enthusiasm towards
the language.
In the remainder of this chapter we shall consider some causes of this
contradictory situation in which there is both a tendency towards ‘more English’
and a resistance leading to ‘less English’.
Reflections on the state’s ambivalent position
While language-in-education policy is one of the key mechanisms for implementing
educational language policies, until recently Iranian academic, political and cultural
settings have not received much attention and no formal document in language
policy, whether national or educational, has been developed or implemented.
In addition, reviewing available political and cultural documents also reveals that,
in spite of the importance of English language as the main foreign language in this
society as well as the long-standing sensitivities around it, there is no document
specific to English language. As a result, understanding the state’s orientation to
English inevitably involves referring to documents that even fleetingly have dealt
with English.
Our findings indicate that after more than two decades of inattention to English, it
has been explicitly and implicitly mentioned in a few newly developed educational
and development documents, especially during recent years. We scrutinised such
documents and their connection with current practice.
16 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system The first document dealing with English language, Comprehensive policies of the
Islamic Republic of Iran regarding globalization, was approved in 2004. English and
French are introduced as global languages that are necessary for Iran’s active
participation in the current world, though there does not appear to be any legal
requirement for implementation. Officials ‘must approach English as a necessary
skill and not as an element against identity,’ (p. 18) revealing the state concern that
English is a language threatening Iranian national and cultural identity. The mention
of French along with English as global languages also indicates a sensitivity
towards English.
Another publication entitled The National Curriculum Document was finalised in
2009. According to this document, besides computer literacy, knowing a foreign
language is one of the two essential axes of literacy in the third millennium, but is
also important in the development of tourism, business, technology, science and
political awareness.
Regarding foreign language education, the document recommends a
communicative approach and stresses learning all four language skills.
Other tentative suggestions are:
■■ Due to lateralisation around the ages of 10 to 12, the age of language
instruction should be lowered.
■■ As an optional subject, language should be taught at elementary level
through games and poems.
■■ Local issues as well as Islamic and Iranian values should be included
in textbooks.
Arabic is the language of religion, and the only taught foreign language in the
formal education system is English, yet in this document instead of using ‘English’,
the phrase ‘foreign language’ is still used. A sense of caution and hesitation also
seems apparent behind the document’s suggestions.
The third document that refers to English language is The fundamental
transformation of education finalised and approved by the Ministry of Education
in 2010. (The Ministry is responsible for all top-down decisions affecting primary
and high schools, including the adoption of particular curricula, teaching methods
and methodology, and the provision of resources and equipment.) This important
document is the basis for any transformation and development in education
during a 12-year period of primary and secondary schooling, and yet the status
of English is obscure. Allocating only one sentence to foreign language teaching,
the document introduces ‘foreign language study as an optional (semi-prescriptive)
course in the curriculum on condition that its teaching stabilises and strengthens the
Islamic and Iranian identity.’ (p. 20)
Additional points are worthy of attention. Like the document described previously,
the term ‘foreign language’ has been substituted for ‘English’. The programme is
designated as ‘optional’, and its description as ‘semi-prescriptive’ remains
ambiguous. Its teaching is also subject to certain ideological conditions.
To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system | 17
Reviewing these three documents discloses not only the inconsistency between
them, but also shows the state’s hesitation, conservatism and ambivalence towards
English language. In the following section, we review some English language
teaching practices in the education system.
From unformed policies to haphazard practices
In the absence of any specific document on foreign language education policy
(Kiany et al., 2010), together with the contradictory suggestions in the abovementioned
documents, the question that arises is: What has taken place in the
field of English language teaching practices and performances during the
recent decade?
As already pointed out, after three decades of an inflexible curriculum, resistance
was partially broken and the first steps were taken to change the system. Influenced
by the private sector’s qualified success, the need for changes in the national
curriculum arose. As an initial step, the first and the second volumes of a six-series
English textbook for high schools were published, in 2013 and 2014 respectively,
under the title of Prospect. In this new curriculum, mostly limited to textbooks’
revision, English education has been reconceptualised not only to encourage
students’ active participation in the leaning process and use of the target
language in communication, but also to encourage teachers to promote students’
communicative skills and minimise mother tongue use. Although it is too soon to
evaluate the performance of this curriculum, without any specific reform in other
components, including those relating to personnel, resource and evaluation
(Kaplan and Baldauf, 2005), the goals may not be attainable.
For example, English language teachers’ language proficiency, content knowledge
and pedagogical skills will need upgrading to meet the curriculum’s requirements.
Success cannot be guaranteed in the absence of appropriate in-service training
for the teachers used to traditional methods and now presented with new books
and content. One of the first requirements of implementing a communicative
approach is the use of trained and fluent teachers, but because of a shortage
of such teachers there is pressure to employ untrained teachers as an interim
measure. Thus, due to an insufficient supply of qualified teachers, and a lack of
in-service training to maintain and increase teachers’ proficiency, the curriculum
may not be able to fulfil its expectations.
The issue of time allocation also raises some important questions. Implementing
a communicative approach, especially in those societies where English is a foreign
rather than a second or additional language, involves substantial time allocation
to increase students’ proficiency. In this new curriculum the allocated time, instead
of increasing, has decreased. Kaplan and Baldauf (1997) suggest most foreign
language education worldwide is delivered at the rate of three 50-minute periods
each week. The average time in the Iranian education system is around 50 to 80
minutes per week.
18 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system Language proficiency assessment is another challenge in the education system.
Preparing and administrating end-of-year proficiency exams needs to be in tune
with the communicative approach, yet the exams have remained much the same as
before and no parallel reform has been made to the English examination system in
Iranian schools.
Concluding remarks
The chain of changes in English language instruction has some notable missing
links mostly deriving from ambivalence towards the language. The main curriculum
change has been limited to bringing about a methodological and cultural textbook
change, and it is far from restructuring English education in terms of personnel
and time.
We have seen that the last decade in particular has witnessed a remarkable
increase in the numbers of Iranians learning English especially in the private
sector and, at the same time, questions and criticisms have been raised about the
effectiveness of the formal education system’s performance. Attempting to play a
more important role in this arena, the formal education system has hesitantly and
conservatively begun to take some steps forward. However, our review of the gulf
between inconsistent policies and questionable practices indicates that success
is not guaranteed. The system has ignored important implementation factors, as
noted above, casting further doubts on the Iranian education system’s chance
to succeed.
As long as no realistic unified English-in-education policy is developed,
‘less or more English?’ remains an open question.
References
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intellectual shift in Iranian ELT community. Journal for Critical Education Policy
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20 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto E LT policies in Iran | 21
A glimpse of
contrasting
de jure–de facto
ELT policies in Iran
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini
and Sepideh Khodakarami
22 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 23
2
A glimpse of contrasting de
jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini and Sepideh Khodakarami
Introduction
The English language teaching (ELT) edifice tends to be known by its visible
elements such as course materials, teaching practices and tests. Teachers,
learners, administrators and many academics generally deal with aspects of these
frontline matters, possibly at the expense of noticing subtle higher-order steering
forces that direct the broad ELT enterprise. Such macro-level forces, which may
be called policies, are sometimes officially dictated but may also remain unofficially
embraced and practised without being overtly stated. Policies, however, influence
and orient almost the entire administrative and practical scene of any social
institution in any social context, including language and education concerns
and, more specifically, ELT in Iran and other countries (for example, Al-Issa, 2007;
Chowdhury and Kabir, 2014; Kiany, et al., 2011; Kirkgoz, 2009; Seargeant, 2008).
In this chapter we explore aspects of ELT policies in Iran and the overarching
orientations at which the practice of learning and teaching the English language is
directed. Based on the distinction that has been made between overt and covert
policies (Nero, 2014; Schiffman, 2006), language (education) policy should not only
be seen as ‘the explicit, written, overt, de jure, official, and “top-down” decisionmaking…
but also the implicit, unwritten, covert, de facto, grass-roots, and unofficial
ideas and assumptions’ (Schiffman, 2006: 112). Carrying the same distinction to
the specific area of ELT policies, we scrutinise officially stated policies as well as
implicitly embraced policy orientations and the possible mismatch between them.
In depicting officially stated overt policy directions, we specifically explore four
major national documents that set educational policies or bear policy messages
applicable to educational endeavours such as ELT. To detect aspects of covert
de facto policy assumptions, we rely on interviews with teachers of several
private language teaching institutes in search of some underlying orientations
that shape the real-life practice of ELT in Iran. An illustration of these two streams
of overt and covert policies, and their comparison and contrast, shapes the main
body of the chapter and we conclude with hints at some probable origins as
well as consequences of the contrasting views that configure each one of these
policy trends.
24 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran Overt directions
One broad aspect of the tumultuous ELT story in Iran has been historically shaped
by the official influences of socio-cultural and political authorities (Borjian, 2013;
Riazi, 2005). Official policies, though not regarded as the final say, do leave their
own traces on actual ELT practice since the allocation of different types of state
resources are determined by such overt policies. Therefore, in this section we
explore four official documents that include general or specific policy direction
pertaining to the teaching and learning of foreign languages, including English.
The documents are: The 20-year National Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran
(National Vision, 2005); The Comprehensive Science Roadmap (Comprehensive
Roadmap, 2009); The Fundamental Reform Document of Education (Reform
Document, 2011); and The National Curriculum Document (National Curriculum,
2009). The quotes from the documents are our translation of the original Farsi
texts though The Fundamental Reform Document has an official English version
from which we quote.
The National Vision is set to lead the country through 20 years of progress
towards the aims of the nation in all aspects. The document, which is devised
by the Supreme Leader and the Expediency Council, is a reference for all official
involvements, including education. The broad vision set by this document can
be viewed as bearing messages for the general direction of official educational
practices, including ELT. The following are among the ideals of The National Vision
to be reached by 2025:
■■ Iranian society, within the perspective of this vision, will have these features:
developed in accordance with its own cultural, geographic and historical
characteristics, and relying on the ethical principles and values of Islam …
loyal to the Revolution and the Islamic system and to the blossoming of Iran,
and also proud of being Iranian.
The Comprehensive Science Roadmap sets national-level policies in science and
technology. It includes broad policy lines as well as more specific plans and goals
to be attained within science and technology, including educational developments,
encompassing foreign language education. The following statements are excerpts
from the Roadmap that bear messages as to the policies needing to be adopted
regarding ELT at different levels:
■■ Values: The supremacy of the Islamic Tawhidi worldview in all aspects of
science and technology; fundamental scientific reformation, especially
revising humanities within the framework of the Islamic worldview. (p. 9)
■■ National strategy: Incorporating the Islamic perspective in educational syllabi
and textbooks. (p. 36)
■■ National strategy: Increasing the level of Islamic awareness, belief and
behaviour of those active in the area of science and technology. (p. 37)
■■ National action: Reform and transformation of language teaching methods,
especially for Arabic and English in general education. (p. 51)
■■ National action: Localisation and development of foreign language
education syllabi and contents based on Islamic culture. (p. 57)
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 25
The Fundamental Reform Document of Education sets educational reform ideals.
Efforts are stated to have been made to ‘take note of the strategic objectives of
the Islamic Republic … [and] the perspective and goals of education in the country’s
2025 vision’ (p. 7). In stating its basic values, the document refers to the National
Vision as well as the Science Roadmap and puts emphasis on ‘Islamic–Iranian and
revolutionary characteristics’ (p. 17) and ‘joint Islamic–Iranian identity’ (p. 18) on
the part of learners. Setting objectives and strategies, the document specifically
refers to educating individuals who, among other characteristics: ‘… believe in
Islam as a right path and a norm system and … abide by religious ritual, and ethical
principles’ (p. 29).
Among the ideals mentioned in this document, cultivating commitment to ‘the
culture of Islamic… manners’ (p. 32), to ‘the values of the Islamic Revolution’ (p. 32)
and to ‘Hijab (Islamic dress code)’ (p. 34) is highlighted. The document, while
emphasising the need to strengthen ‘Persian language and literature,’ (p. 18) sets
a clear policy for foreign language teaching and states one of its strategies as:
‘Provision of foreign language education … [based on] Islamic–Iranian identity’ (p. 32).
The National Curriculum Document considers foreign language teaching and
learning as a major educational area. Together with content specification and
features of other educational areas such as Persian language and literature, arts
and sciences, the document focuses on foreign language learning and teaching
with the aim of developing ‘the skills of a foreign language’ and of ‘strengthening
Islamic–Iranian identity’ (p. 18). The following are highlights of ELT-related
specifications in this document:
■■ Foreign language education is a suitable ground for understanding, receiving
… and transferring human achievements in various oral, visual and written
forms for different purposes and audiences within the framework of the Islamic
system ... (p. 37)
■■ Foreign language teaching … should be considered as a means of strengthening
national culture and our own beliefs and values … At elementary levels,
educational content should be organised around local topics and learner
needs like health and hygiene, daily life, the environment, and societal values
and culture … At higher levels, the selection and organisation of content will
be based on cultural, scientific, economic and political functions … (p. 38)
Covert trends
The realisation of these official policies in actual ELT practice is not easy to
assess. However, even a sketch of general implementation in a few teaching
contexts might illustrate some aspects of how overt policies are received in
educational institutions. Aiming at such a sketch, we tried to focus on English
language institutes with nationwide branches popular among language learners.
Five institutes were approached and five participants including one deputy
manager and four teachers were interviewed. To preserve anonymity, the
institutes are referred to as institutes A, B, C, D and E.
26 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran Our semi-structured interview, conducted in English, included two sections.
The first section focused on overall directions as well as the cultural and social
concerns of the institute authorities towards various aspects of the institute’s
practice of English teaching. In the second section a brief explanation of the official
ELT policies discussed above was presented to the interview participants and they
were asked to comment based on their institutes’ position and to compare those
official policies with implicit institute policies. The interviews were recorded,
transcribed and explored based on a grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006).
The institutes’ policy directions fall into three thematic patterns: general positions,
socio-cultural stance and positions towards official policies. The following is a fairly
detailed depiction, explanation and exemplification of these major themes and
their minor thematic components.
General positions
The institutes’ general view of issues such as an ideal language learner and ideal
teaching is depicted by this major theme. In many cases the teachers interviewed
referred to the lack of consistency among institute branches. Different branches
may act differently toward policy issues but the overall aims and directions of
institutes’ decision makers as interpreted by these teachers comprise the two
sub-themes of business success and addressing student demands.
Business success
Apart from policies on teaching and learning practices, language teaching institute
authorities seem to have financial success as their overarching aim and main
concern. Finance appears to be a major policy-setting force in their ELT practices.
According to the teachers interviewed, in both state and private institutes, teaching
and learning content and even the regulations are strongly connected to financial
issues, branch expansion and attaining so-called international standards:
■■ As long as the student comes and pays for each term it’s OK … The fact is that
it’s more like a business than anything else ... (A)
■■ ... there are no ideals. There are no clear cut definitions of a good student …
based on what I can see in the institute, a good student is the one who comes
and registers each and every term ... And a good teacher is a teacher who …
keeps the students happy … No matter what you do in the class you got to keep
the students happy, students and parents. I mean the person who pays … (A)
■■ What they probably dream about is keeping in line with international standards
… so you see all these workshops … CELTA, CELT, DELTA. (B)
Student demands
Translating the policy goal of business success into a more tangible version,
the institute managers regard the satisfaction of client demands as their major
overall aim. English language learners, despite diversity in age and social status,
often share similar concerns when devoting time and money to learning English.
The importance of what is labelled learning quality and gaining the supposedly
best results dominates even learners’ minds and, in the case of younger learners,
concerns parents. Fulfilling these ambitions is a major target of each English
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 27
language centre in order to retain learners as their clients. The ability to
communicate, regardless of its exact meaning, is probably the most important
stated student demand and is therefore a high priority in the overall policy of
the institutes:
■■ The aim is to have students who are proficient in English … who can
communicate in the language. (B)
■■ Well, the ideal … is to have a person who is competent in English who can
speak the language … But other than the test we have no means of measuring
… whether the student has been successful or not. (B)
■■ The main aim is being able to speak English perfectly. (C)
■■ … the main goal is communication. (A)
■■ Mostly ideal … are the people who are able to use the language. (D)
■■ … they have to continue that for a long time in order to get to that ideal person,
ideal English speaker. (E)
Apart from the broad and unspecified purpose of being able to speak English,
a vast majority of adult Iranian learners start learning English with the motive
of either applying abroad or qualifying in the national university entrance
examinations for graduate or postgraduate studies, both requiring a language
proficiency certificate. It is unsurprising, therefore, to see institutes advertising
their teaching quality by promising learners high scores on international English
language tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, which are regarded as the yardstick of
measuring learners’ language proficiency and are in high demand from learners
in language institutes:
■■ Actually the main aim … is IELTS ... They want to learn many things and try to
pass that level with actually about seven. Good mark is seven for them. (C)
■■ We have these classes … the whole level is taught in one term, so in 40
days the whole elementary level is covered and it has been especially
designed for people who want to emigrate ... That is how we serve the
society [laughing] … (B)
■■ In our institute we have also TOEFL and IELTS examination, again with the
intention of emigration either for education of for life. (A)
■■ ... most of the times when we ask students why they are studying English
they say that we want to go Europe or America. (D)
Socio-cultural stance
When specifically prompted to reflect on the institute directors’ perspectives
regarding social and cultural concerns in English language education, three
main patterns emerged: a purported adherence to serving society, an apparent
commitment to cultural values and avoiding contentious topics.
28 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran Social service
The teachers interviewed believe the institutes view the very provision of
language teaching as serving society. Teachers highlight points as in the
following interview excerpts:
■■ As far as I know the main aim of institute … is just IELTS … I’ve been teaching
in this institute for about three years and I have not seen anything regarding
society so far ... The main service is just IELTS examinations and how to
prepare students for such [an] exam ... (C)
■■ ... they want to create proficient learners, and they don’t talk to us about the
society or the values we have in Iran. The main goal is being able to speak
English perfectly. (C)
■■ … all the students are willing to work and study … Because they are younger
they can serve much better in the future ... In the future the students …
can use their language in the society in whatever they are working. (E)
Cultural values
Beyond the mere service provision of language education and at a deeper sociocultural
level, institute managers are committed to some sort of cultural values
as well. The teachers confirm that their institutes do recognise the cultural and
social relevance of their ELT practices and materials. The following examples,
however, show that conceptions of value and the meaning of commitment are
hardly unified. Nor is the nature of the values necessarily in line with overt official
policies discussed earlier. Discrepant cases exist, like the third one below pointing
to an entirely different direction and the last one that surprisingly views some
culturally loaded issues as not very culture based:
■■ We all have to wear maghna’e [headgear]. Girls and teachers ... male teachers
are not allowed to wear jeans or t-shirts. They have to wear formal clothes …
They should not make a relationship with each other. (C)
■■ … mostly it is the kind of religious cultural value because they already have to
accept them … have to wear special type of clothes, the teachers, the students,
everybody. For example, the teacher is obliged to come with scarf only, and
shawl or something like that is not accepted and for the students they have to
come with scarf, they have to come with minimum amount of make-up ... (E)
■■ ... I have witnessed that even in TT [teacher training] courses nothing is
mentioned about society, values, culture, beliefs, nothing. (C)
■■ We usually never talk about culture, whether it’s Iranian culture or British ...
Even the British culture doesn’t come up … because the topics are about
shopping, holidays … Even the topics are not very culture based ... (E)
Contentious topics
A further intriguing issue is the type of topics covert institute policies require
to be avoided. They seem to be similar to content also avoided by commercial
ELT textbooks used worldwide. Regardless of the reason why these two types
of avoidance coincide, the important point is that the policies in the official
documents require engaging with such issues with certain positions. Avoiding
them may be interpreted as an attempt not to encourage different viewpoints
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 29
that might clash with official policies, and this may be seen as trying to avoid
confronting state perspectives. However, avoiding topics such as religion and
politics altogether hardly conforms to official policies:
■■ In our institute three topics are forbidden … You do not touch them … hijab,
religion and politics … (B)
■■ I know we had troubles, especially during the elections [2009] … they say
… just avoid these topics and we avoid trouble. (B)
■■ … two main topics are avoided in any range. One is religion, the other one
is politics ... We’re not supposed to talk about that … (D)
Position towards official policies
Interestingly, none of the interviewees had ever heard about the major official ELT
policies described earlier in this chapter. They think their institute authorities are
not aware of these policies either or, at least, the teachers were not told about such
policies in teacher training courses or institute meetings. However, when asked to
reflect on such policies, the teachers interviewed depicted two categories of
institute attitudes: ‘unaware but sympathising’ and ‘unaware and non-sympathising,’
discussed below.
Unaware but sympathising
The first group of institutes is one whose personnel are not aware of or do not
explicitly consider the officially stated overt ELT policies but to some extent seem
to be in agreement with such concerns. Such policies may be seen as implicitly and
partially enacted in the institutes’ ELT practice. This covert implementation might
be apparent in textbook content or in institute regulations:
■■ I think Islamic … [perspectives] exist a lot … and to be honest ... I think they
exist and to a very big degree, very strongly. (A)
■■ … the fact that teachers are discriminated by … [gender] and students are
divided and there is no co-education and sometimes the topics that you bring
up in the classes for ladies are different ... I mean if my supervisor comes into
my class I may shift the topic, because I’m not looking for trouble. (A)
■■ … these types of policies are not given to the teachers … but still I think … is
more in line with those goals. (E)
■■ … in the very first session that I went for my demo, after the test, I was said
that … if you want to bring any example please bring in local ones; for example,
if you want to talk about the Christmas Eve … talk about the Norouz too, you
have to localise everything for students … (E)
Unaware and not sympathising
Institutes in this second category, according to teachers interviewed, would
shrug off the official statements or even dismiss them if they are told about them.
These institutes do not consider implementing official policies even implicitly
because such perspectives are not in accord with their own policies and beliefs.
The only exception might be in the event of a student or parent complaint
regarding a book’s content or the institute’s environment. In such a case the
institute owners’ own policy might be altered to avoid trouble:
30 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran ■■ I see no trace of such policies even Islamic ones … I’m observing teachers.
What they say and what they actually do in their classroom is exactly the
opposite of what we believe as Iranian people, let alone Muslims ... (C)
■■ I haven’t heard any of these [policies] being mentioned by our [institute]
authorities, I don’t think they know any of these, I don’t think they consider …
any of these … (A)
■■ What they [institute authorities] probably dream about is keeping in line with
international standards of what teaching English language is … They are not
Iranian. They are not Islamic. They make you a better teacher based on British
or American English-speaking standards. So, they do not consider these
policies ... and I think for them it’s senseless. (B)
■■ … you’re teaching the language ... You may bring [in] a lot of music, a lot of
movies. You’re actually teaching the culture. Teaching those [cultural] norms is
a little bit part of the language ... It’s part of your job because they [students]
ask you for that, because they want to emigrate most of them ... (D)
Reflections and conclusion
The discrepancy between officially stated ELT policies in Iran and those implicitly
practised seems to be evident, at least within the limited scope of the data in this
chapter. However, what remains to be discussed is the interpretation of such a
landscape. One way to interpret it may be represented by an awkward quotation
from an academic in New York, which appeared on the back cover of a recent book
on ELT in Iran: ‘There can be no clearer indication of the desire of the Iranian people
and civil society to belong to the global culture and community, despite continued
government ambivalence in educational policy and its outright hostility to the
transfer of foreign ideas.’ (Said Amir Arjomand, in Borjian, 2013, back cover)
Such a statement may not be surprising coming from an observer far removed
from the current socio-cultural and political context of Iran and probably with a
mentality of the need to inject democracy from the so-called global community
into non-democratic hostile states. However, such positions might appear to be too
naïve and simplistic to capture the reality. A more profound understanding may
require a broader view of the spread of English within the past century and how
British international policy after World War II, combined with the emergence of the
American presence in international media and academia, fostered ELT in countries
such as Iran.
Such a view may crucially include pointers such as these quotes from a 1959
United States Congress report (US Congress, 1959): ‘… worldwide interest in the
English language is one of our greatest assets’ (p. 31); ‘Even in the Communist world
American influence can be extended through the medium of the English language’
(p. 22). The not-so-neutral transfer of foreign ideas can be seen in later similar
documents as well (US Congress, 1979): ‘The international teaching of English can
give the United States many important advantages … It offers an entering wedge
into closed societies’ (p. 45). More recently, similar positions can be found in other
official documents: ‘… it would be wise to invest in … developing ways to engage the
next generation of Middle Easterners, especially through English education … After
all, the battle for hearts and minds … is a long-term project’ (US House, 2001: 35).
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 31
Therefore, while ‘understanding, receiving … and transferring human achievements’
(National Curriculum, 2009: 37) is clearly espoused by state documents touching
upon official ELT policies in Iran, the official aim of incorporating local perspectives
into ELT syllabi (Comprehensive Roadmap, 2009: 36), considering ELT as a means
for strengthening the national culture and our own beliefs (National Curriculum,
2009: 38) and strengthening the Islamic–Iranian identity (National Curriculum,
2009: 18) through foreign language education, may be easily judged as wise
policies. What might be argued to be lacking is twofold. First, the officially stated
positions regarding ELT in Iran are mostly policy segments rather than coherently
structured policies. This may make it difficult to depict a clear image of what is to
be achieved by the policy and, for example, what Islamic–Iranian identity means.
Secondly, even within this tentatively stated policy, there seems to be a lack of
concerted effort to create awareness of the cultural, social and political functioning
of English in ‘a world of diversities’. (Mirhosseini, 2008) One can hardly assume that
the language institutes’ policy makers are totally unaware of official socio-cultural
policies. The issue is that, to them, these official ELT policy statements may sound
like ‘just big words,’ as one of the interviewees describes them. Constructing
coherent ELT policies, creating awareness regarding the ideological nature of ELT
(Mirhosseini, 2015) and communicating the logic of official policies to frontline
practice contexts may therefore be the missing links in contrasting de jure–de
facto ELT policies in Iran.
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General, July 23, 1979. Available online at www.gao.gov/assets/130/127347.pdf
US House (2001) The message is America: Rethinking US public diplomacy, Hearing
before the Committee on International Relations, US House of Representatives,
November 14 2001. Available online at http://democrats.foreignaffairs.house.gov/
archives/107/76189.pdf
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 33
How have political and
socio-economic issues
impacted on the
motivation of Iranian
university students
to learn English?
Shahrzad Ardavani and Philip Durrant
34 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 35
3
How have political and socioeconomic
issues impacted on the
motivation of Iranian university
students to learn English?
Shahrzad Ardavani and Philip Durrant
Introduction
This chapter describes a study that aims to understand the socio-economic factors
that motivate Iranian university students to learn English. Drawing on the notions
of international posture, ideal self and imagined communities, we describe how
the Iranian political context has increased students’ desire to develop their English
in order to enhance their career prospects, to be recognised as members of the
international community and to contribute to the development of their country.
Political and economic context
English education and policies at Iran’s universities
In Iran, two types of university exist: state governed and private. The most
prestigious universities in Iran are state governed. Entrance is highly competitive
but the government pays for tuition and accommodation for those who succeed
in the entrance exam. Students failing the entrance exam but still wishing to
pursue their studies can join a group of private universities known as Islamic
Azad University, which was established in 1982 as a solution to accommodate
surplus students (Mohebati, 2004). Although it is difficult to obtain precise figures
on student numbers, roughly 50 per cent of high school graduates choose a path
to higher education.
Both private and public Iranian universities provide all students with the opportunity to
study a core general English syllabus. Additional modules in English are available
but subject to specific course requirements. The dominant method of teaching
English within universities is Grammar-Translation, the main goal enabling students
to read and understand English texts that may benefit their majors.
Iranian university students and migration
Iran, as a developing country, needs educated professionals to drive its economic
development. However, it has lost a great number in the past few decades (Torbat,
2002). Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, a large number of Iranians have emigrated
to Western countries. They left their country between 1979 and 1988 (during the
creation of the Islamic Republic and the end of the war between Iran and Iraq) and
36 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English are identified as the ‘Iranian diaspora’ (Elahi and Karim, 2011). There are significant
Iranian populations living in the United States and the rest are scattered across
Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia (Abbasi, 2003).
Today, many high-achieving students continue to leave Iran for the USA or other
countries. According to UNESCO data (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2014), 51,549
Iranian students are studying abroad. The most popular destinations are shown in
Table 1.
Table 1: Most common destinations for Iranian students
(UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2014)
Destination country Number of students
Malaysia 9,311
United States 6,763
United Kingdom 3,372
United Arab Emirates 3,204
Italy 2,975
Canada 2,805
Germany 2,757
Australia 2,452
Sweden 2,440
India 2,131
Saba reports that 25 per cent of university graduates leave the country, resulting in
an estimated annual loss of $50 billion to the nation (Saba, 2011). The contributing
factors towards the decision to leave the country are many, and include:
■■ avoiding military service
■■ lack of jobs in Iran (statistics show that the average unemployment rate for the
year, ending on March 20 2014, reached 10.4 per cent) (Tehran Times, 2014)
■■ superior research facilities available elsewhere
■■ a degree from a top university in Iran does not guarantee a position that is
commensurate with qualifications
■■ candidates for suitable jobs in government ministries and academia must
conform to religious and political attitudes (Saba, 2011: para 9).
Theoretical framework
To help understand the political and socio-economic factors that contribute to
Iranian university students’ motivation, we will draw on three main theoretical
ideas: international posture, L2 motivational self-system theory and imagined
communities. This section will briefly outline each of these ideas.
International posture
Gardner (1985) proposed the idea of integrative motivation – an individual’s level of
desire to become part of an L2 community – as a way of understanding motivation
among immigrants to an L2 context. This notion, however, does not fit well with the
context of English as an international language, where an English learner may want
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 37
to be a global citizen rather than have an English, Australian or Canadian identity.
Yashima (2009: 145) proposed the term International Posture. This term ‘tries to
capture a tendency to relate oneself to the international community, rather than
any specific L2 group’.
It could be argued that international isolation has deprived Iranian students of
such a sense of belonging to an international community. Iranian students who
were brought up during the post-Revolution regime are discouraged from adopting
the ‘Western’ values, which are often associated with internationalism, and have
been encouraged to have Islamic beliefs and be united Muslims (Razavi and
Juneau, 2001).
L2 motivational self-system theory
L2 motivational self-system theory (Dörnyei, 2005) suggests that possible selves
are underpinned by what learners might wish to become and what they are
afraid to become. Learners’ perceptions about their desired future self-states
have an impact on their behaviour by accentuating the discrepancies between
current and future desired states. For example, the ability of the general Iranian
population to travel freely around the world is restricted, due to diplomatic and
visa arrangements. However, many students have a strong desire to achieve
internationally oriented future self-states and think that learning English can
lead to many opportunities outside their native country.
The ideal L2 self, according to Dörnyei (2005: 106), is ‘the L2-specific aspect of one’s
ideal self’. This is the ideal image of the L2 user that one likes or desires to be in the
future, including wishes, hopes and dreams. If learners conceive of themselves as
successful persons in their future career or education, this self-image will move
them to reduce the discrepancy between their actual selves and the ideal image
of themselves. Higgins (1987: 34) notes that this process is not always conscious:
‘One’s self-discrepancies can be used to assign meaning to events without one being
aware of either the discrepancies or their impact on processing’. For instance,
Iranian students might experience tension if they envision studying or working
in an English-speaking country (an ideal self) but are not currently able to speak
English (current self), so to overcome this tension they enrol on a language course.
The ought-to L2 self is the L2-specific aspect of one’s ought-to self. This factor
in the L2 motivational self-system refers to skills that one believes one ought to
achieve as a result of perceived duties, obligations or responsibilities (Dörnyei,
2005). Hadfield and Dörnyei (2013) comment that this image is noticeable in some
Asian countries, where students are motivated to master a foreign language to fulfil
their family expectations.
Research into the L2 motivational self-system reveals similarities with Higgins’s
(1998) distinction between two types of instrumentality, ‘preventional and
promotional’, both of which are relevant to students’ desire to learn a language.
Preventional instrumentality is similar to the ought-to L2 self (for example, studying
hard to pass an examination in order not to disappoint parents). Promotional
instrumentality is similar to the ideal L2 self where motivation is formed by desirable
self-images in the personal, social and professional context of the target language.
Perhaps surprisingly, a comparative study conducted by Taguchi et al.
38 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English (2009) found a high correlation between the instrumentality-promotional construct
and the ought-to L2 self. The first author of this chapter has observed that, on
account of the political turbulence in Iran during the last 35 years, many Iranian
parents who did not have a fulfilling youth themselves believe that if their children
are successful then this reflects on their success as parents – their own parental
form of success. So they nurture the thought in their children that learning English
will open a new horizon for them in other countries. Studying English in order to go
overseas may therefore be promotional for these students who were brought up to
fulfil their parents’ desires.
Apart from these two future self-guides, the L2 motivational self-system
encompasses an L2 learning experience dimension. The L2 learning experience
includes and puts more emphasis on ‘learners’ attitudes toward second language
learning and can be affected by situation-specific motives related to the immediate
learning environment and experience’. (for example, teacher, peers, materials)
(Dörnyei, 2005: 469)
In conclusion, the L2 motivational self-system suggests that there are three
primary sources of motivation to learn a foreign/second language: learners’
visions of themselves as effective L2 speakers, the social pressure coming from
the learners’ environment, and positive learning experiences.
Imagined communities
Learners are able to connect with imagined communities that are beyond the local,
intangible, and not immediately accessible (Kanno and Norton, 2003). The images
shape the ideal L2 self, and the learner is seen as a social being interacting with
other members of the imagined community (Ryan, 2009).
The combination of Norton’s idea of imagined community (2001) and Dörnyei’s
ideal L2 self model (2005) suggest a model of motivation in which learners build
an ideal image of themselves as users of the language in the target community.
Investment in an imagined community influences identity construction and
engagement in learning (Wenger, 1998; Anderson, 1991; Norton, 2001). The
imagination of the Iranian people since the Revolution has been a political tool
for compliance with promises of an ideal future. However, the capacity to create
their own imagined future communities among young Iranians now seems well
developed and, paradoxically, is a political area over which the government has
less control, as shown, for example, in several Iranian student protests (Erdbrink,
Washington Post, 2009). These images may affect learners’ investment in the target
language and achieving future aspirations is clearly a motivation for what learners
do in the present. A student studying engineering at an Iranian university may start
learning English because he imagines himself as a successful engineer in the USA,
and English is an important means of gaining this future affiliation. According to
Appadurai (1996), the imagination is mediated by communication technology and
migration, with the internet and various media having a great impact on what it is
possible to imagine. However, imagination should not be considered the same as
fantasy. Simon (1992: 4) makes a distinction between ‘wishes’, which might not
require action, and ‘hopeful imagination’, which requires action for a better future.
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 39
Research methods
The study described here is based on semi-structured interviews conducted
with eight students (four male, four female). Participants were studying in the
departments of Mathematics, Software Engineering, Information Technology,
Medical Sciences and Graphic Design at four state universities. Interviews were
conducted in participants’ native language (Farsi) and lasted between 20 and
30 minutes each. They were audio-recorded and then transcribed. Transcriptions
were organised into comprehensible themes, according to the methodology
described by Berg (2009). A mind-map of each participant’s comments was
created. The main branches were deductive categories while sub-branches were
inductive categories that emerged from the data. Micro-categories were listed
and given a number and the corresponding quotes from each interview were
filed in the appropriate category. The quotes were cross-referenced with the
name of the participants and quantitatively analysed. For a better overview,
micro-categories were grouped into larger contextual groups. Finally, a report
was compiled for each branch with sample quotes.
For the purposes of this chapter, participants’ quotations were translated into
English by the first author.
Findings
The research identified Iranian students’ desire to leave Iran as the main factor
influencing their motivation to learn English. They believe they cannot fulfil their
aspirations in their own country, and fear losing the opportunities and qualifications
on offer in other communities. However, many intend to return to their host country
to contribute to its development and success. The following sections discuss the
key aspects of this motivation.
The significance of career aspirations with regard to language learning
The main influence for the participants to learn English is the strong desire to go
abroad to develop their careers. The younger generation looks for either better
or different qualifications or career opportunities than those available in Iran.
Seven out of eight participants claimed that they are improving their English
because it is directly linked to their views of personal enhancement in terms
of education and career outside Iran. There is an anxiety that remaining in the
country may inhibit future career prospects:
I will use English to educate myself in my speciality … using English towards
a medical residency and fellowship in the USA. (Interviewee M)
I am planning to apply for higher education in Canada; I will study in English,
without which I would definitely not have better success either in my education
or later on in my profession. (Interviewee E)
Responses varied depending on the interviewees’ chosen career paths.
For Interviewee M, English is fundamental to her ambition to become a medical
doctor. Economic aspiration is not important to her, as she is more interested
in how English can improve her ability to become a good doctor.
40 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English As I am studying medicine, most textbooks are in English … Medscape updates
us with the top medical news in English. I need to know English to use these
applications, interact with my patients and future colleagues. (Interviewee M)
Interviewee E links her future career as a scientist to a strong engagement with
the international scientific community:
[…] even if I study my PhD in Iran, as a scientist I would like to go to international
conferences and be in touch with other countries. (Interviewee E)
Interviewee H suggests:
If I want to work in a governmental organisation, where the salary is good with
a lot of benefits, I need to have connections rather than qualifications, but in the
US, there is a meritocracy and I would have job security and a reasonable salary
based on my qualifications. (Interviewee H)
While these participants were highly motivated from the start of their studies,
they still want to achieve more, and to this end they feel the need to go beyond
the borders of Iran. While one reason for wishing to leave Iran may be economic,
another relates to the benefits that engaging in the international community can
bring to professions, in particular those in academia.
The above quotations indicate that, while career goals are an important driver,
the students are also driven by a desire to maintain social or intellectual status, to
gain intellectual self-improvement and to stay connected with international citizens
while remaining inside Iran. They view knowing English as a means to look beyond
their borders and promote their own social, cultural and national identities, and
as a tool for spreading their ideas.
Students’ career aspirations in the imagined community
The students’ imagined future is crucial to motivation. Norton (2001) suggests
that students have a tendency to construct their identity using English in different
imagined communities and to regulate this by enhancing their English and taking
examinations such as TOFEL and IELTS to reach beyond their existing environment
and experience. The motivation to learn English, together with the ability to
communicate in English, may indeed break down barriers to ‘achievement’
and extend their community beyond the borders of their country.
In some cases, the term ‘imagined community’ actually becomes something of a
real community, which Appadurai (1996) claims is mediated by the internet and by
migration, when students living inside Iran communicate with students outside it.
This direct link to the imagined community heightens motivation to learn English
(Appadurai, 1996), encouraging students in Iran to decrease the discrepancy
between their current situation and their ideal self in their imagined community.
As Interviewee B points out:
[…] outside Iran we would have free access to scientific and academic
information ... Although we can improve in our own society … this improvement
is easier in other countries … we have asked our friends abroad, and they all
confirmed that. (Interviewee B)
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 41
The majority of participants mentioned a better social status based on
meritocracy, freedom of expression and freedom at work as their aspirations
in the imagined community.
These aspirations, which are components of Iranian students’ desired future
self (Dörnyei, 2009), heighten their motivation and enable them to surmount
some of the barriers that would otherwise inhibit learning. Such an increase in
motivation could be viewed as a focused escapism – an avoidance of reality by
absorption of the mind in an imaginative situation (Dictionary.com, 2014) – which
assists the students in overcoming some of the perceived barriers that otherwise
inhibit learning within their home country. Idealised notions – of freedom of
expression, quality of life, high standards of education, security and peace – aid
participants to connect themselves to the imagined community and to distance
themselves from less desirable elements of their present situation:
I would have freedom of expression, and also I would have more freedom at
work, therefore I can apply new ideas in my career and be more creative since I
have greater freedom ... To achieve a high education and a better life in the USA
requires applying for the visa as a first step. As an Iranian student I have to work
hard and I have to travel to another country to apply for a visa. (Interviewee H)
The significance of the political context with regard to language learning
The political context is a recurring pivotal theme present in almost every participant’s
comments. In this section, two main themes will be discussed: firstly, the political
implications of language and identity; secondly, the significance of language
learning as a motivation to contribute to Iran’s development and success.
Language, internationalism and identity
In response to the question, Will you use English in order to be known as part of the
world of native speakers of English, or would you like to be known as a person who is
bilingual and belongs to an international community?, one participant noted that
there is a political stigma attached to her identity that could limit her aspirations.
This motivates her towards international community membership in order to
distance herself from her Iranian identity as a protection against discrimination on
the basis of her nationality. She utilises an international identity by being fluent in
English to prevent herself from being labelled.
I prefer that when I speak nobody recognises my nationality … when people find
out my nationality, they start putting me in a category and start pre-judging me.
I would like to be known as an international person without the restrictions that
my nationality places on me, but this is impossible; therefore I am trying to learn
to speak English as fluently as a native speaker. (Interviewee E)
Conversely, Interviewee S is keen to emphasise that while she wishes to be part
of the international community and enhance her English, her Persian heritage is
valuable to her and is an inherent part of her knowledge and identity.
As well as I know English, I have an even better knowledge of my native language,
Persian, the language of my literature and culture. I have realised that every day
of my life has contributed to my culture and thus I do not see how I can be native
speaker of English. (Interviewee S)
42 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English All participants are willing to go overseas to study or work, interact with intercultural
partners and have an attitude of openness toward other cultures (Yashima, 2002),
but this openness does not mean participants wish to be identified as a member
of the target language community (Interviewee E is an exception).
Contribution to Iran’s success and development
Five of the participants noted their hope that learning English could contribute
to the development of society politically through the understanding of their
fundamental rights. They declare that interacting with people from other cultures
and religions could improve their country, since people in Iran do not know much
about their fundamental rights, and they consider it a distant goal, whereas such
rights in European countries are often seen as norms. Learning more about these
rights by learning English in Iran is a solution proposed by Interviewee H:
Some Iranians are not aware of their basic human rights, including freedom of
speech and beliefs, freedom of press, freedom of religion and social equality
and meritocracy. When they can interact in English with other nations, they
would understand these rights, which might contribute to society or themselves.
(Interviewee H)
Influences from the societal and political issues mentioned above cause students
to value the target language and its communities, increasing their desire to improve
themselves and leave the host country with the intention to return and disseminate
knowledge and skills, contributing towards Iran’s advancement. The L2 motivational
self system indicates a strong mutual contribution of ‘ideal self’ and ‘ought-to self’.
Some of the participants desire to learn English for ideal visions of the future
outside Iran (ideal-L2 self) in order to prevent themselves, and in some cases
their home country, from lagging behind developed countries (ought-to self).
The findings on these Iranian students’ sources of motivation seem congruent
with past research suggestions (cited in Dörnyei, 2009: 18) that harmony between
the ideal- and ought-to selves can enhance the motivational impact of the idealand
ought-to selves.
Conclusion
Learning English as a foreign language may be seen as a metaphorical bridge
between one life and the perceived opportunity of a better life (in an imagined
community). The majority of the participants consider language learning as a
path to achieving success in their chosen field. They describe factors affecting
this including gaining a better social status, strengthening freedom of expression,
accessing the benefits that engaging in the international community can provide
for their professions, and contributing to Iran’s development. Finally, they see
language development as a path to distancing themselves from a socio-economic
domestic environment with which they are unhappy. The common thread running
through all of the participants’ interview responses is the value of learning a
language for its perceived future benefit rather than for its intrinsic value.
The current situation in Iran is leading students to want to go overseas for their
career development in order to increase their socio-economic level and be more
professional in their career. This is a sad loss of skills that Iran does not want. It is
important for the government to take steps in countries like Iran to provide rich
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 43
educational opportunities with the hope of a prosperous career for its competent
young generation. This generation can contribute to the development of their
country if they are given the opportunities to gain from the achievements of
other countries and are able to impart this knowledge gained internationally.
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46 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English
Needs analysis for
General English
courses: a model for
setting priorities
Golnar Mazdayasna and Gholam Ali Molaei
48 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities
Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities | 49
4
Needs analysis for General
English courses: a model for
setting priorities 1
Golnar Mazdayasna and Gholam Ali Molaei
Introduction
The impact of English as a lingua franca and the growing demand for English as
a foreign language (EFL) courses has highlighted a need for language awareness
among EFL instructors and curriculum designers. EFL teachers’ awareness of their
learners’ needs is vital for the effective outcome of any EFL course. Although such
learners’ needs are theoretically of prime importance in current learner-centered
approaches, a needs analysis is rarely conducted in the General English (GE)
classroom. It is argued that it is not possible to specify the needs of GE learners.
However, in this chapter we highlight an example of an objective and subjective
needs analysis in Iran. We show that it is possible to specify GE needs of high
school students (Grade 11) and that needs analysis can be useful in any GE
classroom worldwide as a basis for designing aims, courses and materials.
Needs analysis in learner-centered approaches
One of the most important principles underlying learner-centered approaches
of language learning is that teaching/learning programmes should fulfil learners’
needs. Needs analysis, according to Brindley (1989), is a vital prerequisite to the
specification of language learning objectives. According to Richterich (1983), two
types of needs analysis are necessary: one is aimed at establishing broad goals
related to language content, while the other is aimed at collecting information
about learners, which can be used to guide the learning process once it is under
way. These two types of analysis can be referred to as objective and subjective
needs analyses. Objective needs are obtained from different types of factual
information about learners and their use of language in real-life communication
situations, as well as their current language proficiency and language difficulties.
Subjective needs refer to the cognitive factors of personality, confidence, attitudes,
and learners’ wants and expectations with regard to the learning of English and
their individual cognitive style and learning strategies. In this chapter, we provide
an example of how needs data was collected and interpreted, and provide the
reader with a basis for judging whether it is possible to specify learners’ needs
in the GE classroom, and whether or not it is a potentially useful exercise.
1 The research reported in this chapter refers to an earlier set of ELT coursebooks and not to the Prospect ELT
materials described in this collection in the separate chapter by Foroozandeh and Forouzani.
50 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities The mixed-methods study involved a small-scale interview with different
stakeholders including high school students and EFL instructors in the province of
Yazd. The interview data provided input to the design of a large-scale questionnaire
administered to 2,000 students and 20 instructors in 35 state and private high
schools in the provinces of Yazd and Shiraz, to determine perceptions and attitudes
of the students’ foreign language needs.
Needs analysis questionnaire
Preliminary interviews were conducted with 40 high school students and eight
EFL instructors in the province of Yazd. The main goal of conducting interviews
was to elicit information regarding the interviewees’ perspectives on objective and
subjective needs, problematic areas that students encounter, and their attitudes
and expectations regarding the GE course. The interviewees’ perspectives on the
importance of language skills proficiency were elicited. They also expressed their
beliefs and attitudes about class activities, pedagogy and their perceptions of
communication in the foreign language. Based on the findings of the preliminary
interview, two sets of needs analysis questionnaires were developed; one for
students and the other for language instructors.
Students’ needs analysis questionnaire
The student questionnaire, using a five-point Likert scale, had seven sections.
The first (items 1–6) was designed to explore the opinions of the students about
their GE learning needs. The second, third, fourth and fifth sections (items 7–25)
gathered students’ beliefs about their needs for listening, speaking, reading and
writing skills in English respectively. The sixth section (items 26–28) dealt with
students’ learning needs in respect of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, and
the seventh (items 29–33) language pedagogy. The questionnaire was translated
into Persian and distributed in the high schools during the academic year 2011–12.
Analysis of the questionnaires
The information from the questionnaires was coded and entered into a computer
database. The responses of the three groups of participants were then crosstabulated
for each item. The questionnaire demonstrated adequate reliability
(0.73). A considerable number (60 per cent) of private and state high school
students and their instructors felt that learners ‘greatly needed’ to increase their
knowledge of GE for the University Entrance Examination. A study by Khaniya
(1990) revealed that a majority of EFL teachers teach their students on the basis of
final examinations because they think that the students’ high scores on their final
exams preserve their reputation as good teachers. All formative and summative
evaluation in schools and the University Entrance Examination are based on
multiple choice questions.
A majority (63 per cent) of private and state high school students and 50 per cent
of instructors agreed ‘to a great extent’ that students are interested in learning
English. A majority (60 per cent) of private high school students, almost half
(43 per cent) of the state high school students and a significant number of instructors
(65 per cent) reported that the contents of the books were not interesting.
Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities | 51
A majority of private high school students (75.4 per cent), state high school
students (65 per cent) and instructors (75 per cent) considered it ‘extremely
important’ that English should be taught as a foreign language from the primary
school, similar to other countries such as Germany, Turkey and Japan. Nearly
all instructors (90 per cent), a large majority of private high school students
(78 per cent) and a substantial number of state high school students (68 per cent)
agreed that there was an urgent need to design high-quality textbooks for foreign
language education.
A majority of instructors (65 per cent), private high school students (54 per cent)
and almost half of the state high school students (41 per cent) revealed their
dissatisfaction by responding that the GE course did not help students to improve
their listening skills. A majority of instructors (65 per cent) and private high
school students (51.5 per cent), and almost half of the state high school students
(42 per cent) felt that students needed to listen to a radio or television programme
in English. Seventy-five per cent of instructors, 40 per cent of state high school
students and 33 per cent of private high school students felt that students should
listen to stories in English. Students are not always provided with audio-visual
facilities, and listening skills in the past have not been taken seriously in the
syllabuses for foreign language education.
Almost all instructors (95 per cent), and a majority of private (67.3 per cent) and
state high (66.2 per cent) high school students agreed ‘to a great extent’ that
students needed to improve their speaking ability. A majority of instructors
(70 per cent) and private high school students (64 per cent), and almost half
(44 per cent) of the state high school students reported that the GE course did
not help students to improve their speaking skills. A majority of instructors
(65 per cent) and private high school students (63.2 per cent), along with over
half (52 per cent) of the state high school students, agreed ‘to a great extent’
that students needed to participate in class discussion. An overwhelming majority
(80 per cent) of the instructors, and more than half of the private and state high
school students (51 per cent) felt that students ‘greatly’ needed to improve their
English to talk to their teachers and classmates. Nearly all instructors (85 per cent),
and over half of the private (60.4 per cent) and state (52 per cent) high school students
agreed ‘to a great extent’ that students needed to give a summary in English.
Nearly all (90 per cent) instructors, 60.4 per cent of private and 54 per cent of
state high school students felt that students needed to improve their reading
skill to ‘a great extent’ and that the GE course did not help students improve their
reading skills.
Reading short simplified texts may not automatically transfer to longer and more
dense academic texts. Moreover, students tend to employ a bottom-up strategy
of translating sentence by sentence, common to language-oriented approaches.
They are not sufficiently exposed to authentic texts and materials and are not
familiar with the rhetorical patterns of paragraph organisation such as definition,
description, cause-effect, and comparison and contrast (Filice and Sturino, 2002).
Just over one-third of instructors (35 per cent) reported that students would
benefit greatly from learning subjects such as science, geography and theology
through the medium of English from primary school to the high school.
52 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities Almost all instructors (85 per cent) and a majority of private (65 per cent) and
state (62 per cent) high school students agreed ‘to a great extent’ that students
needed to develop their writing skills, which the GE course did not do. A majority
(65 per cent) of instructors and private high school students (60 per cent), along
with a considerable (57 per cent) number of state high school students, felt that
students needed to write email messages to ‘a great extent’. Nearly all instructors
(95 per cent) and a number of private (59 per cent) and state (58 per cent) high
school students believed students needed to provide short answers to reading
comprehension questions to ‘a great extent’. These results are in line with the study
conducted by Kormos, Kontra and Csolle (2002), which showed that non-native
students at the tertiary level in Hungary needed to develop their writing skills to
write an email as well as provide explanations and instructions in the written form.
Interestingly, all instructors and a majority of private (66 per cent) and state
(64.5 per cent) high school students reported that students ‘greatly’ needed to
increase their knowledge of grammar. Similar views were expressed with regard
to both vocabulary and pronunciation.
Fifty-four per cent of private high school students, 39 per cent of state high
school students and 35 per cent of instructors were not satisfied with the teachercentered
approach. On the other hand, a substantial number of instructors (65 per
cent), private high school students (64.4 per cent) and state high school students
(56 per cent) responded positively and were in favour of using a learner-centered
approach to teaching GE courses.
Fifty-three per cent of private high school students, 45 per cent of instructors and
40 per cent of state high school students were not satisfied with English courses,
including the textbook, the time allocated and the methodology. These findings
are in line with Allami et al. (2009) who concluded that English language teaching
materials developed by the Ministry of Education did not conform to high school
students’ demands. Nearly all instructors (90 per cent) and a majority of private
(65 per cent) and state (61 per cent) high school students reported that students
were in favour of class activities such as role playing, pair and group work.
Results and interpretation of the data
The in-depth needs analysis conducted across different public and private high
schools in the two main provinces gave us an opportunity to examine students’
objective and subjective needs from different perspectives. These perspectives
both supported and complemented each other. The findings showed a high
rate of agreement/consistency among the stakeholders concerning the use
and importance of the four skills, learning needs, attitudes towards language
instruction, content, methodology and length of the GE course.
Both groups were aware of students’ difficulties. The instructors’ assessment of
students’ proficiency revealed that they did not have satisfactory proficiency levels
in English. According to them, the GE course emphasised micro-linguistic aspects
of reading skills at the cost of writing, listening and speaking, and only prepared
students to pass written examinations, not enabling them to use English effectively.
Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities | 53
Students improved neither their grammatical or communicative competence, nor
their ability to learn and use common core and academic vocabulary appropriately.
Students reported that issues such as the limited number of credits allocated to GE
courses, content, methodology and activities did not help them reach the level of
proficiency needed to complete realistic tasks in their prospective careers. Results
revealed that although students and instructors realised the importance of using
English to be successful in their studies and future careers, and, in spite of the fact
that students were strongly motivated to improve their English language skills,
school foreign language education had failed to satisfy students’ expectations and
increase their level of English. Nunan (1989: 176) asserts that ‘the effectiveness of
a language programme will be dictated as much by the attitudes and expectations of
the learners as by the specifications of the official curriculum’. The results suggested
that EFL instructors should reconsider their roles and widen their repertoires of
language teaching strategies. There is a great need to raise the awareness of
prospective EFL instructors concerning daily lesson planning. There is an urgent
need to make policy makers, ELT educators and language instructors aware of the
needs, wants and lacks of high school students. As English is the international
language of research, science, technology and commerce, it has created a new
generation of learners who are aware of their short- and long-term needs.
Reflections on GE programmes
Several points can be highlighted from the results of our research regarding
GE programmes. The initial stage before designing a GE course is to conduct a
needs analysis in order to assess the students’ needs, wants and lacks. Needs
analysis, which is a prerequisite for establishing course objectives, materials
selection and choosing appropriate tasks and activities, seems to have been
neglected in GE programmes.
Second, the materials, methodology and activities in GE programmes do not
apparently help students to increase their English language proficiency. Teaching
materials should be flexible in terms of quantity and difficulty, and should range
from simplified texts to authentic articles. The learner should be involved fully in
both the content and the language topics using an inductive, problem-solving
approach to grammar, a lively layout, highly interactive, enjoyable and manageable
small-group activities, project work and a task-based unit structure. Students
should think creatively. More extensive methodological guidance should be
provided in a teacher’s book.
Third, GE programmes are examination-oriented. In their English classes students
carry out various tasks included in the examination papers (for example, multiple
choice, true/false or gap-filling exercises for checking reading comprehension
skills). They memorise vocabulary without using the items in innovative tasks.
The emphasis is on learners’ preparation for tests and examinations instead of
developing the underlying competence to perform tasks related to their disciplinespecific
studies.
54 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities Fourth, the aims and activities of any GE textbook should be analysed and
understood by investigating the input and interactional modifications necessary
to promote desired learning outcomes in the class (Kumaravadivelu, 2008). For
example, Crace and Acklam (2006) clearly defined the type of input presented to
learners and the type of output expected. They used a combination of deductive
and inductive approaches to teach grammatical points. The content was based
on both the meaning and form of the language. Authentic texts were included in
integrated reading, listening and writing tasks. Learners were meant to be active
in class, discussing different issues and using tasks provided.
Brown (2001) suggests an integration of the four skills in course content.
A lesson framework for a reading course might look as follows:
■■ A pre-reading discussion of the topic to activate schemata.
■■ Listening to a lecture or a series of information statements about the topic
of a passage to be read.
■■ A focus on a certain reading strategy, say, scanning.
■■ Writing a paraphrase of a section of the reading passage.
Brown’s framework requires students to discuss, listen, read and write about
the topic.
Fifth, students need guidance in expanding their lexico-grammatical repertoire.
Learners’ difficulties in reading, translation and writing are often caused by either
limited vocabulary or its inappropriate application.
Sixth, a GE curriculum needs to integrate strategy training into the reading lessons
so that students can use strategies effectively. Reading strategies should be
introduced while reading passages and they should be integrated with writing
instruction. Students need explicit teaching of different reading strategies in order
to become better readers. ELT instructors should explain the strategies and their
importance in improving reading comprehension. Teachers should model the
strategies, and give feedback. In addition, students need to develop study skills.
Study skills encompass a wide range of activities. They include listening and
note-taking, reading skills such as skimming, scanning, guessing meanings from
context and using the dictionary, discussion and oral presentation, and writing
skills such as paraphrasing, and summarising.
Thus, it is important to design materials that focus on developing the students’
underlying competence. Co-texts and such devices as graphs, diagrams and
semantic maps were not included in the coursebooks consulted during our
research. The materials did not follow principles of discourse analysis, genre
analysis or reading skills and strategies. The textbooks were not accompanied
by a teacher’s manual. There were no teaching training workshops, nor any
attempt to observe how the courses were being implemented.
Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities | 55
Conclusion
Most GE courses in schools have been conducted without assessing students’
learning needs, the indispensable first step in curriculum development. This has
resulted in the criticism that courses are unrealistic and unable to prepare the
students to face the challenges and demands in their prospective careers. The
relevant factors that policy makers and ELT teachers should consider will now be
highlighted based on the findings of the present study.
There are many factors to take into account, including (1) students’ learning
needs, (2) learners’ present knowledge and knowledge gaps, (3) course objectives,
and (4) resources available, in terms of staff, materials, equipment, finances and
time constraints.
Several procedures such as interviews, observations and questionnaires have
to be employed to gain insights into students’ objective and subjective needs.
The needs analysis results will determine the necessities, lacks and wants to
be incorporated into the syllabus and become the basis for specifying course
objectives. The findings of this study indicated the importance of the students
increasing their academic literacy in both productive and receptive skills, implying
that all four skills should be integrated in course content.
Results revealed that students were dissatisfied with textbook content and
teaching methodology. Findings also indicated students’ preferred participation in
class activities through pair work and group work, learning through discussion and
reasoning. The methodology used should be learner-centered rather than teachercentered.
A GE programme would foreground work on lexis, grammar and
discourse, with reading and listening texts used as input to activities.
Techniques such as role playing and problem-solving activities should be used
to increase students’ proficiency in the oral/aural skills. Students should be
encouraged towards autonomy. As Waters and Waters (2001: 379) suggest, ‘by
posing study problems rather than simply providing ready-made answers right from
the start of the learning-to-study process, the basic constituents of effective study
become not only the object of the learning but also its means.’ They believe students
should adopt a critical, questioning approach to studying, and should be given
activities to encourage critical thinking and self-confidence, and to improve such
skills as reading, note-taking and summarising.
Becoming an effective teacher of GE requires experience, training, effort and
commitment. The training and education of ELT teachers in linguistic and
pedagogic knowledge must be supported by all, including the Ministry of Education
in conjunction with private and state high schools. It is the teacher who ultimately
plays a crucial role in delivering desired course outcomes.
56 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities References
Allami, H, Jalilifar, AR, Hashemian, M and Shooshtari, Z (2009) Are Iranian school
students’ language needs taken into consideration? Iranian Journal of Language
Studies 3: 125–142.
Brindley, GP (1989) ‘The role of needs analysis in adult ESL program design’,
in Johnson, RK (ed) The Second Language Curricula. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Brown, HD (2001) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language
Pedagogy. New York: Pearson Education Ltd.
Crace, A and Acklam, R (2006) Total English. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Filice, SL and Sturino, D (2002) Integrating authentic materials and language skills
in English for pharmacy instruction. Pharmacy Education 2/2: 59–62.
Hutchinson, T and Waters, A (1987) English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Khaniya, TR (1990) The wash-back effect of a textbook-based test. Edinburgh
Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh.
Kormos, J, Kontra, EH and Csolle, A (2002) Language wants of English majors in a
non-native context. System 30/4: 517–542.
Kumaravadivelu, B (2008) Understanding Language Teaching: From Method to
Post-method. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
O’Malley, JM and Chamot, AU (1990) Learning Strategies in Second Language
Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Richterich, R (1983) Introduction to Case Studies in Identifying Language Needs.
Oxford: Pergamon (Council of Europe).
Waters, A and Waters, M (2001) ‘Designing tasks for developing study competence
and study skills in English’, in Flowerdew, J and Peacock, M (eds) Research
Perspectives on English for Academic Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 375–389.
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 57
Developing school
English materials
for the new Iranian
educational system
Elham Foroozandeh and Mohammad Forouzani
58 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 59
5
Developing school English
materials for the new Iranian
educational system
Elham Foroozandeh and Mohammad Forouzani
Introduction
The history of high school English coursebooks in Iran dates back to 1938
when a committee of Iranian and American educationists and professors was
formed to develop a series of English books exclusively for Iranian high schools.
The pre-Revolution materials belong to the years 1939 –79, while the postrevolution
materials fall into three periods, namely 1982 –90, 1991–2010 and
the new English for School Series from 2012 to date. The focus of this chapter
is mainly on the development, implementation and evaluation of the new series
entitled Prospect, but prior to that a brief account of the approach and design
of the old materials from 1939 to 2010 will be given.
Part 1: Pre-Revolution Series: 1939 –79
Prior to this period, a variety of English as a foreign language (EFL) materials
produced in English-speaking countries were used in the Iranian schools, but
the then Ministry of Culture sponsored a huge project to develop materials for
schools with contributions from Iranian, American and English educators and
language specialists.
1939–mid-1960s The first official English coursebooks for the Iranian high
schools were designed and developed by a team of Iranian and English-speaking
English language teaching (ELT) specialists and linguists in 1938 and were made
available to schools in 1939. The six-volume series follows the Direct Method (DM)
and Reading Method (RM) with a variety of topics, but no design format can be
observed in the series. The topics range from Persian literature to world literature,
history, science, biography and art. No teacher’s guide accompanies the series,
but each volume provides the teachers with a ten-page introduction with detailed
guidelines on classroom management, adopting a humanitarian approach to the
teaching–learning process, and emphasising the importance of spelling and
handwriting using appropriate error-correction techniques.
As mentioned above, no fixed pattern governs the layout of the lessons, so Lesson 1
in Book One may start with a poem with no warm-up or follow-up activities, while
another lesson would contain grammar points with relevant exercises. A bilingual
(English–Persian) glossary is also provided at the end of the book to help students
with text translations.
60 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system While the high school series was developed based on DM and RM principles,
the general trend in the mid-1960s was Situational Language Teaching (SLT).
As a result the school series was revised, and new materials developed based
on SLT principles.
1964 – 78 The six-volume Graded English Series that replaced the previous series
has a clear layout with a fixed number of pages and new words in each lesson.
The series follows SLT principles, includes more illustrations and is accompanied
by a comprehensive teacher’s guide for each volume. The teacher’s guide provides
step-by-step explanations for teaching the language components and skills in each
lesson. Different methods of spelling practice and dictation are also introduced.
New words are highlighted in red in contrast to the black and white version of the
old series, and each lesson contains both dialogues and short reading passages
followed by a grammar point and relevant exercises.
Besides following the current trends of the time, the Graded English Series is
probably one of the best series developed between 1939 and 2003 in terms
of the organisation of lesson components, layout and the teacher’s guide.
Part 2: Post-Revolution Series: 1982 – 2010
1982 – 90 The first revision to the high school English curriculum and materials
after the Islamic Revolution took place in 1982 and remained effective until 1990.
English was removed from Grade 1 of junior high schools, and students started
English in Grade 2. Coursebooks were revised based on RM principles, and
conversational skills received little emphasis. The four coursebooks developed
for the four years of senior high school had different layouts and designs, and
Book 4 as the last in the series had the most emphasis on reading, vocabulary
and grammar. No teacher’s guide accompanied the series.
1991– 2010 In 1991 Grade 4 was removed from the high school programme
and was replaced by a new level called Pre-University for students intending to
continue to university. Others could graduate from high school as soon as they
finished Grade 3. The English Coursebook for the Pre-University level was divided
into Book One and Book Two in a single volume, and was developed based on
RM and SLT principles. There were long reading passages together with several
grammar points to prepare students for the English section of the National
University Admission Examination.
The Pre-University coursebook underwent fundamental changes in 2003, and
it is the first high school coursebook to incorporate Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT) principles in the history of school English in Iran. Warm-up activities,
role plays, context-based language and colourful illustrations are among important
revisions. Other high school coursebooks in Grades 1, 2 and 3 remained the same
with some minor revisions.
When the 6-3-3 System (see below) was made effective in 2011, the lower
secondary and upper secondary levels required totally different materials, which
are now being written at the Curriculum Development Center (CDC), Ministry of
Education, Iran. Part 3, below, is an account of the planning, implementation and
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 61
evaluation of the first two packages of the English for School Series, which were
published in 2013 and 2014 and are used in lower secondary schools in Iran.
Part 3: The 6-3-3 System: English for Schools
Birth After the Iranian Ministry of Education reformed the educational curricula
in 2010 and officially announced the 6-3-3 System, the revision of course
syllabuses for all subjects including English was put to the top of the agenda in
the Organisation of Educational Research and Planning (OERP) at the Ministry.
6-3-3 refers to six years of elementary school, three years of lower secondary
school (formerly junior high school) and three years of upper secondary school
(formerly senior high school).
Eleven subject matter books in different grades (for example, Grade 6 in
elementary school and 7, 8 and 9 at lower secondary) underwent fundamental
changes in their content and design. Coursebooks for Grades 1 and 6 were
re-written. As for English, the policy makers officially announced Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT) as the main principle governing the materials. This
approach was fundamentally different from the Reading Method on which the
school English books had been based for 26 years despite minor revisions.
To respond to the Ministry’s call for writing new school books for the 6-3-3 system,
a group of six materials developers were invited to the English Department at
the Ministry’s Organisation of Research and Planning. The group consisted of
two assistant professors of ELT, two MOE (Ministry of Education) experienced
teachers and two linguists with doctoral degrees. The members of the materials
development (MD) team had experience in different aspects of teacher education,
syllabus design and materials development, coursebook evaluation, genre and
discourse analysis, and psychology of language teaching.
The team met in August 2011, and it took members about four months to
design the syllabus for the lower secondary Grades 7, 8 and 9. More than 100
EFL coursebooks available in Iranian and international markets as well as those
available online were collected. The contents of the materials were analysed with
a focus on the first 10,000 most frequent words as well as grammar for young
12-year-old adults. A variety of topics were selected and categorised into personal,
public, vocational and educational domains, then the Iranian learners’ needs and
lacks in secondary school were considered, and Common European Framework
of Reference (CEFR) targets for A2 and B2 users were established.
Challenges There were several challenges for the materials developers in
implementing the CLT syllabus in the lower secondary English programme.
One was a lack of school teachers’ experience, or, by the same token, their
disbelief in the effectiveness of managing English classes based on CLT principles.
This widespread disbelief might be rooted in the fact that to succeed in the National
University Admission Examination, students are not tested on their communicative
competence. There are no parts in the English section that require applicants to
produce any spoken or written samples of their language proficiency. They are
tested on their grammar knowledge and reading comprehension skills, covered
62 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system well by the former coursebooks and supplementary materials provided by
schools or private language institutes.
A second source of the teachers’ reluctance to use CLT principles could be the
demanding nature of the CLT method. CLT requires a considerable amount of
communication in the target language, and there are a large number of teachers
who are not comfortable managing the class in English. Teachers had been used
to teaching English using the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) for the past
30 years, and the radical shift from GTM to CLT was a shock.
Another challenge was the limited number of English hours in the curriculum: two
hours a week in a total of 26 weeks in the academic year (from September to May),
far below the minimum requirement for sufficient exposure to the target language
in a CLT classroom. The limited time was a serious drawback in that it was neither
possible to limit the scope of the book to less than the minimum content defined
for eight lessons, nor sensible to expect the teachers to cover the content and
achieve the objectives defined for Book 1 in only two hours a week. After research
and reflection, the materials development team decided to define CEFR A2 and B2
levels at the end of lower secondary and upper secondary school respectively.
The third challenge was the heterogeneous population of Grade 7 pupils who had
just finished the six-year elementary school. The materials had to accommodate
more than 1,200,000 12-year-olds from different parts of the country including
the underprivileged, semi-privileged and privileged. School contexts would range
from a single plain room with around five students with no CD player or any other
technology, in a remote rural area with mules as the only means of transport, to
well-resourced schools with smartboards, individual computers, sophisticated
digital communication and an internal network connecting students and teachers.
Students in these well-provided schools would usually come from a strong
English background, and were often bilingual as a result of one parent being
an English speaker or their having studied English in private institutes. On the
other hand, students in underprivileged areas had never experienced hearing
a single sentence in English, had no idea of Western culture, would not need
English in their daily life and would rarely get the chance to meet a foreigner
in their neighbourhood except for those who lived in a tourist area. Families’
negative attitudes toward learning English and Western culture was also a
concern in both underprivileged and privileged families, attitudes sometimes
complicated by religious concerns.
The packages in the English for Schools Series include a student’s book, a
workbook, a teacher’s guide and an audio CD of the conversations. Prospect 1
and 2, already written and used in schools since September 2013 and 2014
respectively, are described in the following sections.
English for Schools: Prospect 1
Approach, design, methodology and assessment
Approach With regard to Iran’s specific national values and ideologies, the
fundamental shift in approach in 2010 was likely to cause objections, resistance
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 63
or, at best, scepticism about the effectiveness of CLT in a school context where
teachers had been teaching English with grammar translation methods for more
than 26 years. However, in line with the argument for placing the context at the
heart of the profession (Bax, 2003), the authors took into consideration the
immediate Iranian context in selecting illustrations, topics, proper names and
interactions that could be closest to the natural target setting while conforming
to national values and ideologies.
Design and methodology The Prospect series for the lower secondary school
was meant to teach both literacy, which continues into Prospect 2 and 3, and
communication. Prospect 1 was the hardest to design with regard to the already
mentioned heterogeneous population of the Grade 7 students. The alphabet letters
with their corresponding sounds are presented in a context that would sound
natural and easy to follow for students both with a background in English and those
with no such background.
Different letter/sound presentation methods were studied in commercial ESL/EFL
coursebooks. Blended (synthetic) phonics was rejected as it best suits children
more than young adults who already have the experience of first language
acquisition. Instead, analytic phonics that encouraged whole-word reading could
be a more suitable method for this age group. Selection of the letters was decided
on the basis of the frequency of the letters in Persian words and names, and the
similarity of the corresponding sounds to the Persian ones. For instance, Lesson 1
introduces M and K as two of the most frequent alphabet letters with sounds very
close to English k and m, and A as the most frequent vowel sound that could be
added to two consonants and make the pronunciation of a minimum three-letter
word (for example, ant) possible.
The specific alphabet letters in each lesson are presented in dialogues with the
themes and functions of introducing self, introducing others, age and date, family,
appearance, actions in progress, address/phone numbers/time and favourite food/
giving suggestions.
Each of the eight lessons in Prospect 1 is presented in four colourful pages and
includes the following sections:
1. Conversation, which takes place between Iranian interlocutors (teacher–
student, student–student).
2. Practice 1, Practice 2 (and in some lessons Practice 3), which introduce
language functions (for example, questions).
3. Sounds and letters, which includes one conversation with the purpose of
teaching and learning the pronunciation of a given sound in a context that
seems natural enough to require that interaction (for example, a student who
mispronounces or asks for the correct pronunciation of a word, and a teacher
who helps/corrects).
4. Listening and reading with the purpose of teaching the students to listen and
‘scan’ for required information, read the given tabular information and check
the correct boxes.
64 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system 5. Speaking and writing, encouraging students to use the expressions and
functions of the lesson to communicate with each other and engage in pair
and/or group work filling out forms and completing surveys. Limited written
production is required in this section. What students are required to produce
correctly is the letters they have learned; other parts of the word are written
with the teacher’s help. For instance, in Lesson 1 they complete a form about
three classmates’ first and last names. Teachers encourage the students to
write down the letters they know and complete the name(s) together and/or
with the teacher’s help.
6. Role play, which students carry out to practise the language functions and
expressions necessary for talking about the lesson’s theme.
Prospect 1 also includes a separate workbook and a step-by-step teacher’s guide.
Extra photocopiable activity sheets are included in the teacher’s guide, which is
also available online.
Assessment Students’ overall performance is evaluated on the basis of their
scores in the formative and summative assessments specified in Table 1, below.
It should be mentioned that before the 6-3-3 curriculum, two final scores were
recorded in the students’ report sheets for their oral and written performance
during the semester, but there were no benchmarks for the oral exams. The
specification of scores on the language components and skills are based on the
presentation of the same items in the lessons. This highlights the importance of
listening–speaking activities in the syllabus of Prospect 1 compared with that of
the previous coursebook.
All the end-of-semester exams are developed by classroom teachers for Grades 7
and 8, but the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) is planning a national standard
test when students finish Grade 9 – the end of the lower secondary school.
The sample tests posted on the CDC’s website guide teachers to provide their
own for further practice. The stems in the sample tests are given in Persian so that
the students can easily follow the directions and undertake the activities in English.
For instance, the Persian stem may state that: ‘Ali’s father wants Ali to create an
email address for him. Help Ali enter the information on the website in English.’ Ali’s
father’s particulars (First name, Last name, Age, Job, City, Country, Contact number
and Mailing address) are given in Persian, but the website form is in English. As a
result, students read the information in Persian and change it into English to
complete the form.
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 65
Table 1: Assessment
End-of-semester final evaluation
Oral exam Written exam
Formative
Assessment
(20 points)
Summative
Assessment
(20 points)
Formative
Assessment
(20 points)
Summative Assessment
(20 points)
Listening: 5 points 1
−− Conversation
−− Practice
−− Listening and
writing
−− Interview: 5 points
−− Monologue:
5 points
−− Role Play:
10 points
−− Listening and writing:
10 points
−− Reading and writing:
10 points
Speaking: 5 points
−− Reading, speaking,
writing
−− Practice (functions)
NOTE: The final
oral assessment for
Semester 1 will be
based on lessons
1–4. For Semester
2, 5 points will be
related to lessons
1–4 and 15 points
for lessons 5–8
Workbook
activities and
literacy skills
(spelling and
pronunciation)
NOTE 1: Final score
on Written Exam
= (Formative +
Summative) / 2
NOTE 2: Final written
exam for Semester 1:
Lessons 1–4
NOTE 3: Final written
Exam for Semester 2:
5 points from Lessons
Listening and
Speaking: 10 points
−− Talk to your Teacher
(expressions)
−− Literacy (spelling
and pronunciation)
−− Role play
1 Benchmark:
Comprehension
of questions and
answering the
teacher’s/rater’s
questions in English
or Persian
SEPTEMBER EXAM (Repeated for fail students)
Summative oral + Summative written = 20 points
Summative Oral (20) / 5 = 4 Summative Written (8 points listening + 8 points reading/writing) = 16
Teacher training workshop
In August 2013, 200 senior teachers from all provinces of Iran were invited to the
first Prospect Workshop held at a Teacher Education Centre in Tehran. For logistical
purposes, they were divided into two groups each with 100 participants, and each
group was in turn put into four classes of 25. The participants mostly held Master’s
degrees in English, and a few participants were undertaking their PhD at the time.
They were all selected and invited by the Ministry of Education.
The workshop for each of the two groups was scheduled for six days from 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Four members of the materials development team ran the workshops
for the four sub-groups in each week. The workshop’s timetable was scheduled in
a way that each sub-group would attend the training sessions of all four trainers
on each day.
66 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system The workshop materials included (1) handouts on the concept of CLT with clear
explanation about its principles and classroom applications, (2) PDF files of the
teacher’s guide, (3) hard copies of Lesson 1 and (4) the audio files of the dialogues.
Two workshop trainers presented micro-teaching sessions of a ‘Welcome’ Lesson
because it was new in terms of approach, design and methodology. Teachers were
wondering how they could start the class in English with both students with a good
background in English and those from underprivileged school contexts or rural
areas with minimal encounters with English, if at all. Trainers emphasised that,
especially for zero beginners, there should be a balance between the use of L1
(Persian) and English to overcome students’ fears and prevent discouragement.
The role of body language, gestures, mimicry and realia were highlighted during
the micro-teaching with participants playing the role of the students.
On the first day of the workshops, teachers, especially the experienced ones,
expressed their scepticism over the efficiency of the new coursebook, the
possibility of handling classes using the CLT method and generally over the
whole training programme. However, after no more than two days, most teachers,
including the disapproving ones, began to like Prospect 1 and could connect with
it (personal communications to authors of this chapter during the workshops).
Much time and effort was put into the planning and implementation of the training
programme, but the CDC’s main concern was the cascading effect. The 200 trained
senior teachers were to cascade the information to teachers in later workshops to be
held in their provinces before the start of the academic year in late September 2013.
The workshops’ DVD shared with all participants included trainers’ presentations,
micro-teaching, classroom lectures on the CLT approach in general and the application
of the method in Iranian schools in particular, dialogue audio files, a PDF file of the
teacher’s guide, and the Prospect 1 coursebook and workbook that were just
published and were about to be made available on the market.
Teachers’ feedback
During September and October, the materials development team monitored the
implementation of the Grade 7 English programme and received feedback from
teachers who were involved in the cascaded training in their provinces.
These school teachers did not feel well briefed about the methodology of Prospect
1, the cascading effect with which the CDC was most concerned. They claimed
they felt more comfortable teaching all alphabet letters in the first two weeks of
the academic year instead of keeping pace with the alphabet presentation in the
coursebook. They expressed their distrust in using whole-word techniques and
had decided to teach the alphabet letters in the traditional way from A to Z.
Teachers were also teaching dialogues line-by-line instead of exposing students
to audio-visual inputs and eliciting the whole meaning of expressions, as well as
locating the letters that were the focus of a given lesson. Based on the teachers’
feedback, the major challenge that students faced when learning the English
alphabet by the analytic phonics method was the presence of other unknown
letters in a given word.
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 67
Surprisingly to the team, some teachers from the less privileged provinces or
Tehran districts reported that students were following the materials and were
eager to take part in group work and role plays in order to communicate in English.
In response to the above-mentioned comments, the CDC held immediate meetings
with teachers in different educational districts in Tehran and other provinces to
reinforce the purposes behind the new methodology. The materials development
team suspected that the Ministry decision to train only 200 senior teachers to
cascade the training to about 7,000 teachers across the country had not been
as effective as expected.
From December 2013, two months after the beginning of the academic year,
more positive feedback was received regarding students’ improvement in oral
communication. The feedback was collected through official phone calls and emails
to the CDC English Department office. Teachers sounded satisfied with students’
performance compared to their experiences with the previous English books in the
same lower secondary grade.
The positive feedback for Prospect 1 generally included:
1. Respect for students’ identities by focusing on the personal domain
(using ‘My’ in lesson topics).
2. Use of real pictures instead of cartoons.
3. Use of all language skills.
4. Addition of audio files as an integrated component of each lesson.
5. Addition of a separate workbook to the materials.
6. The step-by-step teacher’s guide.
7. Group and pair work suggested in all lessons.
8. Relative reflection of real life.
9. Photo dictionary at the end of the book.
10. Lively classroom atmosphere.
11. Little need for commercial materials as extra practice.
12. Real-life contexts for conversations and interactions.
13. Use of familiar names and places in Iran.
14. Attention to meaning rather than form.
15. Inclusion of ‘Review’ sections after every two lessons.
16. Defining the teacher’s role as facilitator not the sole input provider.
17. Engaging students in interactions.
18. Appropriate use of colours.
68 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system Suggestions for improvement were varied. Before publication, the student book
and workbook were reviewed by a group of school teachers and university
professors, and their comments regarding style, content and design were generally
applied. Teachers also shared their concerns and suggestions for improvement a
couple of months after the start of the academic year as follows:
1. Inaccessibility of hard copies of the teacher’s guide. Copies were available from
the Ministry’s bookstore in Tehran and not all teachers from other provinces
were able to collect the copies in person. However, the soft copy was already
shared on the CDC’s website for ease of access.
2. Lack of teacher expertise to teach the new coursebook. This is related to
the cascading effect that the CDC had to support later through in-service
workshops and briefing sessions.
3. No sample tests in the coursebook. Several sample tests were made available
online in the second month of the academic year, but teachers felt more
comfortable with hard copies.
4. Mismatch between the volume of each lesson and the limited time (less than
two hours) for the English course in the week.
5. Lack of audio-visual aids in many schools to carry out the lessons’ activities.
6. No explicit grammar section in the coursebook. This comment conflicts with the
main purpose of the materials to ‘use language to learn it’ in the first two years
of the lower secondary level, and be introduced to grammar explicitly in Grade
9, the last grade in lower secondary. The issue has frequently been discussed
since the first Prospect Workshop in September 2013 and was re-emphasised
in the later in-service training sessions.
7. Difficult vocabulary in the dialogues that prevented students from writing
and memorising them. Teachers have been advised not to make students
‘memorise’ the dialogues or words that are not the focus of a given lesson.
The dialogues are intended to provide auditory input for students to attune
their ears to English sounds and words, and they need to ‘scan’ for specific
information from the dialogues.
8. Impossibility of shift from GTM to CLT in large classes. In workshops, teachers
were encouraged to use pair and group work to help them move from the
GTM and teacher–student interaction to student–student interaction in a CLT
classroom. Three months after the start of the academic year, more positive
feedback was received about the success of the new coursebook and the
teachers’ own performance based on CLT principles.
9. No Western culture in lessons; all names, characters, and places are Persian.
Using a foreign language would be more successful if learners were aware of
the cultural values of English-speaking communities. Prospect 1 was primarily
intended to enable Iranian students to use English to talk about themselves
and describe their immediate environment. The culture of other groups was
not an immediate need at this basic level, and its presentation has been
delayed to higher levels.
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 69
10. No use of CD in class: lack of time and/or equipment. The materials
development team attended to this negative feedback by communicating
with senior teachers, emphasising the necessity of the listening component in
the programme and the efforts that had been put into producing the CD with
professional sound managers, radio programme directors, and native and
near-native speakers who recorded the conversations at Radio Tehran.
Based on teacher feedback, the materials development team conducted several
in-service training programmes between October 2013 and March 2014. Necessary
revisions to the coursebook and workbook were identified, and the second edition
of Prospect 1 was published and made available to schools in the summer of 2014
for the following academic year.
English for Schools: Prospect 2
Approach, design, methodology and assessment
The same approach, design and methodology are defined for Prospect 2 with
differences in content and the number of lessons. There are seven lessons with
the topics of My nationality, My week (daily routines), My abilities, My health, My city,
My village and My hobbies, with relevant language functions and expressions.
Each lesson is presented in five colourful pages and consists of the
following sections:
1. Conversation
2. Practice
3. Spelling and Pronunciation (corresponding to Sounds and Letters in
Prospect 1)
4. Listening and Writing (corresponding to Listening and Writing in Prospect 1)
5. Reading, Speaking and Writing (corresponding to Speaking and Writing in
Prospect 1)
6. Role Play
While Prospect 1 focuses on literacy at word level, the focus of Prospect 2 is
extended to phrase level, paving the way for grammar teaching in Grade 9
(Prospect 3).
The Prospect 2 coursebook is supplemented with a workbook in which the activities
are all set in a rich context so that language use and practice will sound as natural
as possible. The workbook activities for each lesson in the student coursebook is
divided into two sections (Reading and Writing), each with four tasks.
To facilitate students’ understanding, all instructions are given in Persian.
A scenario is given so that students can imagine the situation in which they need
to perform specific language functions or tasks. These activities focus on both
literacy and language use. For instance, the first activity for Lesson 1 in the
workbook requires students to read a world map with Persian names of countries
and provide the equivalent English names/spellings. In another activity, the
70 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system
students find cities with ‘ch’ and ‘sh’ in their names on the map of China. In a further
activity, the names of eight countries are given in Persian, and students check
the list of their football teams on the FIFA website provided as a screenshot in
their workbook, find the teams’ English names and rankings, and give a report to
the class. To use language to talk about abilities in Lesson 3, for example, pictures
of people doing certain activities are given and students decide who is good at
which activity, writing answers in English.
Assessment The same specifications and schedules presented in Table 1, above,
are defined for Prospect 2 formative and summative assessment.
Teacher training workshop
Similar to the Prospect 1 training workshop held for senior teachers in the summer
of 2013, a more practice-based workshop for Prospect 2 was held in August 2014.
Teachers’ feedback
Prospect 2 was much easier to teach for teachers who had experienced Prospect 1,
but there were complaints about dialogue difficulty and the numbers of lessons.
Due to the nationwide student heterogeneity, feedback ranged from highly positive
to negative, depending on the area and school contexts.
Interestingly, schools that were located in remote areas showed positive feedback
on the lesson My Village, as it encouraged both teachers and students to talk more
about natural scenery, towns and urban life, as well as jobs common in rural areas.
Feedback is still being sent by email and posted on the CDC English Department
website. A full report on Prospect 2 implementation is in progress, but teachers’
feedback to date shows a more positive view than that received for Prospect 1 in
the early months of the implementation in 2013.
Based on this first-hand account of the planning, implementation and evaluation of
the English for School Series: Prospect 1–2, it could be claimed that materials have
initiated a revolution in the teaching of English in Iranian schools in the past three
decades. The Curriculum Development Centre at the Ministry of Education in Iran
is engaged in an ongoing process of writing, assessing and revising the latest
materials, and teachers and students are playing a crucial role in the successful
implementation of the series.
The impact of language games on the nature of interactions | 71
The impact of
language games
on the nature of
interactions in the
Iranian EFL primary
classroom
Mona Mohabbatsafa and Julia Hüttner
72 | The impact of language games on the nature of interactions
The impact of language games on the nature of interactions | 73
6
The impact of language games on
the nature of interactions in the
Iranian EFL primary classroom
Mona Mohabbatsafa and Julia Hüttner
Introduction
The importance of interaction for language learning has been established in
research (Ellis, 1990; Mitchell and Myles, 2004; Storch, 2007) and can arguably be
seen as the basis for several pedagogic practices, such as the use of communicative
language teaching or interactive language games. In the context of Iranian primary
schools, described here, it was found that EFL learners are deprived of interaction
opportunities and do not actively participate in classroom activities. In Grade 5
classrooms, pupils are considered more as passive receivers of knowledge and
most classroom talk is dominated by teacher talk.
In order to create interaction opportunities for these language learners, a curriculum
comprising role play, matching games, card games and guessing games was
introduced into an Iranian EFL primary classroom to establish whether or not the
use of language games can encourage pupils to participate more fully in classroom
activities compared to the traditional teacher-centred EFL classroom. Six traditional
and six game-based lessons were video recorded to answer the following questions:
1. What is the nature of interactions between teachers and pupils and among
pupils in an Iranian EFL primary classroom?
2. How are these interactions influenced by the introduction of language games
in the classroom?
Statement of the problem
The teacher’s dominance in language teaching environments has been criticised
as an oppressive educational practice (Giroux, 2004). Studies have shown that in
language classrooms where the teaching and learning process is dominated by the
teacher and language learners remain passive receivers of knowledge, an unequal
student–teacher power relation is created .The teacher dominates the learning/
teaching process to such an extent that the learners’ active involvement becomes
harmfully limited (Nunan, 1993). Such a limitation is usually imposed on the learners
by restricting their contributions as discourse participants in terms of their rights
about what to say, what not to say, when to talk and how much to get involved in
the classroom. This practice in language classrooms impacts the outcomes of
the language learning in a negative way (Bailey and Servero, 1998; Pace and
Hemmings, 2007; Walsh, 2008).
74 | The impact of language games on the nature of interactions While such studies have shown that the dominance of teachers in language
classrooms does not help learners’ language development, some language teachers
in different parts of the world still continue to use such strategies to control
classroom talk (Sawyer, 2004). Iran is one of those countries where a number of
EFL teachers dominate the teaching/learning process (Kiany and Shayestefar, 2010).
Iranian EFL teachers still practise traditional teaching methods such as grammar
translation and audio-lingual methods, which fail to provide opportunities for pupils
to use language communicatively (Kariminia and Salehi, 2007).
The teacher’s dominance in Iranian EFL classrooms has created a formal learning
environment that Gardner (2010) believes can have a negative effect on pupils’
motivation and their attitude towards learning a foreign language. A strict and
impersonal relationship fails to provide a pleasant and supportive classroom
atmosphere. According to Gardner (2010), a friendly teacher–student relationship
and a positive classroom facilitates pupils’ language learning, as learners become
motivated to participate in classroom activities. Pupils do not appear to have such
opportunities in Iranian EFL classrooms. Iranian teachers do not appear to provide
pupils with sufficient rewarding words and positive feedback in the classroom
(Nahavandi and Mukundan, 2013), which, as Brophy (1981) reports, can increase
students’ self-esteem and build a closer teacher–pupil relationship.
In response to such difficulties, a method of teaching through language games
was introduced into an Iranian EFL primary classroom. I wished to see whether
the methodology would make a qualitative shift in interactions towards a more
pupil-centred model and to what extent teachers and pupils would respond to
these opportunities for learning. The study was conducted with 20 11-year-old
pupils and one EFL teacher in an Iranian EFL state primary classroom.
Method of data collection
Observation and procedures
Classroom observation was conducted over a six-week period. Observation was
an appropriate method for the purpose of the study as it allowed direct analysis
of the teacher’s and pupils’ behaviours and their interactions occurring in the
classroom (Merriam, 2009). Direct observation could also provide valid and
authentic data compared to other methods such as questionnaires and interviews
(Merriam, 2009). In Iran, as in many other countries, research can be a sensitive
area and respondents may be reluctant to say or write what they really think
(Akbari and Tajik, 2008). If the data was obtained from questionnaires and/or
interviews, valid and authentic participant data might not be obtained.
To decide which observation type was more appropriate for the purpose of
the study, observation methods were reviewed and their advantages and
disadvantages considered. As Creswell (2007) notes, participant observation
requires engaging in the activities and involvement with the subjects. This type
of observation, as Breakwell et al. (2000) report, can provide a great amount of
data not only about the participants’ actions and behaviours but also about their
feelings and attitudes. However, participant observation, as Simpson and Tuson
(2003: 14) argue, is the most ‘subtly intrusive’ form of observation, requiring the
researcher to become a member of a group and participate in the activities while
still acting as a detached researcher.
The impact of language games on the nature of interactions | 75
In non-participant observation the observer watches events and activities from a
distance (Seliger and Long, 1983). Non-participation saves observer time, which
can be spent video-recording sessions and taking notes of observed incidents.
Moreover, non-participant observation allows observers to be more objective
and prevents their feelings affecting the results (Bryman, 2004). However, like
participant observation, non-participant observation has some disadvantages;
for example, the lack of involvement in classroom activities could prevent the
observer from seeing or hearing classroom events. It could also be difficult to
clarify what pupils do or say unless engaged in the activities with them (Creswell,
2003). In non-participant observations, the presence of the researcher can affect
the participants’ behaviour (Merriam, 2009).
After reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of participant and nonparticipant
observation, non-participant observation was selected in order to
save time and aid objectivity. In addition, I needed to demonstrate empirically
what the patterns of interaction are in a ‘typical’ classroom and my involvement
as a participant-observer would have influenced the results (Bell, 2005). Six
sessions of traditional and six sessions of game-based lessons were observed
over a period of six weeks, and both traditional and game lessons were videorecorded
in sequence.
Each observation session lasted for 60 minutes. Traditional lessons were taught
from the coursebook and the teacher applied the usual teaching methods
(grammar translation and audio-lingual methods) to teach the language items.
The teacher introduced the language items such as vocabulary and grammar rules
by writing them on the whiteboard and pupils copied them in their notebooks. The
teacher asked the pupils to repeat the language items that were modelled by the
teacher chorally and then the coursebook activities were individually practised.
Pupils filled in blanks to complete a sentence, wrote the missing letter/s of a word
and corrected some mistakes. However, pupils were not able to practise language
items communicatively, as the nature of the coursebook activities did not require
communication and the teacher did not initiate pair or group work.
In the game lessons, lessons were taught through language games. Language
items including vocabulary and grammar, some new and some already known
to pupils, were introduced and then included in language games for pupils to
practise communicatively. The activities in the coursebook were replaced by
language games so that pupils could practise with their peers collaboratively
rather than working individually as they did in traditional lessons.
Findings
The findings obtained from the analysis of the 12 observation sessions (six
traditional and six communicative lessons) were recorded, transcribed and coded
based on Sinclair and Coulthard’s (1975) coding scheme. The frequency of the
communicative acts were counted in order to find out how the teacher’s and pupils’
communicative acts were affected by the use of language games. The verbal
interactions between the teacher and pupils and among pupils were selected from
the transcripts of different video-recorded lessons at different stages and then
described in detail.
76 | The impact of language games on the nature of interactions The findings from the analysis revealed that in traditional lessons pupils’ interactions
were highly controlled by the teacher and pupils did not talk and practise the target
language communicatively in the classroom. Due to the teacher’s dominance in the
classroom, the atmosphere of the classroom was formal, which created a distant
relationship between teacher and pupils and among pupils. Even the classroom
set-up represented the teacher’s authority. The teacher was standing in front next
to the whiteboard and pupils were sitting in rows facing the teacher and the board.
Pupil talk was restricted to replying to the teacher’s questions or repeating the
language items in chorus. Pupils sat and listened to their teacher and they were not
allowed to talk unless asked to do so. Pupils were also not permitted to leave their
seats unless they wanted to leave the classroom, in which case they had to seek
the teacher’s permission. There was no pair or group work involved and pupils were
not actively involved in the learning process through interacting with each other
or their teacher.
The quantitative analysis of the data revealed that modelling language items was
the most dominant communicative act performed by the teacher, representing
45 per cent (N=267) of 594 communicative acts. When the teacher modelled a
language item, pupils were required to repeat the language item after the teacher
in chorus, which did not create opportunity for pupils to use the target language
in a communicative and meaningful way. The analysis further revealed that in
traditional lessons, choral repetition of language items was the most dominant
communicative act performed by pupils, representing 57 per cent (N=269) of
468 communicative acts. According to Hardman (2005), choral responses do
not provide opportunity for meaningful communication in class and do not allow
pupils to fully engage in the learning process.
The question-and-answer sequence was another feature of classroom interaction
observed in these Iranian EFL classrooms. The analysis of the data showed that
display questions to which answers are known to the teacher (Dalton-Puffer, 2007)
were the most common type of teacher questions in traditional lessons, representing
81 per cent (N=114) of the total number of 141 questions. The questions required
short answers such as a single word or a short phrase. The teacher asked these
questions to practise new language and to check pupils’ comprehension of taught
language items. According to Handeda (2005), practising new language items and
checking pupils’ comprehension are two important functions of display questions.
However, this type of question does not provide interaction opportunities for pupils.
On the other hand, the use of referential questions, answers to which are unknown
to the teacher (Dalton-Puffer, 2007), significantly increased in game lessons
from 13 per cent (N=18) of 141 questions in traditional lessons to 77 per cent
(N=117) of 152 questions in game lessons. A motivating and enjoyable classroom
atmosphere was created by the use of language games (Hansen, 1994) and made
pupils eager to reply to referential questions. According to Cullen (1998), referential
questions can create more interaction opportunities than display questions, as
they allow learners to produce lengthier utterances and use the target language
communicatively in a meaningful way.
The impact of language games on the nature of interactions | 77
The use of language games created a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere, pupils
were more relaxed and bid more in game lessons, showing more interest in
classroom activities. Calculations of the data showed that bidding to participate in
classroom activities increased from three per cent (N=14) of 468 communicative
acts in traditional lessons to 20 per cent (N=173) of 869 communicative acts in
game lessons. Pupils’ elicitation questions increased from three per cent (N=16)
of 468 communicative acts in traditional lessons to 11 per cent (N=95) of 869
communicative acts in game lessons. One reason for this increase was due to the
fact that pupil–pupil questioning was common in language game-based lessons as
pupils had opportunities to interact with each other and work in pairs or groups to
perform activities. However, in traditional lessons pupils were not able to interact
with each other and were not provided with pair or group work opportunities.
Reacting to the teacher’s instructions was another communicative act affected
by the use of language games. Pupils reacting to the teacher’s instructions
significantly increased from seven per cent (N=35) of 468 pupils’ communicative
acts in traditional lessons compared to 31 per cent (N=269) of 869 pupils’
communicative acts in game lessons.
Conclusions
As indicated in the introduction section, there is evidence that some Iranian EFL
learners are deprived of interaction opportunities and classroom talk is dominated
by teachers (Kariminia and Salehi, 2007). The findings in my study showed that the
introduction of language games in an Iranian EFL primary classroom changed the
nature of interactions, which became more pupil centred. In game lessons, pupils
were more actively involved in the learning process, elicited more information from
the teacher and pupils, and reacted more to the teacher’s instructions. The use of
referential questions was more common in game lessons, and so pupils were able
to talk more and produce longer utterances. The introduction of language games
to an Iranian EFL primary classroom provided more opportunity for pupils to talk
and interact in the target language compared to traditional lessons.
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The impact of language games on the nature of interactions | 79
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80 | The impact of language games on the nature of interactions
EFL learners’ and
teachers’ perceptions
versus performances
of participatory
structures
Zohreh Seifoori and Farinaz Fartash
82 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances
EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances | 83
7
EFL learners’ and teachers’
perceptions versus performances
of participatory structures
Zohreh Seifoori and Farinaz Fartash
Language teachers’ use of participatory structures (PSs) such as whole-class
work (WCW), pair/group work (P/GW), and individual work (IW) is rooted in their
beliefs about the language learning process on the one hand and their personal
experiences as language learners on the other. This study sought to explore
Iranian EFL teachers’ and learners’ perceptions and actual use of PSs. The
participants were eight teachers recruited randomly from two popular English
language institutes in Tabriz, a metropolitan city in the northwestern part of
Iran, and 80 EFL learners attending the same teachers’ classrooms. The research
data was collected via two parallel researcher-designed questionnaires that
were administered to elicit teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of PSs, and an
observation form that recorded the teachers’ actual use of such structures during
a typical teaching session. The teachers’ performances were quantified based on
a 1–4 scale indicating the use of the PSs at all teaching stages. Statistical analyses
of the questionnaire research data indicated that Iranian English teachers opted
for P/GW, WCW and IW, respectively. Iranian learners’ preferences were for WCW
followed by P/GW, and IW did not reach significance level. As for actual practice,
teachers used WCW most of the time, followed by IW and P/GW, the least frequently
used participatory structure. Teachers’ perceptions and their actual use of PSs
showed significant differences only with regard to P/GW. The findings have
practical implications for language teachers and educators.
Introduction
Language pedagogy has been described with reference to a particular set of
theoretical principles and corresponding classroom practices originating from
assumptions concerning the nature of the learning process and the role of learners
on the one hand, and the function of teaching and the part language teachers can
play to facilitate the learning process on the other. Theoretically, learning in general
and language learning in particular have been construed as multifaceted cognitive,
affective and social processes that are governed by numerous factors pertinent
to the learners’ cognitive and affective variables as well as the socio-cultural and
political context of education. The interplay among these already-complex sets of
parameters escalates the intricacies of the learning process. Language pedagogy
is now firmly based on the conviction that a multidimensional pedagogical system
is required to take account of multiple and dynamic learning processes.
84 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances Similarly, language teaching methodology has evolved into a parallel multifaceted
system to aid practising teachers with the delicacies of the teaching process.
Kumaravadivelu (2006) has characterised a post-method pedagogy as a threedimensional
system comprising particularity (features typical of each specific
teaching process), of practicality (what Freeman (1998) has referred to as
pedagogical thoughtfulness fed by reflective teaching), enabling teachers to
bridge the gap between theory and classroom practice, and of possibility
(participants’ experiences in the socio-political environment influencing their
identity formation and shaping their belief systems).
Post-method teachers, according to Kumaravadivelu (2006 op. cit.) and Wallace
(1991), possess the potential to know not only how to teach but also how to develop
reflective approaches despite academic and administrative constraints imposed by
institutions, curricula and textbooks. Yet regardless of this potential and language
teachers’ adherence to post-method pedagogy, either ostensible or genuine,
the major question is the extent to which they have extricated themselves from
the influences of pedagogical practices they experienced as students and have
succeeded in performing teaching and learning activities that are compatible
with their stated beliefs. Moreover, the degree of congruence between teachers’
and learners’ beliefs about numerous features of language learning seems of
crucial importance in judging the probability of achieving educational goals and
objectives. Any attempt to respond to these questions has to be based on careful
scrutiny of both teachers’ and learners’ beliefs about a specified set of variables
and corresponding classroom activities.
Participatory structures
One such variable dominating classroom practice is participatory structures
(PSs), or the procedures that govern how teachers’ and learners’ participation in
classroom activities is organised. Ellis (2003) identifies two types of participation
in classroom activities: individual and social. The former represents instances of
learners engaging in class work individually, whereas the latter involves interaction
between the participants. PSs comprise four major types: individual work (IW),
pair work (PW), group work (GW) and whole-class work (WCW).
Individual work (IW)
IW has been described as self-dependent learner attempts (Prabhu, 1987)
to reflect on and complete a given activity or task. This type of participation
accommodates individual variation. Research findings support the lower rate
of errors and higher levels of fluency as a result of individual planning compared
to group planning (Ellis, 2003). However, IW provides little chance for interaction
with the teacher and with students, and it is sometimes difficult to monitor individual
learner activities.
Pair work (PW)
With the advent of communicative language teaching (CLT), the shift of emphasis
from language knowledge to language use led to a realignment of teaching
methodology in favour of promoting learners’ fluency and oral proficiency.
PW was suggested as an alternative to IW to maximise learners’ talking time by
EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances | 85
engaging them in semi-communicative interactions. This kind of learners’
participation is advocated by the proponents of both strong and weak versions
of CLT or, more specifically, by advocates of task-based language teaching (TBLT)
and task-supported language teaching (TSLT). The former underscores the need
for uncontrolled authentic meaning-focused tasks that prepare learners for genuine
communication in real-life situations, while the latter accentuates the significant role
of controlled pedagogic form-focused tasks that give the learners the opportunity to
practise and automatise their knowledge of language.
To Ur (1981), PW represents a type of collaboration that can be carried out in fixed
pairs, when students work with the same partner to complete a task/activity, or in
flexible pairs, when students are allowed to undertake the activity while changing
partners. PW activities can include controlled role plays, simple question-andanswer
exercises, brainstorming, checking activities in pairs, and more genuine
and interactive personalised activities. Although the ultimate purpose in PW
activities is to involve learners in speaking, they can be employed at various
stages of teaching skills and sub-skills.
Group work (GW)
Despite the benefits attributed to PW, this kind of learner participation seems
hard to control in large classes. GW has been suggested as a classroom procedure
that can serve identical purposes. A distinct difference between PW and GW relates
to the number of learners participating in the activity. Depending on the size of the
class, more than two students participate in GW, which optimises collaborative
work and is more compatible with the principles of co-operative learning. GW
activities can be designed to engage students in interactive or quasi-interactive
communication for a short period of time with a minimum of logistical problems
(Brown, 2001). Games, role plays, simulations, brainstorming, tasks, group discussion
and project work are examples of GW activities. The final decision about which to
use is influenced primarily by the lesson objectives, the learners’ proficiency level
and their socio-cultural characteristics.
Johnson and Johnson (1994) delineated group interaction as ‘promotive’ in
nature since it embodies individuals’ attempts to encourage and facilitate each
other’s efforts to complete the assigned task and achieve the groups’ objectives.
It also promotes caring and committed relationships, psychological adjustment and
social competence, enabling learners to learn how to give and receive assistance
to exchange information, challenge each other’s ideas, rely on each other and act
in trustworthy ways. In addition, GW enhances motivation, enjoyment, autonomy
and social integration. Brown (2001) believes GW generates interactive language,
fosters an affective climate, promotes learner responsibility and autonomy,
and, finally, individualises instruction. However, many language teachers feel
apprehensive about the use of such activities. One criticism concerns the necessity
of attention to form as an essential aspect of instruction, which, according to Ellis
(2003) and Williams and Burden (1999), is at risk in P/GW. They suggest that such
meaning-focused activities are not necessarily conducive to attention to form,
particularly at elementary and pre-intermediate levels of proficiency.
86 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances P/GW activities have also been criticised for making large classes hard to control and
a subsequent loss of teacher control over pair and group interaction. Persistent use
of such PSs may be linked to fossilisation of the learners’ inter-language system
characterised by a relatively fluent but inaccurate command of the target language.
Finally, from the teachers’ perspective, P/GW can represent a serious challenge
requiring meticulous planning to select appropriate activities, monitor group
performance and provide subsequent feedback. Some teachers may doubt
whether such activities are worth the effort because students will be exposed
to imperfect language models and incorrect feedback.
There may be a consensus that the advantages of GW outweigh the disadvantages,
but many teachers, particularly in EFL contexts, feel daunted by the challenge and
often revert back to their tried and trusted experience-bound methods. Such GW
activities might also be in contrast with the cultural expectations of many learners,
who are used to learning deductively and explicitly in teacher-fronted contexts.
Practising teachers may enthusiastically or even grudgingly admit the benefits of
P/GW yet continue to adhere to more traditional structures such as IW and WCW.
Whole-class work (WCW)
The fourth participatory structure employed by language teachers is WCW,
in which all class members are the addressees in teacher–student interaction.
Ellis (2003) makes a distinction between reciprocal WCW, in which the teacher
is an equal participant in the interaction, and non-reciprocal activities, where the
teacher is the input provider who plays the main role in the interaction. The major
threat in this kind of interaction is lack of negotiation and the subsequent high
rate of teacher talk. Reciprocal WCW is a feature of classroom teaching confined
to specific stages of teaching, aimed at lowering learners’ stress and activating
their relevant schemata (for example, initial warm-up questions, or engaging
participants in a genuine exchange of ideas in the form of content-based or
form-focused whole-class discussion). Reciprocal questions work well when they
are used to activate/establish background knowledge or explain new ideas and
concepts. Whole-class discussion might be considered as an effective semicommunicative
activity that encourages fluency and a meaningful exchange of
ideas among the participants, ensuring teachers’ access to all students, as well
as being a time-efficient strategy.
Non-reciprocal WCW is an inevitable characteristic of instructional contexts where
the teacher has to play the role of input provider, typically at what has become
known as the presentation stage of teaching in a grammar classroom, or the
preview stage of teaching other language skills. Despite these benefits and the fact
that WCW can serve introverted and reflective learners, an overemphasis on such
traditional non-reciprocal activities may relegate some learners, particularly the
shy ones, to passive recipients who receive the input and try to retain it through
memorisation. Many teacher-fronted classrooms in EFL contexts are predominated
by WCW and culminate in nothing more than rote learning.
EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances | 87
Teachers’ and learners’ beliefs
Based on the definitions proposed by experts in the field (Erkmen, 2010; Nespor,
1987), beliefs and perceptions are acquired sets of assumptions originating from
personal experience or expert knowledge and are strongly influenced by sociocultural
milieux. Unlike knowledge, which is conscious and stable, beliefs, according
to Nespor (1987), are unconsciously held, and often implicit and resistant to
change. Such beliefs might be about general spheres of life or fall within more
restricted areas such as learning and teaching, and may influence learners’ and
teachers’ beliefs and perceptions of PSs.
Erkmen (2010) linked beliefs to general or scientific knowledge that can be implicit,
factual or experiential and, thus, affective and evaluative in nature. From this
perspective, learners’ perceptions are more directly shaped by their classroom
experience since they still lack the professional knowledge essential for shaping
and reshaping beliefs. Since such experience is gained within the classroom
context, teachers’ practices can exert a profound and lasting influence. Graves
(2000) underscored the significance of the learning experience by relating
teachers’ beliefs to their past experience as learners. Borg (2001) viewed beliefs
as a guide for thought and behaviour. Brown and McGannon (2007) emphasised
many incorrect beliefs teachers hold about foreign language learning that
influence their teaching, and thereby their learners’ beliefs.
All learners bring their beliefs to an educational programme, which influence
what and how they learn (Breen, 1989). They evaluate the activities they perform
during the learning process and interpret them from their own perspectives.
The effectiveness of programmes can be increased if methods match learners’
expectations and if teachers, by discovering students’ attitudes towards various
types of PSs, can eliminate erroneous student assumptions about language
learning (Ludwig, 1983). Horwitz (1988) investigated learners’ beliefs and
Barkhuizen (1998) investigated learners’ preferred activity types. Ellis (2003)
highlighted the paramount role of PSs because they influence the learning process
and outcomes, reflect learners’ and teachers’ beliefs about classroom participation,
and shape the way teachers and learners behave.
This study
The aim of this study, previously never undertaken as far as we are aware in the
context of Iran, was to explore Iranian teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of
participatory structures, and teachers’ actual performances in EFL classrooms.
The following research questions were formulated:
1. What are Iranian English teachers’ perceptions of PSs in EFL classrooms?
2. What are Iranian English learners’ perceptions of PSs in EFL classrooms?
3. Are there any differences between teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of PSs?
4. What are Iranian teachers’ actual performances in terms of classroom PSs?
5. Do Iranian English teachers’ perceptions of PSs match their actual
performances?
88 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances Method
Participants
Eight teachers and their 80 intermediate Iranian EFL learners, 33 males and
47 females, at two popular English Institutes in Tabriz, a metropolitan city in the
northwest of Iran, participated in this study. The research sample was recruited
from a population of 100 learners within the age range 20 to 42. The research
data was collected over a time span of 12 weeks.
Instrumentation
To collect the research data, the researchers employed three different instruments:
a Preliminary English Test (PET), administered to assess the learners’ homogeneity;
two questionnaires; and an observation form. Two internationally licensed teacher
trainers designed the Teachers’ Perception Questionnaire (TPQ) and a Learners’
Perception Questionnaire (LPQ), with each questionnaire comprising 18 items with
Likert-scale responses. They were organised into three sections dealing with WCW
(items 1 to 6), IW (items 7 to 12) and P/GW (items 13 to 18). A total score of 24 would
indicate total agreement with each section and a positive perception, whereas a
total score of 6 would indicate teachers’ disagreement and a negative perception.
A classroom observation form measured teachers’ actual use of the three PSs in
the classroom. This form was based on items from the questionnaire and the four
stages of language skills teaching: warm-up, preview, view and post-view. Four
teaching sessions of each teacher were audio-recorded and the data was used to
check and validate the results of the structured non-participant observation.
Results
Teachers’ perceptions
The first research question addressed Iranian English teachers’ perceptions of PSs.
Statistics revealed that teachers held highly positive perceptions of G/PW (18.50)
followed by WCW (17.75) and IW (14.12). A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
revealed the participant teachers perceived G/PW as the most important activity,
followed by WCW and IW. The apparent difference between G/PW and WCW was
not found significant.
Learners’ perceptions
Similar statistical analyses were performed on data obtained from the LPQ to find
out learners’ perceptions of PSs (the second research question). WCW, with a mean
of 16.37, was perceived as the most welcome PS followed by P/GW (15.62) and IW
(15.25), but no significant differences were observed.
Teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of PSs
The results revealed a slight difference between the teachers’ and the learners’
perceptions of WCW (17.75 vs 16.37), of IW (14.12 vs 15.25) and of P/GW (18.5 vs
15.62). Further tests of significance showed that both teachers and learners valued
WCW as the most important and IW as the least important type of PS. However,
the difference between their perceptions of P/GW reached significant level
(Sig=0.00<0.05). The teachers regarded P/GW as the most beneficial, whereas
IW and P/GW were the least favoured PSs by the learners.
EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances | 89
Teachers’ performances of PSs
The descriptive statistics of the teachers’ performances showed that WCW (15.12)
was the most frequently performed activity, followed by IW (12.00) and P/GW (6.25).
The significance of the observed differences was checked and supported by a
one-way ANOVA test (Sig=0.00<0.05).
Teachers’ perceptions vs. their performances
Statistics showed differences in the mean of teachers’ perceptions (17.75) and
performances (15.12) of WCW, of IW (14.12 and 12 respectively) and of P/GW
(18.50 and 6.25 respectively). Comparison of means using a paired samples t-test
did not support any significant differences between teachers’ perceptions and
performances of PSs with regard to WCW (t=-1.00, p=.35) and IW (t=1.81, p=.11).
Their perception and performance of P/GW reached significance level (t=18.91,
p=.00); that is, although teachers scored P/GW the highest on the TPQ with a mean
of 18.50 compared to WCW (17.75) and IW (14.12), they made a minimum use of this
participatory structure (6.25) while actually teaching.
Discussion
The findings suggest that the advantages of P/GW are readily perceived by
Iranian English teachers. This orientation can be attributed to various technical
and socio-cultural variables that shape teachers’ methodological preferences,
such as the teachers’ personal experiences as a language learner, the dominant
educational system, availability of facilities and resources (Bercikova, 2007). The
findings are compatible with those of Hawkey (2006) who investigated pre-service
teachers’ preferred activities and reported PW as the most positively perceived PS.
Despite apparent differences in their rating of the three PSs, Iranian English
learners did not show significantly different views towards WCW, IW and P/GW.
These findings are incompatible with the research findings of Green (1993) and
Spratt (1999) who reported a marked tendency by teachers and higher-level
learners towards communicative activities. Learners at lower proficiency levels in
those studies were found to favour more ‘traditional’ activities. Iranian learners’
views might be explained in terms of cognitive and affective factors. They may need
metacognitive awareness raising to enable them to make critical decisions and
assume greater responsibility for their own learning. Emotionally, their views reflect
a reluctance to participate in class activities and a detachment from classroom
procedures, which seems to have its roots in lack of interest and motivation.
With respect to teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of PSs, the results revealed
significant differences only between P/GW activities that were construed as highly
positive and as the least appealing by teachers and learners respectively. Learners’
apparent reluctance towards P/GW may be attributed to their individual styles,
language proficiency levels or belief systems shaped in an educational system
focusing on lower levels of learning such as memorisation and retention of
information transmitted from teacher to learner with a minimal amount of
interaction. Likewise, the socio-cultural background in which Iranian learners have
been brought up values silence on the part of learners and acceptance of teachers’
views. Iranian learners feel nervous negotiating in the classroom and consequently
fail to develop the self-confidence required to express their ideas freely.
90 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances The natural outcome of such a teacher-fronted methodology is learners’ heavy
reliance on teachers as the sole source of valid information and distrust in
themselves and their peers’ capacities.
The results of this study are in line with Nunan (1988) who asked 60 Australian
ESL teachers to rate ten activities according to their usefulness, then compared
the results with those of Willing (1988) who had polled 517 learners for their views
on the usefulness of the same activities. Significant differences were observed
between teachers who had highly rated communicative activities and learners
who had opted for more traditional activities.
Our data analyses revealed a discrepancy between the participant teachers’
positive perception of P/GW and their highly restricted use of pair and group
activities. The findings, however, run counter to those of Bercikova (2007) who
investigated the role of teachers in PW activities in primary school classrooms
and found a match between teachers’ perceptions and actual performances.
Conclusion
The most outstanding characteristic of a learner-centered curriculum is the active
role of learners in the learning process. The choice of what and how to teach
should be made with reference to this crucial principle and attempts made to
engage learners in various stages of teaching. Diverse participatory structures
signify a multifaceted learning process and a balanced use of them can create the
cognitive, emotional and social involvement necessary for meaningful learning.
The findings from the present study reinforce the need to realign learners’ and
teachers’ beliefs before we can expect any methodological reform in English
classrooms. Although beliefs have been described as unconsciously formed
implicit assumptions that are resistant to change (Nespor, 1987), an accountable
progressive system is essential to promote teachers’ performances through
consistent needs-based teacher training courses, gradually altering classroom
procedures to change learners’ beliefs and experiences.
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Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 93
Peer collaboration in
L2 writing: an Iranian
experience
Alireza Memari Hanjani and Li Li
94 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 95
8
Peer collaboration in L2 writing:
an Iranian experience
Alireza Memari Hanjani and Li Li
Introduction
While the value of peer collaboration has been widely acknowledged in composition
courses around the world, many L2 practitioners, including a number of Iranian
English as a foreign language (EFL) instructors, still express concerns about its
efficiency in their contexts where student-centred pedagogies are relatively
neglected concepts. This case study described in this chapter addressed this issue
by integrating two distinct peer collaboration tasks, peer review and collaborative
revision, in an EFL essay writing course and exploring language learners’
perceptions of this new approach. Three types of semi-structured interviews –
individual, pair and group – were conducted with ten individual (five pairs) Iranian
EFL university students after two writing cycles. The participants expressed positive
attitudes towards collaborative tasks though they reported some reservations
regarding the efficacy of the activities. The researchers conclude that in traditional
teacher-centred contexts where learners are overly dependent on their teachers,
EFL writing instructors can incorporate collaborative revision activity into their
composition courses to prepare their students for more participatory forms of
writing pedagogies (for example, peer reviewing) and to address some of the
challenges associated with peer feedback.
Peer collaboration
The significance of peer review has been increasingly acknowledged in English
as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) writing programmes (Hyland and Hyland,
2006). The activity is strongly supported by several theoretical arguments
including process composition pedagogy and socio-cultural learning theory
(Hansen and Liu, 2005). To date, a series of studies have been conducted to elicit
L2 learners’ views concerning peer evaluation activities by interviewing and/or
surveying them. These studies have investigated L2 learners’ reflections on the
value of teacher and peer feedback and the relative appeal of each. In general,
findings have been inconclusive. Some studies have reported learners’ positive
attitudes to pair work (for example, Morra and Romano, 2009; Sengupta, 2000;
Saito and Fujita, 2004), as it helped them understand audience expectations
(Mangelsdorf, 1992), develop their critical thinking skills (Keh, 1990), share the
burden of tasks (Roskams, 1999) and boost collaborative learning (Tsui and Ng,
2000). However, other studies have indicated learners’ preference for traditional
teacher-centred pedagogy and their concerns about collaborative work (for
example, Amores, 1997; Leki, 1991; Nelson and Carson, 1998) since they distrusted
96 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience their peers’ comments (Amores, 1997) and regarded their teachers as the only
valid source of feedback (Leki, 1991). As Carson and Nelson (1994, 1996) and
Nelson and Carson (1998) argue, incorporation of peer evaluation may be counterproductive
in some ESL/EFL educational settings due to its incompatibility with
social norms, the learners’ limited language proficiency and their inability to offer
valid comments. Hence, course designers are advised to consider ‘the student
as an individual, socially, culturally and psychologically’. (Hyde, 1993: 347)
Considering the absence of peer collaboration pedagogy in Iranian EFL
composition courses (Memari Hanjani and Li, 2014a, 2014b) and the reservations
expressed in the literature about the efficacy of peer evaluation integration (for
example, Rollinson, 2005; Tsui and Ng, 2000; Yang et al., 2006), the investigators
designed a student-centred essay writing programme during which L2 learners
engaged in two peer collaboration activities: peer review and collaborative
revision. The study aimed to elicit student reflections and to compare their
attitudes about these two tasks at the end of the course. Peer review or peer
evaluation is an activity used exclusively by student pairs as they exchange,
review and evaluate each other’s essays and provide their partners with written
and oral feedback. Collaborative revision activity, on the other hand, is an activity
during which students jointly revise their drafts using the feedback and comments
provided by their instructor.
Methodology
Context and participants
The study was conducted in four parallel English Academic Essay writing classes
at a medium-sized private university in Iran. The pairs were selected by the
instructor from a pool of 135 students according to two criteria: (1) L2 writing
proficiency, and (2) gender. To assign the focus dyads, all students were required
to compose an out-of-class piece of writing during the first week of the semester
and submit it the following week. The scripts were believed to represent the
participants’ writing abilities in a natural and stress-free condition because they
had one week to organise their thoughts and develop an out-of-class paper. This
allowed us to not only use the data for organising writing dyads, but also to have
a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the students’ writing
skills. The five target pairs remained constant over the study. Of the five dyads,
three were composed of two females and two of a male and female. The age
of the students ranged from 21 to 27 years, with the average age being 23. All
participants shared Persian as their native language and were English language
translation majors. They had studied English for an average of ten years and their
English proficiency level ranged from lower intermediate to upper intermediate
with the majority of them being novice English writers. None of the participants
had experienced learner-centered composition instruction before, although they
all had passed an advanced writing module as a prerequisite to enrol on this
course. The course consisted of 15 90-minute periods of instruction and the
students met once a week. The instructor was a non-native speaker of English
who had been teaching L2 writing at the university for eight years.
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 97
Data collection
The research was conducted within the natural setting of an L2 essay writing
course with no changes to the schedule apart from the integration of peer review
and collaborative revision activities into the course (see Table 1, below). The
language for whole-class instructions and activities was English. However, the
dyads were allowed to discuss their papers either in English or Persian. Apart from
the induction week during which the course objectives, requirements and policies
were discussed and sample papers were assigned, the course was generally
composed of two main parts. The first part (six weeks) focused on writing generics
such as writing processes and the structure of academic essays. The second
part (eight weeks) concentrated on peer collaboration tasks. Consequently, two
identical writing cycles (four weeks each) were designed during which the students
participated in two peer review and two collaborative revision activities, based
respectively on producing three drafts of process and argumentative genres
(see Figure 1, below).
Table 1: Course overview
Essay Writing Module Timetable
Session Content In-class activities Assignments
1 −− Course overview Course induction Sample papers assigned
2 −− Writing stages;
pre-writing
Brainstorming,
outlining, methods
of organisation
Assignments on clustering ideas,
arranging scrambled sentences
in chronological/emphatic order
3 −− Writing stages;
drafting
Essay structure
(Introduction)
Assignments on introductory, body,
and concluding paragraphs and
their contents, e.g. motivator, thesis
statement, main idea, supporting
ideas, thesis re-statement,
summarising, etc.
4 −− Writing stages;
drafting (continue)
Essay structure
(body paragraphs)
5 −− Writing stages;
drafting (continue)
Essay structure
(conclusion)
6 −− Writing stages;
revision
Transition, cohesion,
coherence
Assignments on different types of
transitions and their applications
7 −− Writing stages;
edition
Key grammatical
points; sentence
fragments, run-ons,
parallelism, as well
as punctuation
Tasks drawing students’ attention
to language and mechanics issues
8 −− Process essay Model essays
discussed and
examined
A 250-word essay assigned to
be composed for week ten
9 −− Peer review
training
Using a peer review
sheet, a sample essay
was analysed in terms
of both local and
global issues
N/A
10 −− Peer review
activities
Papers exchanged,
peer evaluation
2nd drafts to be developed and
submitted in three days
11 −− Collaborative
revision
Joint revision Final drafts to be produced and
submitted in three days
98 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Essay Writing Module Timetable
Session Content In-class activities Assignments
12 −− Argumentative
essay
Model essays
discussed and
examined
A 250-word essay assigned to be
composed for week 14
13 −− Peer review
training
Using a peer review
sheet, a sample essay
was analysed in terms
of both local and
global issues
N/A
14 −− Peer reviewing Papers exchanged,
peer evaluation
2nd drafts to be developed and
submitted in three days
15 −− Collaborative
revision
Joint revision Final drafts to be produced and
submitted in three days
As Figure 1 demonstrates, each writing cycle lasted four weeks and consisted of
four distinct phases. Phase one (week 1) mainly focused on genre analysis. During
this session a particular genre (either process or argumentative) was introduced
and model essays from the coursebook were discussed and analysed. Then,
students were assigned a 250-word essay on the same genre and asked to submit
it in week three. Phase two (week 2) involved peer evaluation training. All students
received a copy of a sample student paper written by an anonymous student along
with a peer review sheet and were trained to evaluate the paper in terms of content
and organisation, as well as language and mechanics based on the guidelines
provided by peer review sheets. Phase three (week 3) was then allocated to peer
review activity during which students exchanged, reviewed and evaluated each
other’s essays and provided their peers with written and oral feedback using blank
peer feedback sheets and employing the guidelines provided earlier in Phase two.
Following the peer review session, students were asked to work at home revising
their first drafts based on the comments they had received from their peers and
to hand in their first and second drafts, along with the peer review sheets to their
teacher in three days. The last stage (week 4) of each writing cycle concentrated
on collaborative revision activity during which students were allocated the whole
class time to read jointly through their essays in turn, act on the feedback and
comments provided by the instructor, and produce the final drafts of their essays.
Final drafts were due three days after the collaborative revision activity had taken
place. Final drafts were reviewed by the instructor. However, the students did not
receive any further feedback. While individual interviews were conducted within a
week after the first writing cycle (end of week 4), pair and group interviews took
place at the end of writing cycle 2 before the end of the course (the end of week 8).
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 99
Figure 1: Writing Cycle
Week 1
Phase 1
Genre analysis
Week 2
Phase 2
Peer review
instruction
Week 3
Phase 3
Peer review
Week 4
Phase 4
Collaborative
revision
Data analysis
The interviews were semi-structured with open-ended questions to provide
more flexibility for researchers to ask follow-up questions and participants to
offer more information. All interview sessions were recorded with high-quality
digital recorders and interviews were in the students’ native language (Persian)
so the interviewees could clearly express their ideas. Table 2 shows the time
spent interviewing the participants during each interview session.
Table 2: An overview of the interview data generated during the study
Type of Interview Quantity Amount
Individual Ten interviews of up to 30
minutes at the end of Writing
Cycle 1
Five hours
Pair Five interviews of up to 60
minutes at the end of Writing
Cycle 2
Five hours
Group One interview of two hours at
the end of the term
Two hours
Total 12 hours
Interview data analysis took place at three levels: managing the data, coding it,
and providing descriptive as well as explanatory accounts for each code/sub-code.
First, the ‘raw’ data was transcribed verbatim, and a thematic framework was
constructed with reference to the interview prompts. Then materials with similar
content were located together under relevant main themes. The final stage of data
management involved summarising the original data and inspecting the meaning
and the relevance of the original material to the theme under enquiry. Once all the
meaningful portions of the original data had been extracted, the data was
translated into English for categorisation.
100 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Categorisation involved classification and generation of distinctive meaningful
codes that represented the content. The codes were developed manually and
instances in the data identified by colour highlighting. The same procedure was
followed theme by theme. During the coding process, the recurrence of each code
and sub-code was also recorded and tabulated. Once codes and sub-codes were
generated, representative responses of the interviewees were used to support,
illustrate and clarify the significant codes/sub-codes.
Findings
The findings were generated from the three interviews – individual, pair and
group – with ten EFL participants during the L2 essay writing course in which peer
reviewing and collaborative revision activities were practised. The sub-headings
convey the main themes (overall ideas) of the questions. Each table represents
the original question(s) asked during the interview sessions as well as the codes
and sub-codes that emerged from the interviews. The tables consist of four main
columns: the first shows the general code or sub-code, the second depicts the
number of participants whose responses fell into that special code or sub-code,
the third indicates the interview stage in which that code or sub-code emerged,
and the final column represents the frequency of each comment. While each table
illustrates all response categories, only the most frequent codes/sub-codes will be
discussed and analysed. In response to some questions, a number of interviewees
provided multiple reasons/views at different stages. Hence, while the total number
of participants remains constant (N=10), the number of responses for each category
may be greater. To protect participants’ anonymity, pseudonyms are employed.
Peer review
Participants were asked to express their feelings about peer review activity.
The most common responses were general descriptions such as ‘helpful’, ‘useful’,
‘perfect’ and ‘excellent’ or a combination of all four. However, they did express
some reservations (Table 3).
Table 3: Students’ reflections on peer reviewing
What is your viewpoint about peer review activity? In other words, do you like it or not?
Why? Why not?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Unable to provide valid feedback 7 ✓ ✓ 15
Improve essay writing quality
−− Internalise the lessons better
5
1
✓
✓
✓ 5
1
Express and share ideas 4 ✓ 6
Self-monitoring 4 ✓ ✓ 5
Time constraints 2 ✓ ✓ 5
Generate new ideas 4 ✓ 4
Multiple perspectives 3 ✓ 3
Retrieve knowledge 2 ✓ 2
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 101
What is your viewpoint about peer review activity? In other words, do you like it or not?
Why? Why not?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Evaluate the feedback before incorporation 1 ✓ 1
Frustrating 1 ✓ 1
As Table 3 reveals, a large number of students (seven) stressed that their limited
English, language proficiency and lack of skills needed for peer reviewing made the
activity less productive. Tina, for example, confessed openly about how she felt:
My low level of proficiency didn’t let me detect errors and provide my partner
with valid feedback. Therefore, I wasn’t that much help.
However, half the cases (five) acknowledged the activity helped them improve the
overall quality of their writing. They believed that the task enhanced their limited
knowledge base and improved their lexis and grammar. Roya provided such a view:
The activity was useful because another person’s thoughts helped me improve
the quality of my paper and writing performance.
Maryam expressed an interesting comment about the efficiency of the activity.
According to her, through peer reviewing, students discussed their ideas and
exchanged knowledge, and main points were internalised in their minds:
As the points are learnt through discussion, I think I will never forget them.
Four participants considered it a technique through which they had an opportunity
not only to share, but also express their ideas about their peers’ drafts in a friendly
atmosphere. For example, Mahdi said that:
One advantage of this activity is that students learn how to articulate their
opinions about a paper they read.
A further four students said that reading their peers’ papers was very useful
because it allowed them to compare their own writing with that of their peers
and avoid making the same errors as their peers. As Fariba noted:
Reviewing my peer’s paper helped me concentrate more on my own paper and
get familiar with mistakes I may make and try to avoid them in my own essay.
Four reflections focused on the effectiveness of peer review activity in generating
new ideas. As Nasrin claimed:
This activity was very useful and illuminating. My peer helped me develop
new ideas.
Finally, three interviewees indicated that receiving feedback from a person other
than their instructor was a pleasant experience. As noted by Mahdi:
We normally get feedback from our instructor. It was an opportunity to receive
our peer’s comments and also express our opinion about his/her writing.
102 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Peer feedback incorporation
The participants’ reactions to the feedback they received from their peers during
peer review activity was another important issue the interviewers probed. Table 4
condenses the information extracted from the interviews.
Table 4: Students’ reflections on peer feedback
What use did you make of your peer’s comments? Did you use them in your revision?
If so, what use were they? If no use, why?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Critical and selective towards received
feedback
7 ✓ ✓ 19
Global feedback incorporation 5 ✓ ✓ 8
Local feedback incorporation 3 ✓ ✓ 5
Invalid and misleading advice 3 ✓ 4
Vague and general comments 3 ✓ ✓ 4
Peers’ disproportionate benefit 2 ✓ 3
Surface- and textual-level changes 2 ✓ ✓ 3
Defensive towards peer’s feedback 2 ✓ 3
Subjective and biased comments 1 ✓ 2
Audience awareness 1 ✓ 1
Based on this table, although most students (seven) claimed they made an effort
to adopt their peers’ suggestions in their revisions, they acknowledged they did
not take up peer advice without careful consideration. Indeed, they expressed
several reasons for their non-incorporation behaviour, including doubt about their
peers’ ability to judge their texts, double-checking the received comments against
other sources such as textbooks, instructors and classmates, and being confident
about the accuracy of their own choice. The following accounts give a flavour of
students’ attitudes:
I was not convinced about feedback quality and validity she [her partner] gave
me, so I didn’t incorporate it in my drafts unless I double-checked with a
dictionary or other reference books. I didn’t trust her comments. (Afrouz)
I always checked the main points before writing them down. When my
partner gave feedback which I found inconsistent with what I already knew,
I couldn’t trust it. I double checked it against other resources like a dictionary.
If I wasn’t convinced about the validity of her advice, I didn’t incorporate it into
my writing. (Mina)
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 103
Nevertheless, half the students (five) maintained that they generally made use of
their peers’ comments focusing on global issues (content and organisation). They
believed such feedback helped them improve the content of their texts from one
draft to the next. For example, Azam noted that:
I had no sense of audience in my writing but my partner helped me understand
that myself as a writer and herself as a reviewer did not necessarily share the
same background information. Hence, I used her ideas on content to present
all the necessary details in my paper.
Another group of participants (three) argued that they used their peers’ feedback
just to fix their local errors (language and mechanics) and ignored their partners’
advice on global language issues. For example, Fariba asserted that:
My partner’s comments helped me improve the quality of the grammar and
sentence structure of my paper.
However, a few learners (three) maintained their peers’ suggestions were invalid
and at times misleading. Using the invalid advice in their texts changed accurate
structures to inaccurate ones. For example, Afrouz stressed that:
My peer’s feedback sometimes misled me. In some cases what I had written
in my first draft was correct but when I changed it in my consequent draft
according to my partner’s suggestion, it was inaccurate.
Some learners (three) complained about the ambiguity, sketchiness and lack of
explicitness in the feedback provided by their partners. They stressed that, had
they understood the feedback, they would have incorporated it. This issue was
voiced by Fariba:
My peer’s comments were general and vague. She didn’t give specific comments
so I couldn’t make use of them, especially those which addressed the content
and organisation of my essay.
Nasrin shared a similar idea:
I didn’t incorporate many of my peer’s comments in the first essay. They seemed
ambiguous and I couldn’t understand them. But I used them in my second essay
when I realised her advice was much clearer and meaningful.
Reviewing partners’ papers
We also aimed to explore the respondents’ perceptions of reviewing their classmates’
papers. Students were specifically asked if they felt reviewing their partners’ papers
had any advantage. Table 5 summarises the interviewees’ responses.
104 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Table 5: Students’ views on reviewing their peers’ papers
Did you benefit from reading your peer’s paper and giving him/her feedback? If so, what
were the benefits? If not, why not?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Improve language and mechanics 8 ✓ ✓ 17
Useless peer feedback 5 ✓ ✓ 9
Improve content 1 ✓ 2
As demonstrated by Table 5, a significant number of respondents (eight) felt that
reading and analysing their partners’ texts exposed them to different writing styles
and grammatical constructions. They added that the activity helped them notice
the grammatical errors their partners had made in their papers and were thus
more careful to avoid repeating the same errors in their own texts:
I normally use simple language in my writing. My partner, however, uses
compound and complex constructions in his papers. I like this style of writing
and would like to learn to use such nice and error-free structures in my own
texts. (Tina)
However, half the participants (five) maintained that they learnt nothing from
their classmates. A few (two) even claimed their level of English language was
higher than their peers and reviewing their peers’ papers was not insightful.
This is reflected in Afrouze’s response, as she argued:
I did not learn any particular lesson from my classmate. I think my English is
better than hers, at least in grammar.
Collaborative revision
Students were also invited to comment on their experience of collaborative
revision activity. Specifically, they were asked if they felt the activity was of any
use. Overall, all cases reported that they found collaborative revision activity
beneficial. Table 6 presents a summary of the respondents’ attitudes.
Table 6: Students’ reflections on collaborative revision
What is your viewpoint about collaborative revision? In other words, do you like it or not?
Why? Why not?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Pooling of ideas and knowledge
−− Supportive
10
5
✓
✓
✓
✓
15
5
Limited knowledge base 3 ✓ ✓ 3
Complement to peer reviewing task 2 ✓ 3
Lengthy process 2 ✓ ✓ 3
Access to immediate reference 1 ✓ 1
Providing double opportunity for students 1 ✓ 1
Novel, interesting activity 1 ✓ 1
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 105
All participating students reported that mutual sharing of ideas and knowledge
contributed towards a more accurate and richer text. The comments below give
a flavour of how these students reacted to the activity.
It was an appropriate method since all our problematic areas were first spotted
and then with the help of our partners we could easily fix them. Two heads
worked collaboratively and two people shared their knowledge to understand
and fix the errors. (Maryam)
I think sharing ideas and trying to solve problems collaboratively and removing
them from our papers is better than working alone. (Roya)
Half the students found this activity helpful, as it helped create a supportive
environment for improving their papers. As Azam put it:
Sometimes I myself didn’t get the instructor’s feedback and the reason behind it,
but with the help and support I received from my peer I could understand what
the source of problem was and how I could improve it.
A number of students (three) claimed that, because of their lack of knowledge
and skills to provide useful suggestions, they found great difficulty improving
the quality of their texts and did not consider collaborative revision as effective.
As Tina noted:
Sometimes neither my partner nor I were able to correct the error. Our low level
of language proficiency didn’t enable us to improve some of the problematic
areas in our papers.
Instructor’s comments
The quality of the instructor’s feedback and his comments were also discussed in
the interviews. Although the majority of the interviewees (eight) acknowledged the
clarity, accuracy and comprehensiveness of his advice, both on local and global
issues, a few (two) expressed different ideas. Table 7 shows a synopsis of students’
reflections.
Table 7: Students’ reflections on their instructor’s comments
Did you find your instructor’s feedback useful? Why or why not? What problems, if any, did
you have in understanding/applying it? Elaborate on your answer.
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Clear and easy to follow 10 ✓ 12
Comprehensive, relevant and accurate 8 ✓ ✓ 12
Confusing feedback and inattentive instructor 2 ✓ 2
Instructor’s appropriate behaviour 1 ✓ 1
106 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience During the first individual interview stage all students were happy with the
instructor’s feedback, stating that they found it simple and straightforward:
The comments were clear and easy to follow. I had no particular problem in
understanding them. (Azam)
In addition, a significant majority of the students (eight) felt that the comments
were not only clear and simple, but also comprehensive, relevant and precise.
Indeed, they maintained that the papers were carefully reviewed and commented
on, and nothing was left unnoticed. As Fariba put it:
The papers were carefully reviewed and comments and feedback were precise.
I knew some parts of my essay needed revision even though my partner hadn’t
noticed them in her review. But when I received my instructor’s feedback,
I noticed that the problematic area had been spotted by him and was
commented on precisely.
Discussion
In general, the findings of three interviewing rounds indicate that participants
benefited from the collaborative activities and found the techniques novel
and attractive, helping them generate new ideas, build on their knowledge and
co-construct negotiated higher quality texts. However, the participants’ limited
language proficiency and their inability to identify and offer valid alternatives
was one of the major challenges in peer review activity. This is evident in their
responses, as they distrusted the validity of peer feedback and were selective
and critical in incorporating the feedback into their subsequent drafts, revealing
their scepticism about the quality of the advice provided by their partners. The
learners also argued that identifying the mistakes, as well as justifying the comments,
was impeded by their low level of writing proficiency. As these students were
themselves in the early stages of developing English academic essay composition,
they felt vulnerable and struggled to evaluate their partners’ papers. They were
also heavily teacher dependent, as their papers, normally composed in isolation,
had previously been evaluated solely by their tutors. Being required to undertake
peer evaluation for the first time made them feel psychologically unprepared.
Students showed a more positive reaction to collaborative revision activity
than peer review tasks and they felt the instructor’s responses were more
comprehensive, relevant and accurate. That these learners preferred their
instructor’s comments over those of their peers may not only reflect the low quality
of peers’ comments during peer reviewing, but also the unfamiliarity of students
with learner-centred writing pedagogy. All students came from a teacher-centred,
examination-dominant educational system and had no experience of participating
in student-fronted activities.
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 107
Reflections and conclusion
The purpose of this research was to report L2 learners’ perceptions of engaging in
peer collaboration activities during an essay writing course. Students expressed
positive attitudes towards the activities, calling them novel and interesting. They
believed collaborative tasks encouraged them to formulate and pool their ideas
and knowledge, make decisions in a co-operative manner, learn from each other
and extend mutual support, improve the quality of their papers and their essay
writing, and revise skills by sharing each other’s expertise They also raised their
awareness of writing rules and conventions, repaired their ineffective writing
strategies and developed their critical reading and self-monitoring skills by reading
other students’ drafts, reflecting on their own problems and seeking out solutions
for themselves. On the other hand, they did express some reservations regarding
the efficiency of the activities, especially peer reviewing. They found their poor
writing skills an obstacle in providing valid feedback. They doubted their peers’
feedback and incorporated it selectively, complaining about lack of clarity and
specificity. Students showed more favourable attitudes towards collaborative
revision than peer review.
Participants’ scepticism about the accuracy of peer comments may originate from
their socio-cultural and educational backgrounds. Peer evaluation generally
originates from those countries where it is compatible with existing social and
cultural norms. Its application without any adjustments to centralised countries
with hierarchical socio-cultural and educational backgrounds may create problems.
Traditionally, in such contexts, individual work is more valued and teamwork is
generally unsuccessful, as group members are unaware of the mechanisms of
collaborative work and may have different expectations concerning group work.
Peer review is an important part of a shift from a whole-class, teacher-dominant
instructional model towards more participatory forms of pedagogy. In a traditional
teacher-centred environment, only the teacher is entitled to respond to student
writing. Within this tradition, a particular status is ascribed to teachers and they are
seen as the only sources of authority with the expertise and the right to critique
the students’ performance. Students value and appreciate teachers’ feedback,
incorporate suggestions unreflectively and rely passively on teachers’ comments.
It is not surprising then that students are reluctant to accept their peers’ responses
to their writing, distrust the evaluations made by their partners, challenge them,
and ultimately ignore them when rewriting their subsequent drafts. There has been
much discussion about the relationship between culture and peer evaluation in the
literature. As several studies have explored, cultural issues may generate concerns
regarding the efficiency of peer evaluation incorporation in L2 composition classes
(for example, Allaei and Connor, 1990; Connor and Asenavage, 1994; Nelson and
Carson, 1998; Nelson and Murphy, 1992, 1993). Shifting attitudes requires time and
energy from the teacher’s side, as students need to be convinced and mentally
prepared to understand the beneficial aspects of peer reviewing and to trust the
validity of their classmates’ comments as a useful tool to help them improve their
writing performance. Training can play an influential role in reducing this feeling of
distrust among peers (Hu, 2005; McGroarty and Zhu, 1997; Min, 2006).
108 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Collaborative revision, during which pairs jointly read, discuss and revise each
other’s drafts using their teacher’s feedback, can be seen as an advantageous
activity, and can address most of the concerns regarding the efficacy of the
incorporation of peer evaluation in L2 contexts. Like peer review, this activity
derives from a socio-cultural theory of learning and process-based writing
instruction. However, there is a key difference. Whereas in peer evaluation students
critique each other’s texts, the teacher is still the main source of feedback in any
collaborative revision activity. The challenges associated with the validity and
specificity of peer feedback, distrust of peer comments, lack of experience in
evaluation and poor writing skills can be overcome to a great extent, even though
teachers’ feedback load is not reduced. Collaborative revision can be viewed as
an interim stage on a continuum from sole teacher feedback/evaluation to sole
peer feedback/evaluation in EFL writing classrooms. Collaborative revision could
therefore be an ideal option to help and prepare both teachers and students
to move from a traditional, teacher-centred, product-based, exam-dominated
pedagogy to a more student-centred, process-based approach to writing in which
collaboration and group work is central. During such a transition, the teacher
comments on students’ written texts and students respond to feedback, working
and interacting together as well as pooling their knowledge and strengths in
a supportive and friendly atmosphere. Students learn evaluation techniques,
become familiar with feedback strategies, understand what to check and gradually
develop the required skills of peer evaluation. However, we should also warn that
collaborative revision techniques might not yield their presumed benefits without
careful group/pair work organisation, detailed planning and training, and adequate
modelling and practice.
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Migrant literature
and teaching English
as an international
language in Iran
Samaneh Zandian
112 | Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran
Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran | 113
9
Migrant literature and teaching
English as an international
language in Iran
Samaneh Zandian
Introduction
In this chapter English language education in Iran is briefly described, the concept
of English as an international language (EIL) is explained, the importance of culture
in EIL is discussed and the role of literature in language teaching from the aspect of
cultural awareness is analysed. I then mention the advantages of including migrant
literature in English language classes in Iran and focus on Iranian migrant literature,
providing pedagogical examples of ‘authentic’ texts to illustrate my argument.
Finally, I point out important factors in the selection of literary materials in order
to develop intercultural competence in language learning classrooms.
English language teaching in Iran
English is regarded as a foreign language in Iran, and is taught for three to four
hours a week as a required course from Grade 7 (approximately age 13).
Although the language is a compulsory subject in the Iranian national curriculum,
it can be argued that it has been neglected within the Iranian educational system
(Dahmardeh, 2009). In private schools, English is introduced at primary or even
pre-primary level, and receives considerable attention. In some cases, the quality
of the English programmes offered in each school influences the number of
students who enrol in that school (Aliakbari, 2004). The majority of the books
used in private schools and language institutes are mostly pirated American ELT
textbooks. Private language institutes are popular in Iran, and despite the lack of
attention to English in the national educational curriculum, ‘English seems to have
found its way smoothly right to the heart of Iranian society, proving itself to be a
necessity, rather than a mere school subject’. (ibid.)
The close relationship between language and culture has made interpreting the
state of ELT in Iran a controversial topic. Analyses of the role and impact of ELT
range from English linguistic imperialism and cultural invasion to cultural neutrality.
On the one hand, English is negatively addressed as a tool to represent and
introduce Western culture to Iranian students; on the other hand, studies show
that English taught as a school subject is nothing but a representation of Persian
or Islamic ideology (Rashidi and Najafi, 2010). Many statements in English textbooks
published under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and used nationally in
114 | Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran Iran either convey Islamic traditions (e.g. you can break your fast as soon as the
sun sets; the 15th of Sha’ban is a religious celebration) or have no reference to a
target group (Aliakbari, 2004).
English is used around the world and has become the global lingua franca that
is not only used to communicate with native speakers but as an international
language universally used (Jenkins, 2009). However, most people in Iran still
associate English with America or Britain; what Wallace (2003) and Phillipson
(2009) explain as the language of power, which belongs to the ‘others’.
Regarding the cultural aspect of current ELT materials used in public schools,
studies argue that textbooks in Iran do not aim to familiarise students with cultural
matters of other countries (Aliakbari, 2004; Khajavi and Abbasian, 2011; SAIC,
2007). Aliakbari (2004) believes materials are superficial and do not provide
sufficient content to broaden students’ worldview, or develop their cultural
understanding and intercultural competence. Khajavi and Abbasian (2011)
investigated English language materials taught at Iranian public schools to explore
to what extent these materials are appropriate in terms of developing national
identity and globalisation issues. Activities and passages relating to national
identity and international issues constitute less than seven per cent of the ELT
textbook content, which is unacceptable for educating students in this age of
globalisation (ibid., 2011). In this regard, Aliakbari (2004: 13) points out that a
‘shallow presentation of culture can reinforce inaccurate stereotypes,’ which
can be problematic in the multicultural world of English.
English as an international language
As the century proceeds there is a greater use of English in international contexts.
According to Smith (1976), one of the characteristics of an international language
is that it is ‘de-nationalised’; in other words, it belongs to any country which uses it.
People should be tolerant of the English used by others. Tolerance can be gained
by exposure to varieties of English. Unfortunately, the high prestige given to the
‘standard’ variety of English as the ideal of ‘native-speaker proficiency’ has made
‘non-standard’ varieties invisible (Corbett, 2000). This is common in Iran. Teachers
have a major role in developing tolerance toward varieties of English among learners:
The advantages of considering language variety from a cultural perspective in
second-language education are: (a) language variation can be viewed positively,
rather than as a simple barrier to communication, and (b) we can promote the
intercultural goals of ethnographic observation. (Corbett, 2000: 160)
The role of culture in teaching EIL
Since culture is embedded in language, it is impossible to teach a language
without teaching cultural content. One of the goals of teaching culture in language
education is establishing a ‘sphere of interculturality’ (Kramsch 1993: 205). Learning
a culture, which is beyond the simple transfer of information between cultures,
requires that the learners observe their own culture through the eyes of another.
Kramsch (1993) uses the term ‘third place’ for the stage of being able to move
between the source and target cultures.
Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran | 115
As an international language, English is no longer exclusively related to the culture
of the regions where it is used as a first language, and so an important issue is to
raise awareness about other cultures and not to expect learners to accept the
beliefs and values of a particular culture (Mackay, 2002). According to Byram
(1997), one of the goals of learning English is enabling learners to explain and
discuss their own culture in another language. Previously students needed to
accept and consequently adopt the standards and culture of a country whose
primary language was English in order to use it effectively (Smith, 1976). Many
Iranian students still make the same assumption, and believe that learners should
behave in accordance with target culture conventions. Such attitudes raise
concerns among certain groups in society, particularly those who think of English
as the language of imperialism and see it as a threat of cultural invasion. Such
expectations are far from the goals of learning English as an international language,
and achieving biculturalism is difficult if not impossible in a context such as Iran
where English is taught as a foreign language.
The role of literature in English language teaching
The study of literature may enhance both national and international communication
between English speakers and learners (Spack, 1987). The primary purpose of
literary texts is not just to convey information, but also to involve the reader in
direct experience. One of the important values of teaching literature in the English
language classroom is ‘to provide the occasion for genuine exploration of the
cultural assumptions of the target culture’ (Gajdusek 1988: 232). It is of special
value in creating cultural awareness. Texts from international target cultures can
represent the variety of contexts in which English is acquired and learned as an
international language, and can provide samples of the lexical, phonological and
grammatical variation of English in context. Learners have the opportunity to
compare their own culture with another, which may result in a better understanding
of both cultures.
Migrant literature in language teaching
Where learners share a similar culture (despite the existing intracultural differences
in all societies), teachers can provide texts from writers who retell their experiences
of living in multicultural environments in order to recreate a similar context for
learners. Exploration of literary texts by writers originally sharing the same culture
as the learners but who now live in an English-speaking country and write in English
would be an excellent exercise in cultural relativity. ‘Authentic’ English literary texts
created by migrant writers can be used in classrooms to illustrate a target culture
through the wider cross-cultural perspectives of a migrant speaker. Such materials
can highlight the similarities and differences between cultures in a more tangible
way for English language learners.
Although some writers believe in the universality of literature (Spack, 1987),
the existence of culture-specific elements can be seen as a hindrance to the
understanding of a text (MacDonald, 2000). However, exposure to migrant
literature written by writers sharing the same cultural background as the reader
may facilitate the extension of the reader’s schemata to reveal values and beliefs
in a target culture. Migrant literature may therefore be suitable for enhancing
116 | Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran intercultural understanding in ELT. Through such materials we might be able to
develop understanding of cultural differences, which may also help in establishing
interculturality.
If we wish to develop learners’ intercultural communicative competence, and
increase cross-cultural awareness of English as an international language, extracts
from migrant literature would be an excellent choice. Working with texts created by
migrant writers draws learners’ attention to the socio-cultural nature of this genre
and can develop students’ critical reading skills.
Funny in Farsi, a memoir by the Iranian migrant writer Firoozeh Dumas, is a good
example of migrant literature that has been used as a classroom tool, particularly
with reluctant English language learners and ESL readers in the United States.
It was selected as a School Library Journal Adult Book for High School students
(Cooper, n.d.), and the Persian translation became a bestseller in Iran in 2005.
It has also been used in a required foreign language course with students from
different non-English majors at Southern Chinese University in order to build their
intercultural awareness (Personal communication Chastain, 2014). Chapters are
short, which makes them ideal for language activities, and can assist the students
to improve their comprehension (Milstead, n.d.: 138) by providing them with
a specific framework to understand the text. In the following section sample
activities are provided with the aim of enhancing secondary-level students’ cultural
awareness in Iranian English language classrooms. The activities can be designed
and modified according to teachers’ and students’ preferences and needs.
Sample activities
Gajdusek (1988: 233) pointed out four methodology steps with any literary text.
In all four steps cultural issues can be discussed, particularly in the final step.
1. Pre-reading activities: essential background information and vocabulary
2. Factual in-class work: who, where, when and what (happens)
3. Analysis: aspects of structure, theme and style
4. Extending activities: in-class activities that extend the ideas or situations
encountered in the text; written response
Example 1
Farid, the older of my two brothers, had been sent to Philadelphia the year
before to attend high school. Like most Iranian youths, he had always dreamed
of attending college abroad and, despite my mother’s tears, had left us to live
with my uncle … (Dumas 2003: 3).
Listen: (The girl speaks with a Persian accent)
Answer the questions in pairs:
■■ Why did Farid dream of going abroad?
■■ Would you like to live abroad? Why?
Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran | 117
Example 2
The following Monday, my father drove my mother and me to school. He had
decided that it would be a good idea for my mother to attend school with me
for a few weeks. I could not understand why two people not speaking English
would be better than one ... (Dumas 2003: 4).
Writing:
■■ Write the rest of the story in two paragraphs. What will happen in
Firoozeh’s first day of school in the USA?
Example 3
After spending an entire day in America, surrounded by Americans, I realized that
my father’s description of America had been correct. The bathrooms were clean
and the people were very, very kind. (Dumas 2003: 7)
■■ How would do you describe America? Why?
Example 4
We wondered how my father had managed to spend several years attending
school in America, yet remain so utterly befuddled by Americans. We soon
discovered that his college years had been spent mainly in the library, where
he had managed to avoid contact with all Americans except his engineering
professors. (Dumas 2003: 9)
Group discussion:
■■ Although Firoozeh’s father studied in America, he was unable to
communicate properly with Americans. Talk in groups about the
possible reasons.
Example 5
My father’s only other regular contact in college had been his roommate, a
Pakistani who spent his days preparing curry. Since neither spoke English, but
both liked curries, they got along splendidly. The person who had assigned them
together had probably hoped they would either learn English or invent a common
language for the occasion. Neither happened. (Dumas 2003: 9)
Group discussion:
■■ If you were studying in America and could choose the nationality of your
roommate, which one would you prefer? Why?
−− Iranian
−− American
−− European
−− Middle Eastern
−− East Asian
118 | Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran Teachers can also go beyond the text, introduce the students to the author’s
website (http://firoozehdumas.com/educator-guide) and encourage them to
read about the author. Students can also read on the website a part of the
conversation between Khaled Hosseini, a famous Afghan-born American
novelist, and Firoozeh Dumas.
The selection of materials and task design
The language objective in an intercultural approach to language learning is to
develop learners’ productive (speaking and writing) and receptive (listening and
reading) skills in the target language, while the intercultural aims are to develop
learners’ ‘socio-cultural competence’ (Byram, 2003), train students to recognise
the cultural differences and realise the different perspectives that may cause
clashes of cultural expectation. In order to develop language learners’ intercultural
competence, course materials can blend intercultural communication and
language learning (Byram et al., 1994, cited in Corbett, 2000). Including migrant
literature as part of the course materials is one possible way to bring together the
language learning and intercultural communication objectives in the English
language classroom.
Before choosing a piece of literary text to work with in the classroom, teachers
should have a specific goal that helps them create and structure activities for a
given piece (Gajdusek, 1988). Selected texts should be contemporary, realistic, not
too long, interesting, and with a comprehensible background (MacDonald, 2000).
Since the main purpose of the study of the text is to enhance learners’ intercultural
understanding, extracts should be culturally significant. They should illustrate
aspects of culture clash, particularly between an outsider and the target culture
(ibid.). English teachers can invite students to bring materials into the classroom to
supplement texts provided for the course. In this way, language learners become
motivated and eager to participate in activities. Among the materials provided by
students, teachers can select those which are both culturally and linguistically
suitable for class activities and put them into text sets to enhance intertextuality.
Supplementing ‘authentic’ listening materials can also train learners to recognise
the cultural associations of different accents (Corbett, 2000). The learners’ age
level is another factor that should be considered. Because of the cognitive skills
required for recognising the markers of the self and other’s identity, an appropriate
age level would be above 15 years (ibid.). During in-class activities the teacher
should be more of a facilitator, and guide students in different sequences of the
activities, supporting or challenging their ideas.
Conclusion
For the following reasons I suggest the inclusion of migrant literature in teaching EIL:
■■ It may promote learners’ respect for cultural differences.
■■ It can help learners use English for cross-cultural encounters.
■■ It can enhance learners’ respect for their own cultural framework and
increase their self-esteem.
■■ It can present ideas of multiculturalism, helpful in classes where students
come from similar cultural backgrounds.
Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran | 119
■■ It conveys a realistic image of migrant life.
■■ In may help learners attain the ‘third place’.
■■ In contexts where teachers are non-native speakers, texts written by
other non-natives may seem more authentic and create more realistic
models for learners.
For the particular context of Iran, I recommend the use of Iranian migrant literature,
as well as other migrant literatures, in English classrooms. Finally, it should be
mentioned that moving toward teaching English as an international language
in Iran requires fundamental changes, from the development of appropriate
language proficiency to training teachers and adaptation of materials.
References
Aliakbari, M (2004) The place of culture in Iranian ELT textbooks at high school level.
Paper presented at 9th Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics Conference.
August 2004, Namseoul University, Korea.
Byram, M (1997) Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M (2003) ‘Cultural studies and foreign language teaching’, in Bassnett, S
(ed) Studying British Cultures: An introduction (Second Edition). London: Routledge.
Cooper, J (n.d.) Teachers’ Guide. Available online at www.randomhouse.com/
acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780812968378&view=tg
Corbett, J (2000) ‘Teaching culture through language variety’, in McBride, N
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Dahmardeh, M (2009) English Language Teaching in Iran and Communicative
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Dumas, F (2003) Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America.
New York: Random House.
Firoozeh Dumas. Available online at http://firoozehdumas.com
Gajdusek, L (1988) Toward wider use of literature in ESL: why and how?
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MacDonald, M (2000) ‘Strangers in a strange land: fiction, culture, language’,
in McBride, N and Seago, K (eds) Target Culture – Target Language? London:
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Minors/honors-and-the-schools/houston-teachers-institute/curriculum-units/
seminar-pages/2004/new-houston-04.php
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Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 121
Candles lighting up the
journey of learning:
teachers of English
in Iran
Martin Cortazzi, Lixian Jin, Shiva Kaivanpanah
and Majid Nemati
122 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 123
10
Candles lighting up the
journey of learning: teachers
of English in Iran
Martin Cortazzi, Lixian Jin, Shiva Kaivanpanah and Majid Nemati
Introduction
The topics of a ‘good teacher’ and of what learning English is like for learners
are important in English language teaching (ELT) since ideas of teaching and
learning are central to language classrooms. Ideas about teaching and learning
vary enormously around the world, so students can have quite different
expectations of teachers. Moreover, engagement with learning English, compared
to other subjects and disciplines, often exposes students to different methods
or cultural ways of learning. The topics of good teachers and how learners think
about learning English are therefore central to developing more learner- or
learning-centred approaches. Any proposed developments of ELT need to relate
to these learners’ ideas since in many ways they mediate classroom change.
This is particularly important in countries such as Iran where there is enormous
interest in learning English and most learning takes place in classrooms.
Researching Iranian students’ perceptions of good teachers is important in
order to make explicit what are usually implicit notions and make them available
for discussion between students and their teachers in Iran or, in fact, elsewhere.
A centuries-old tradition of serious encouragement for learning and respect for
teachers in Iran meets a modern education system that includes English as a
foreign language (EFL) as an international element.
This study uses metaphor analysis. This is an innovative research method which we
have been developing for some years. Culturally, metaphors resonate throughout
Iranian civilisation: the Persian language is noted for wide uses of idioms and rich
metaphors, while Persian poetry has many mystical or spiritual themes often
expressed in metaphors. This poetry (e.g. works of Rumi or Hafiz) has been widely
translated and is much appreciated in the West, especially in the UK, Germany
and the USA.
This study investigates perceptions of good teachers largely from students’
viewpoints in an effort to derive models of their beliefs. In reporting the results,
we preserve the students’ voices as much as possible and take care to give
representative quotes to build up, as far as we can here, a representative picture
124 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran of teachers. This picture, we suggest, gives insights for ELT both inside and outside
Iran: while EFL teachers and students in Iran undoubtedly learn from the wider ELT
world, in this case, the wider world may gain thought-provoking insights from Iran.
Good teachers of English in Iran
Teachers of English in Iran might be seen as bridges between local, national and
international tendencies. There is currently a thirst for English. This is evident in
the growth of private language institutes that teach English: students see the role
of the language in global communication and are well aware that skills in English
are useful for study and employment, and for personal and cultural development.
However, English has had ups and downs in the national scene over recent years
and this has meant that English teachers have been variously viewed in official
circles at different times, negatively or positively relating to the outside world
(Borjian, 2013). This article only looks at Iranian students’ views of English
teachers in Iran.
In general, it does not seem hard to draw up a list of the qualities of a good
English teacher. A list is likely to include: having requisite knowledge and skill in
English and pedagogy, demonstrating the ability to sustain learners’ motivation
and engage them productively in interaction, being able to introduce students into
ways of thinking and cultural practices and helping them to reflect upon their own
practices, plus some personal or professional characteristics, such as patience.
However, as we would expect, there are contextual and cultural features which may
be different: for example, in Iran the teacher is expected to be of a good character,
open-minded, and friendly, flexible and caring towards learners, and these qualities
are seen as part of teacher efficacy. While the gender of the teacher or student
does not significantly affect general perceptions of good teachers, there are
different orientations towards different aspects of teachers’ roles from gender
perspectives, which may reflect nuances of tensions between tradition and
modernity (Nemati and Kaivanpanah, 2013).
Metaphor analysis
Metaphor analysis can be applied to research in ELT when students’ or teachers’
conceptions of learning and teaching are investigated by collecting their
metaphors and analysing them to seek underlying patterns. Given a sufficient
number of examples as data, these patterns represent students’ thinking and
beliefs. This innovative approach has some advantages over using more traditional
questionnaires and interviews. When students are asked to give their own metaphors
this elicitation task often seems refreshing and creative. This cognitive and affective
engagement may yield different levels of insights from participants. Further, given
the international character of ELT, metaphor analysis lends itself to cross-cultural
research into learning; for example, to compare metaphors of learning in Japan,
China, Malaysia, Lebanon or Tunisia (Cortazzi and Jin, 1999; Berendt, 2008).
We investigate the concepts of teachers and learning shown through students’
metaphors to reveal their perceptions. By looking at networks of these underlying
concepts we propose features of cognitive models, continuing our metaphor
analyses in China and elsewhere (Cortazzi et al., 2009; Jin and Cortazzi, 2011).
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 125
The approach used here draws on the research in cognitive linguistics of Lakoff
and others (e.g. Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; Lakoff, 1993). Metaphors are conceptual
and there are systematic correspondences or ‘mappings’ between the language
expressions of metaphors and underlying concepts. These underlying concepts
cluster into belief systems. By examining students’ metaphors for learning, we
find that many give expressions such as ‘learning is a journey’: the student is a
‘traveller’, learning is seen as ‘movement’ towards a ‘destination’ along different
‘paths’ with a teacher who is a ‘guide’. The detailed characterisations of each of
these elements of a journey give a good idea of students’ perceptions of learning,
in a way that teachers and students can readily understand. We examine students’
perceptions of their English teachers and their learning in their own words to see
how the journey of learning is described and to see the characteristics or qualities
of their teachers.
Simply collecting metaphors is not enough in itself, though, because as researchers
we do not always know what the metaphors imply. We need the participants’ own
explanations because we want to get insiders’ views of ELT in Iran. For example,
groups of British and Chinese students said: ‘My teacher is an old cow’. But these
show opposite ideas. For the British, this is a gender-based insult (the teacher is
said to be unpleasant, stupid or ugly), while for the Chinese this is a compliment
and high praise (the teacher is regarded as tireless, productive, self-sacrificing,
suffering in silence). Even within a cultural community, what seems to be the same
metaphor may have different meanings, so we need to ask participants for their
reasons – these are the implications (or ‘entailments’) of the metaphor. Six Iranian
students said, ‘Learning English is a ship on the ocean’ but in entailments one
stressed improved communication (‘going through open water [seas] to better
communication’), another emphasised enjoyment (‘a very pleasant voyage’), while
others focused on the power of the language (‘you will reach the shore by the
greatness of the ship’s power’) and culture (‘reaching and exploring different lands
of cultures and traditions’) or a destination of wisdom (‘it takes you from ignorance
to wisdom’).
For these reasons, and according to metaphor theory, we examine both students’
metaphors and the entailments which they give. We ask them to give their own
metaphor to complete ‘A good teacher is …’ and then to give their own reasons
‘… because…’ We obtained 650 metaphors for learning and 785 metaphors
for teachers from 393 university students of English in two universities (179
undergraduates; 214 postgraduates; 105 male and 288 female students). The
gender balance reflects enrolment in English, TEFL, literature and translation
programmes. There is probably some gender influence on the results but most
kinds of metaphors were given by both male and female participants and it needs
further investigation to explore the gender angle in detail. Students all spoke
Persian as their first language and they completed the metaphor tasks in English.
This demonstrates students’ creative ability in English but, based on our research
in China (Cortazzi et al., 2011), we anticipate that had the metaphors been given in
Persian many would have been longer and more elaborate. In addition, 21 students
wrote mini-essays in English on their Journeys of Learning and 12 language
teachers working in language institutes wrote mini-essays about their work there.
To maintain a distinction between metaphor and entailments, we present direct
126 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran quotes from participants’ metaphors in italics, as given, and entailments are in
normal font: these give the words of students, edited for conciseness, but preserve
participants’ voices (see Figures 1–5).
Since participants are asked a completely open-ended creative question, an
unimaginably large range of responses is possible. If we find common metaphors,
this is interesting; if we find common patterns of entailments, this is important; if
we find networks of patterns of different metaphors and entailments, this shows
a remarkable social trend in students’ beliefs about EFL teachers. All these
conditions are fulfilled below.
Journeys of learning
Students’ mini-essays provide broad characterisations of learning, framed in
metaphors. Learning is ‘an epic journey … a journey without maps … an adventure
journey … very joyful, very interesting … a lifelong process not yet finished …’ Many
students stress how they must ‘try hard’ to reach a destination but they ‘know’ they
will ‘arrive happily’. The destination is to progress towards a level of proficiency in
English: ‘when you pass your exams and get your grades’ or ‘when I can proudly
claim I have acquired adequate knowledge through the language learning process
… to communicate with people of other countries and cultures’. Yet for some this is
‘a dream that cannot possibly come true’ even if they were ‘earlier obsessed with
this finishing point’ because ‘there is no end to this journey.’ Teachers are usually
‘guides who help us … who care for us … support us on our journey’; ‘well-seasoned
in the nature of the journey’, ‘delightful … helpful … compassionate … strongly
disciplined.’ Teachers help, ‘like a mother’. They made students ‘comfortable about
the process and nature’ of the journey’ and ‘kindly and gently started to raise our
consciousness toward the non-mechanical parts of the journey’. For some, the
journey is more than simply a cognitive or skill-learning process: it ‘put me on the
path of self-discovery … and on my journey I have experienced a metamorphosis
which has had a profound effect on my English knowledge and personal self.’
Here we see a tone of excitement; recognition of how learning English is a longterm
process to reach goals that are associated both with language and people,
and with the learner’s personal self; and warmth towards teachers as guides. The
teachers’ mini-essays show how teaching and learning are intertwined: ‘I try to
teach and help others but I need myself to be helped by others … through teaching
the whole complexity and burden of this journey became manageable … through
teaching I can learn more and more.’ Difficulties are seen in aesthetic terms: ‘by
teaching, I take the difficulties of this journey as the beauty of this undertaking.’
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 127
Metaphors for teachers
Importantly, these mini-essays confirm what students say more elaborately in
freely elicited metaphors (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Metaphors for journeys of learning English (N=66 students in Iran) with
characteristics from metaphor entailments
Metaphors for journeys of learning Characteristics of learning English
Learning English is: the most precious and
longest journey … a never-ending path to
knowledge … a beautiful journey of discovery …
The journey is long, full of wrong turnings,
yet delightful …
You can explore other people’s cultures
and beliefs …
It takes you to mysterious unknown worlds
… seeking a phoenix: you are looking for a
mythical or mystical creature of majesty …
It’s a journey down a dark tunnel, which ends
in a beautiful landscape … a passage from dark
to light …
It’s moving towards a distant picture, the
nearer you get, the clearer it will be …
It’s a bumpy road in a mountainous area … it
must be traversed step by step … the more you
tread upon it, the more you desire to go further
… there are many ups and downs in gaining
knowledge, but when you reach the top, the
taste is sweet ...
Learning English is difficult but if you work
hard you will be successful …
It has lots of ups and downs …
It seems endless … mysterious, but entertaining,
enjoyable …
The more you make progress, the more you
want to continue …
You achieve success gradually … you may only
value the success later…. You can realise your
dreams, so it ends beautifully …
You need to mobilise your inner resources …
to explore, discover, increase your knowledge
in all fields …
You advance in learning by observing,
comparing, judging …
You develop your knowledge about life …
you examine and find out about how to live …
The students’ journey of learning is presented as ‘most beautiful … most precious’,
an endless ‘adventurous voyage of discovery’ ‘to unexplored lands’ because ‘it
leads to success’ and ‘leads us to different areas of the city of language.’ The path
is difficult, ‘it is an uneven way of living, with lots of ups and downs, but it is the best
way’ and ‘by learning things you can step through the darkness and light up your
way.’ The end point and process of learning cannot really be envisaged in advance
since ‘the more you explore, the more you find’ and ‘until we travel along this way
we do not understand the effect’. Teachers ‘lead you to somewhere you weren’t
even aware of’.
128 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran Figure 2: Metaphors for the teacher as a guide (N=94 students)
Metaphors for the teacher as a guide,
leader, prophet, angel
Characteristics of teachers
A teacher is a good guide … a reliable leader …
a prophet, a messenger of love, an angel with
a candle … a rescuing angel of another world …
They indicate the correct way of learning …
and do not allow us to go off the beaten track …
They show us new things and explain them
… show the beauties of a place and give
knowledge of it … reveal the unknown world
of reality …
They lead us to the right way and help us to
find out the way of life … we need this help …
They guide us through the way towards
prosperity … and bring humane messages …
They devote themselves to others … sacrifice
to give us knowledge … show the straight way …
rescue humans from the chains of ignorance …
Teachers give information, knowledge, advice,
guidance, inspiration …
They make plans, organise and
monitor learning …
They indicate how to learn …
They show students how to solve problems ...
They explain, lead, show the way … help
students reach their aims …
They show students moral truth and an example
of moral behaviour …
They show love, care, patience, kindness,
trustworthiness, humanity, devotion and
self-sacrifice …
Teachers are ‘guides’ but they are also ‘leaders’, ‘prophets’ and ‘angels’. The
entailments for these metaphors overlap significantly, showing how closely the
underlying concepts are related. As ‘guides to happiness’, ‘teachers guide people
to be educated and lead them from darkness to light’; ‘they show you the way for
learning new things’, ‘conduct us towards the door of science’ since ‘without a
guide we can’t understand the map’. These ‘leaders of our hearts’ ‘can help us to
solve problems and lead us to fortune’. Perhaps surprisingly, 24 students viewed
the good teacher as ‘a prophet’: they ‘show us the correct way of living in order to
reach salvation’. ‘With their beautiful example they lead you and make you go
higher and higher’, ‘they only deliver the message and it is up to you to understand
it and apply it’. ‘They sacrifice to give us knowledge’; ‘they bring you to a paradise, if
you love them, and yet they can make your life like hell, if you hate them’. As ‘angels’
they are ‘a sign from heaven: they will raise you up there’; they ‘guide learners to
happiness’, ‘towards softness and peacefulness of knowledge.’
The closeness and warmth which many students feel for teachers is even more
evident in metaphors of ‘parents’ and ‘friends’. Here (see Figure 3) the entailments
include a considerable range of humane qualities.
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 129
Figure 3: Metaphors for the teacher as a parent or friend (N=80 students)
Metaphors for the teacher as a parent,
friend
Characteristics of teachers
A teacher is a second mother … a father of
kindness ... an older, knowledgeable friend …
sometimes tough but has a kind heart …
They care for students’ future life … work hard
in order to make us educated … can inspire
knowledge in others …
They guide us and solve all our problems …
They help us so that we can learn with interest
… they work hard; they help us and love their
country … they tolerate us in every situation
patiently …
They care about the students more than
themselves …
They can have a great influence on us
Teachers dedicate their time, energy and effort
to help students …
They deliver knowledge and ideas …
They facilitate learning ... they are motivators,
benefactors, donors …
They like students to communicate … like them to
be happy … like students’ improvement and help
them to achieve what they wish to achieve …
They guide students towards success …
Teachers make students ready for life …
Teachers show patience, kindness, tolerance,
care, sympathy, selflessness, warmth, love …
Clearly language teachers do more than teach English, in these students’ views.
As ‘kindly parents’ and ‘good friends’, teachers are caring, show concern and
provide guidance. Further, they are seen to have moral qualities which they share
with learners: ‘they help us in education and direct our positive manners and
moralities’; ‘they share their knowledge, morality and whatever they believe is
worth having’. Their ‘behaviour has an impact on others – you may see your teacher
more than your family.’ Sometimes, though, this seems overdone or patronising:
‘they treat us like children; they do everything for their students, like children.’
A striking metaphor, given by 84 students, is the teacher as ‘a candle’ (see Figure
4). The central meaning is that teachers give ‘light’, ‘warmth’, ‘knowledge’ and
‘enlightenment’ but they sacrifice themselves in the process, thus showing
devotion. ‘They burn while they brighten our minds with the light of their own
knowledge’; ‘They burn to give light to others but slowly melt away themselves’;
‘They melt to improve us and help us learn the way of living and thinking’; and
‘Their life disappears in drops of wax as they give light to others’. This candle
metaphor is clearly important in Iran, where it is well known. We notice it in
Lebanon and Malaysia and, interestingly, in China but not in the UK. The theme
of teacher devotion and sacrifice is immediately recognised, however, by teachers
outside these contexts when they see the metaphors because it resonates among
experienced practitioners. This theme appears unrecognised by policy makers and
seems rarely discussed in ELT.
130 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran Figure 4: Metaphors for the teacher as a candle (N=86 students)
Metaphors for the teacher as a candle Characteristics of teachers
A teacher is a burning candle, a shining candle …
Teachers burn for students …
The candle burns and gives light to students …
It burns to enlighten the environment …
Teachers lead us from darkness to light …
They brighten our lives … give lessons of light …
They give us brightness and heart …
They enlighten our path in life … show us the
way in the dark … devote their life to teach us …
The candle is sacrificing itself for us …
Teachers give knowledge …
They enlighten our minds … enlighten our
ways of thinking … our wellbeing …
They enlighten our development … our lives …
and ways of living …
They enlighten the environment …
Teachers show warmth, affection, devotion
and love …
Teachers sacrifice themselves …
Students learn with the guidance,
encouragement, help and sacrifice of teachers …
Teachers ‘burn’ so students learn …
The candle metaphor is one of a set of metaphors of light: the teacher is light, the
sun, the moon, a star, a lantern or beacon.
Figure 5: Metaphors for the teacher as light (N=111 students)
Metaphors for the teacher as light, the sun,
the moon, or a star
Characteristics of teachers
A teacher is a shining light … an endless source
of light … the light in our eyes ... the sunrise …
the sun after a rainy day … moonlight on a dark
night … a shining star …
They can show you the way through the
darkness … show us the road in the night …
They give us light for guidance … and safety …
lighting the dark side of our thought …
They show us the right path … light our
learning way … brighten and lighten up our
way to knowledge … give us a clear sight of
the people’s ways …
Teachers help us to choose the way of light ...
They guide students through the valley of death
… their lights take us to paradise …
Teachers are a main source of knowledge …
They give, show and add: knowledge, guidance,
warmth, beauty, incentives and energy … they
enlighten students’ minds … and thinking …
They are merciful and generous in their
teaching and happy to share knowledge …
They resolve uncertainties … give students
hope and help in the struggle to learn …
They guide and make learning easier …
They show students good ways of learning …
and of living to become a good person …
They teach about people and cultures …
and give students a wide vision …
A teacher may be the ‘sun’: ‘they brighten up our knowledge world’ and ‘light up
our entire life’ and ‘they make us believe that our struggle and oblivion will come
to an end’.
These metaphors stress the teacher’s guidance but the needed effort from
students (acknowledged in the ‘journey’ metaphors) entails some independence:
the teacher is ‘a beacon, he shows you the way but you should pass it alone’ and
the teacher is ‘a dim light: they just show us a general picture whose subtitles we
students must notice’. There is a strong affective tone: ‘the teacher is the most
beautiful sunset: they make the evening wonderful, they need us and we feel good
when they are there.’ Like the candle metaphor, there is an element of sacrifice:
‘the teacher is a sun: they make everything look beautiful and warm up everything
but they can burn in the long run’. For some students there is ambiguity between
positive and negative characteristics: ‘the teacher is a sunrise: if they want they
can be awful and destructive or beautiful.’
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 131
The gender of the teacher evokes nuances of difference which need further research:
the male teacher as father and the female teacher as mother are both kind, helpful
and caring in giving guidance; however, mothers are described as warm, loving,
selfless and tough. Still, the relative absence of such comments for fathers (male
teachers) does not necessarily mean they do not have such characteristics.
EFL teachers are not always seen positively. Twenty-six students gave negative
ideas. A few students were ‘puzzled’, ‘perplexed’ or ‘mystified’ when the class pace
seemed too fast or teachers did not make learning easier. Some teachers seem
‘dictatorial’ or ‘over-dominant’; they ‘kill motivation’ and ‘control thinking’ rather
than broadening students’ thinking. Some negative responses showed humour: a
teacher is … ‘a seducer: they encourage us to venture upon new ways and acquaint
us with new worlds’; an ‘extraterrestrial creature: the things they say are alien to
the students’; ‘an undertaker: he arranges funerals at the end of the term’ and ‘a
jellyfish in the knowledge sea: they look amazing but if you get too close you may
end up being paralysed.’
Metaphor networks
A careful reading of the entailments in the right-hand columns of Figures 2–5 shows
how these students give an extraordinarily broad range of characterisations of
their teachers. This is a rich and on the whole remarkably positive picture and, for
their English teachers, here is a rewarding recognition of teachers as practitioners.
But how are we to make sense of these complex listings? One way is to identify
salient items of entailments that relate to more than one metaphor – and to look for
the range of entailments that each major metaphor involves. This process enables
us to construct metaphor networks, first used for applied metaphor research by
Cortazzi et al. (2009). The networks here are based on the present data analysis.
Figure 6: A metaphor network for teachers as ‘light’
…TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS entailed in metaphors…
Teachers demonstrate these for students and enable
students to grow and learn:
knowledge
showing the right path
sacrifice devotion
LIGHT SUN MOON STAR CANDLE FIRE LANTERN
METAPHORS FOR TEACHERS
enlightenment
guidance
warmth
132 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran Figure 6 shows one of these metaphor networks for teachers as ‘light’: from this, the
knowledge and guidance from teachers visibly emerge as prime characteristics.
The teachers’ enlightenment of students, teachers’ warmth, sacrifice and devotion,
and the ability to show students the right path are major characteristics.
Figure 7: A metaphor network for teachers as people with different roles
…TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS entailed in metaphors…
Teachers demonstrate these for students and enable
students to grow and learn:
knowledge help guidance kindness
MOTHER FATHER FRIEND GARDENER GUIDE LEADER PROPHET ANGEL
METAPHORS FOR TEACHERS
growth care warmth
Figure 7 shows a further network of the teacher represented as different kinds
of people. Obviously, the teacher is him/herself a person, but these metaphors
often compare teachers’ roles with family and friends or with a variety of different
occupations. The entailments shown in this network demonstrate again the
centrality of knowledge and guidance from teachers as prime characteristics,
clearly linked with kindness and care as major characteristics, with some
prominence given to teachers’ warmth and help and to fostering student
growth. The way these networks are complementary is a striking demonstration
of student beliefs.
The analysis of the candle metaphor (Figure 4) drew attention to the view that
teachers sacrifice so that students learn. In fact, the entailment of ‘sacrifice’
appears in some learners’ metaphors for the teacher as: light, the sun, fire, a
mother, rain, and a mountain. While these are not the main metaphoric meaning
in each case except the candle, they are systematic images of sacrifice and
therefore in several networks (for example, Figure 6). One student saw the teacher
as ‘a moth which flies round the light for learners until his or her wings are burned’.
This is an image of love for the flame and of sacrifice, well known in Persian poems,
where the ‘light’ is ‘a candle’. The candle image is clearly deeply emblematic for
students’ conceptions of teachers.
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 133
The entailments that ‘teachers show us the right path’; ‘show the right way’; ‘they
guide students to the way of right’; or ‘guide us on the straight path’ (Figure 6)
clearly relate to the teachers’ roles in guidance. Notably, this has strong religious
or spiritual overtones of correctness, uprightness, right living and morality. This is
obvious in such phrases as the teacher is ‘a leader who guides us and shows us a
way of reaching God’. The particular phrasing of ‘the straight path’ and ‘right path’
appears in entailments of the teacher as: a light, a star, a lantern, a father, a guide,
a leader, a path, a road, a signpost, and, of course, ‘a prophet’. In an Islamic
perspective, this phrasing cannot be read without thinking of the opening chapter
of the Qu’rán, recited in daily prayer, where the English versions of the Arabic
scripture are generally ‘Guide us to the straight path’, ‘Guide us in the right way’
or ‘Show us the straight way’. Since this phrasing is so widespread in this data, it
gives evidence of a spiritual or religious perspective to students’ conceptions
of teachers.
On the basis of these analyses, we tentatively propose a model of the ideal EFL
teacher (Figure 8). This shows different dimensions that have emerged from
these students’ words with the prime and major characteristics evident in the
metaphor entailments (Figures 6 and 7). The model is holistic in the sense that it
demonstrates how EFL teachers teach English as their major professional role but
clearly, in this vision, they do much more along several dimensions. The model
reflects a large proportion of the 393 students’ voices.
Figure 8: A metaphor analysis model of the ideal EFL teacher in Iran (N=393 students)
Gives help;
develops
learners’
knowledge
and growth
Shows
moral truth,
sacrifice and
devotion;
shows the
straight path
Shows care, kindness and beauty
Gives knowledge and guidance
Opens doors to people and
cultures in the world
Helps students to develop good
communication in English
The ideal teacher
of English
COGNITIVE
AFFECTIVE
AESTHETIC
MORAL
SPIRITUAL
FIVE DIMENSIONS OF A HOLISTIC MODEL OF THE IDEAL TEACHER
134 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran Reflection
These students’ metaphors are written in English: the quality of expression is a
credit to their teachers. The metaphors demonstrate not only competence for a
task – which to them is unfamiliar and was unexpected – but also illustrate creative
responses that are thoughtful and sometimes humorous. Some show EFL teachers
in a negative view but the vast majority are positive, showing respect, warmth
and gratitude for teachers’ professionalism. The metaphors give a strong sense
of high regard for teachers’ roles in students’ English-learning journeys, which the
learners know is a difficult and long-term enterprise. Students clearly value the
opportunities to advance on this path because of the international and local roles
that English provides for students’ likely futures, besides the clearly expressed
desire for self-development and growth.
Metaphors and metaphor networks such as those presented here are important
material to focus discussions of learning and teaching with students and for staff
development, in Iran or, in fact, anywhere. In particular, a given metaphor allows
creative extension and personal interpretation. For example, the ‘teacher is light’
can be extended, via quantum physics, to consider different views of light as
‘waves of light’, ‘bursts of energy’, or ‘streams of particles with uncertain and
unpredictable paths before they reach an identifiable target point’. Similarly,
metaphors can be adjusted to explore implications: the teacher as ‘an energysaving
light bulb’, ‘a chandelier’ or ‘a light show’. Asking students to compose their
own metaphors for learning, with reasoned entailments, has proved fruitful for
classroom discussions in English and for teacher workshops. The tentative ideal
model (Figure 8), provisional as it is, could be a focus for productive reflection
with EFL trainee teachers.
Conclusions
These metaphors from Iran give insights into teachers and learning that are
seldom featured in ELT research and discussions of practice. English teachers are
seen here as skilled professionals. Of course, this is in cognitive terms (they share
knowledge and guidance to develop students’ skills in English). But more broadly
we see their work in affective terms (showing care and kindness), aesthetic terms
(showing beauty) and with moral and spiritual dimensions (they show a moral
example, show students the straight path and the right way). They reveal teachers’
devotion and self-sacrifice (as candles, teachers burn so that students learn).
An implication is that good EFL teachers embody all of these dimensions,
simultaneously. Here are aspects, perhaps idealised, which are clearly significant
for language learners in Iran and surely highly suggestive in the ELT world beyond:
they indicate how we might consider ELT in more holistic terms. An Arabic saying,
familiar in Iran, suggests ‘a metaphor is a bridge to reality’ (Schimmel, 1975: 292):
these metaphors enable us to see a different reality of teachers and of how they
help learners make their journey of learning. We can cross this bridge and see
teachers as candles lighting up the journey of learning – and much more.
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 135
References
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Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
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Cortazzi, M and Jin, L (1999) ‘Bridges to Learning: metaphors of teaching, learning
and language’, in Cameron, L and Low, G (eds) Researching and applying metaphor.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cortazzi, M, Jin, L and Wang, Z (2009) ‘Cultivators, cows and computers:
Chinese learners’ metaphors of teachers’, in Coverdale-Jones, T and Rastall, P
(eds) Internationalizing the university, the Chinese context. Houndmills:
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Jin, L and Cortazzi, M (2011) ‘More than a journey: “learning” in the metaphors of
Chinese students and teachers’, in Jin, L and Cortazzi, M (eds) Researching Chinese
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136 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran
MA TEFL programmes
in Iran: change in a
globalised era
Parvaneh Tavakoli and Mostafa Hasrati
138 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 139
11
MA TEFL programmes in Iran:
change in a globalised era
Parvaneh Tavakoli and Mostafa Hasrati
Introduction
This chapter is a modest attempt to investigate how MA Teaching English as a
Foreign Language (TEFL) programmes in Iran are changing in a globalised world.
Our previous research in this area (Hasrati and Tavakoli, 2015; Tavakoli and Hasrati,
in preparation) has shown how MAs in English language teaching programmes are
developing in Anglophone countries, but little or no research
has been conducted to study changes in MA TEFL programmes in Iran. In what
follows, we will first introduce MA TEFL programmes in Iran, before presenting
and discussing different definitions of globalisation. We will then explain how we
collected the data for this study and report our findings, making comparisons with
the other contexts when appropriate. We will conclude by elaborating on possible
extensions of this study in similar contexts.
MA programmes in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Iran are among
the most popular postgraduate programmes in the country. This popularity can be
defined in light of the international value of English as a lingua franca and Iranians’
in-depth understanding of the importance of teaching and learning English in the
current times. The number of students in these programmes has exponentially
increased in the past two decades from around 50 in 1994, when one of the authors
had just started their MA TEFL studies, to more than 1,200 in 2014 in public
universities, as indicated by the Postgraduate Admission Guideline published by
the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (2014). A similar pattern of
growth for such programmes is also witnessed in the private sector. In line with
what is happening in other countries, this trend can be observed in other
postgraduate programmes, indicating a ‘massification’ (Tight, 2004; Morely et al.,
2002) in higher education (HE) in Iran. We argue that although the ‘massification’ in
Iranian HE is potentially influenced by the challenges associated with globalisation
and the responses to those challenges, it has characteristics that are specific to
the local context of HE in Iran. In the next section, we will provide an overview of
globalisation theories by drawing on the relevant literature in this area.
Defining globalisation
While there is common consent among scholars that globalisation is a complex
and multifaceted concept, there is little agreement about which definition is most
encompassing. One of the most cited definitions of globalisation was proposed
by Giddens (1990: 64): ‘the intensification of worldwide social relations which link
140 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring
many miles away and vice versa.’ This definition, however, does not capture the
multifaceted and dynamic nature of globalisation. Other scholars have broken
down globalisation into its various aspects. Porter and Vidovich (2000) argue
that globalisation comprises economic, cultural and political aspects. Beck
(2012: 135) argues that: ‘While we commonly attribute a singular, unitary status
to globalisation, mostly the economic, it is complex, multidimensional, and fluid,
leading us to consider globalisation/s in its plurality’. Holtman (2005: 14) suggests
that globalisation should be considered in all its dimensions including economic,
technological and cultural aspects. We would like to highlight the inevitability of the
need to reformulate these definitions. Given its dynamic and interactive nature, any
synchronic and static definition of globalisation would seem limited and insufficient
to capture the evolving nature of globalisation, particularly its interaction with a
range of other factors, including the characteristics and needs of the local contexts.
Our reading of the literature suggests that the economic aspect of globalisation
is the leading factor in this process, creating a context for a ‘commercial turn’
(Hasrati and Tavakoli, 2015) in HE. This is characterised by redefining the role
of universities, from social institutions in which academics pursue and produce
knowledge to centres that train professionals ‘to join labour markets’ (Mazzarol
and Soutar, 2012: 720) and to act as ‘major agents of economic growth’ (Tarar,
2006: 5,080). This ‘commercial turn’ is rooted in neoliberalist ideas that ‘call for an
opening of national borders for the purpose of increased commodity and capital
exchange [and privatising] virtually every process or service that can possibly be
turned over to private capital.’ (Torres and Rhoads, 2006: 8)
We assume that neoliberalist ideas and globalisation may take on new shapes in
the HE of different countries as they interact with differing local and contextual
factors. In Western, mostly Anglophone, countries several provisions have been
made to establish offshore university campuses in developing countries (Wilkins
and Huisman, 2012), a process referred to as multinationalisation (Altbach, 2004: 6).
In addition, a great majority of Anglophone universities have expanded their
programmes to attract more overseas students, not only as a source of income
but to promote an international academic and research environment. Although
based on a different rationale, similar initiatives have been adopted in the Iranian
context. For instance, HE in Iran has expanded in the past two decades to
accommodate a larger number of students at home, which we assume is partly
due to a policy to keep students at home. In addition, similar to the establishment
of offshore campuses of Anglophone universities, some Iranian universities have
opened new campuses that admit fee-paying students without having to take the
National University Entrance Examination. The Kish Island Campus of the University
of Tehran was one of the first such universities in Iran. Nevertheless, it seems that
this trend has been affected by wider political issues. For instance, the few offshore
campuses of Iranian universities established in the 2000s in a number of foreign
countries (for example, Azad University Oxford Branch) were forced to close or
minimise activity when the new waves of US-led sanctions (Resolution 1803 in
March 2008) came into effect.
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 141
Iranian context
The rapid growth in the number of universities and colleges in Iran in the 1980s
and 1990s, although strongly motivated by the Islamic Revolution and the desire
to spread knowledge among the nation, should to some extent be attributed to
globalisation processes that foresaw education as an essential requirement for
the economic growth of the nation. The growth in HE since the 1980s around the
world has been associated with a number of key shifts in HE policy and strategy
setting, including privatisation of education, introduction of tuition fees as a source
of revenue in certain institutions, preoccupation with an efficiency model of
education, and the reduction of education products to the concept of commodities
(Hayes and Wynyard, 2002; Manicas, 2007). While a careful examination of the
recent history of HE in Iran is an undeniably interesting and a necessary research
focus, it goes beyond the scope of the current chapter. Our analysis of the existing
evidence suggests that the Iranian context of HE shares many of the abovementioned
shifts with its global counterparts.
To provide a brief history of the first MA TEFL programmes in Iran, it is necessary
to look at the earliest formal teaching qualifications that were available to English
language teachers in Iran. While teacher training universities and colleges had been
offering general teaching qualifications for a number of years, it was the Teachers’
Training University in Tehran that first offered a course entitled ‘Teaching English as
a Foreign Language’ in the 1960s. This was an intensive one-year programme with
an embedded practicum component, which upon successful completion allowed
graduates to teach at high schools. The course entry requirements included having
a BA in English language and/or literature and passing the entrance exam 2. The
graduates from this course then received a one-month summer course training
from the British Council in Iran to enhance their teaching methodology knowledge
and skills. In 1973, the University of Tehran was the first university to offer an MA in
TEFL in Iran. The course was designed for teachers who were planning to move to
HE or seeking promotion in their existing jobs. The candidates, fewer than ten in
the first intakes, were selected through a university entrance exam, which included
a test of vocabulary, language use and reading comprehension, as well as an oral
interview. The programme was a two-year course (four semesters in total) that
included modules on linguistics, phonology, education, vocabulary building,
methodology and French (as a foreign language). It also included a practicum that
required students to teach and/or observe English classes at state high schools.
The course was predominantly taught by Iranian linguists and applied linguists.
Interestingly, the first graduates of this course became outstanding scholars and
leading academics in TEFL and/or applied linguistics in Iran in the decades to come.
After the Islamic Revolution, the Supreme Cultural Revolution made efforts to
develop the existing MA programmes to be comparable to their global counterparts.
The MA in TEFL was not an exception. The course structure and credit system offered
on these MAs in 2014 still follow, to a great extent, the model established in 1973.
2
In the absence of any published research on the history of MA TEFL programmes in Iran, we are referring to our
personal communication with some of the founders of such programmes.
142 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era Methodology
The data reported in this chapter is part of a larger-scale project on the MA TEFL
in Iran, coming from 23 completed questionnaires and two interviews collected in
September and October 2014 from academic members of staff teaching MA TEFL
in different universities in Iran. The questionnaire data was initially collected
through convenience sampling, but it then turned into a snowball sampling when
some of the participants distributed the questionnaire among their colleagues.
Although we sent the questionnaire to more than 30 participants from 18 different
universities we received a low response rate of 35 per cent. With the effects of
snowball sampling, it is difficult to say how many universities are represented in
this data. To respect the participants’ privacy and anonymity, we did not ask for
any personal information, including the name or type of the institutions they
worked at. The interviews were conducted over the phone with two very
experienced professors who had been identified as key founders of MA TEFL
programmes in Iran.
The questionnaire, which is a modification from our previous research (Hasrati
and Tavakoli, 2015; Tavakoli and Hasrati, in preparation), consisted of both
quantitative Likert-scale questions and qualitative open-ended questions. In this
article, we will draw only on qualitative data collected in the study, as it would
provide a more in-depth insight into our colleagues’ understanding of globalisation
and of their views about how globalisation has impacted MA TEFL programmes
in Iran.
We put the following four open-ended questions to the participants:
1. In your opinion, do you think MA TEFL programmes are changing or
have changed over the past 10–15 years? If yes, how?
2. What do you think are the causes of these changes, if any?
3. How do you define globalisation?
4. How has globalisation affected TEFL programmes in Iran?
These questions generated a range of various responses, which we then
categorised based on open thematic coding (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Charmaz,
2000, 2005). This means that we assigned a code to each section of the responses
based on their content. For instance, a recurring theme in the responses was
reference to turning MA dissertations into publications, which we categorised as
‘publishing issues’. In further analysis of the data, we developed sub-categories.
For instance, replies earlier categorised as ‘publishing issues’ were further
sub-categorised into themes including ‘push from supervisors on MA students
to publish’ and ‘credentialing incentives for supervisors to publish’.
In total, we identified nine core categories in the qualitative data in the procedure
outlined above, indicating a range of assumptions about changes in TEFL
programmes in the country. In what follows, we will describe these changes as
perceived by the participants. We will refer to the participants by a capital P
followed by a number (for example, P.23).
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 143
Results
In this section, we will pull together the nine core categories under three headings:
■■ Changes from below
■■ Quality or quantity: which to promote in HE?
■■ Publish or perish
We would like to emphasise that we align ourselves with a constructivist qualitative
paradigm (Charmaz, 2000, 2005; Schwandt, 2000), which argues that realities are
constructed as a result of the interaction between the researcher and data. In
other words, we do not claim that our findings reflect objective realities, but they
are our interpretations of the data we have collected.
Changes from below
In order to maintain standards and assure quality, the Ministry of Science,
Research and Technology (MSRT) has assigned special committees to discuss and
set curricula for all programmes offered in universities across the country, called
the Supreme Council of Curriculum Planning (SCCP) 3. The MA TEFL programmes
offered in public and private universities are no exception, and a curriculum
has been in force that has not changed greatly in the past three decades. This
curriculum includes the title of various courses and their contents that should
be delivered in MA TEFL programmes, but no specific textbooks are suggested.
The curriculum includes mandatory and optional courses, and universities can
choose from optional courses based on the expertise of their academic staff.
The curriculum includes 28 unit credits, each comprising 17 hours of instruction,
and the writing of a dissertation worth four unit credits.
Though change has not come from the MSRT to revise this curriculum, the younger
generation of academic staff joining TEFL departments have been implementing
changes such as introducing new approaches, tasks and projects. For instance,
the formal curriculum for the course entitled ‘Research Methods in Teaching
Foreign Languages’ specifically recommends the scientific method and quantitative
analysis as the methodological techniques to be covered in the course, as stated
in the curriculum approved by the SCCP. However, some staff, often the younger
generation of academics, have been introducing new perspectives (for example,
qualitative methodology) as an equally legitimate approach to enquiry:
The books and papers we introduce as part of the course requirements are
quite new, not because of the TEFL programmes, but due to the teachers’
self-devised MA programme. Once I taught quantitative research paradigms,
and now I am teaching the qualitative and mixed method paradigms in response
to the Western tendencies and currents coming into Iran. All the tendencies are
not native born. They are Western. (P.16)
3
In Iran the Council is known as ‘Showraye Alie Barnameh Rizi’.
144 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era As the above quotation indicated, these changes are not often in response to
local issues, but they may reflect the ‘winds ... blowing in the intellectual zeitgeist’
(Berkenkotter and Huckin, 1995: 3) of Western countries. Although this seems to
indicate a one-way direction of change from centre to periphery (Canagarajah,
1996, 2002), other qualitative data in our study suggests that some participants
were tailoring these changes to fit their local context. For instance, the global drive
for production of knowledge has led to institutional policies forcing academics to
produce more publications, which in turn has resulted in a redefinition of the MA
dissertation as a piece of research with publishable outcomes. We will further
discuss this in the section entitled Publish or Perish.
Quantity or quality: which to promote in HE?
Another important change is a sharp increase in the number of students in MA
TEFL programmes. As mentioned before, admission into these programmes has
significantly hiked in the past 25 years from around 50 in 1990 to more than
1,200 in 2014 in public universities. This expansion, we argue, is triggered by
two factors. The first is the general international trend in expansion of HE, a
process we referred to above as ‘massification of higher education’ (Tight, 2004).
This process is most probably caused by the privatisation of HE and budget cuts
that have led universities across the globe to rely on students as a major source of
revenue (Hasrati and Tavakoli, 2015). The other factor seems to be the increasing
possibility for Iranian students to go to foreign countries to pursue a higher degree,
a direct consequence of globalisation. While this is not the most pragmatic choice
for the majority of the students, the MSRT has made provisions for Iranian students
to be admitted to equivalent programmes offered in Iranian universities, a process
that has led to an increase in intakes.
The participants’ views were divided on the quality of these programmes, with
some suggesting that quality has improved while others claim it seems to be
lagging behind the increase in admissions to some departments. For instance,
some participants suggested that the need for student-generated revenues has
resulted in universities lowering admission requirements:
Things have definitely changed a lot over the past years since there is now
a lot of MA admissions in Iran under different names like PARDISE POOLI and
SHABANE 4 in state universities, which has resulted in Azad University getting
into a competition with state universities to admit as many students as possible
at any cost without considering their qualifications. The final corollary of
this competition is that you can see too many unqualified students studying
at MA. (P.15)
From the limited data and documents available to us, it is difficult to draw any
certain conclusions about the process of massification of HE in Iran. However, we
assume that the rapid growth of recruitment on such programmes might have been
associated with a less strict quality control process and a limited infrastructure
4
These are two examples of private or fee-paying higher education institutions in Iran. Admissions to such
programmes are easier as the payment of high tuition fees makes them less competitive.
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 145
capacity for accommodating this growth. Our data suggests that the insensitivity
to quality control is seen by the participants in the light of two outcomes: a) an
increase in plagiarism in dissertation writing, and b) a push for an expedited
graduation process:
The motto is finish the job on time no matter what the content is. I have heard
that those who cannot finish the job soon, they lose points on their thesis. That’s
why the students are in a hurry to finish the job as soon as possible. As far as I
remember, writing a thesis was not a big deal. Reports say that it is worse than
what it was years ago. (P.11)
Publish or perish
An important change in MA TEFL programmes has been a redefinition of the role
of MA TEFL dissertations. While the MA dissertation is often regarded as a first
practice in conducting a small-scale study and improving academic writing, it
seems that most MA TEFL departments aim for MA dissertations with publishable
outcomes:
There is less focus on learning and more focus on the outcome, which usually
gets defined in terms of scores and the number of publications. Publishing has
become such a priority for illegitimate reasons that it is mostly considered a
necessary evil or a tool for promotion rather than a means of contribution to
knowledge and personal and social development. (P.13)
The reasons for such expectations have been extensively outlined elsewhere
(Hasrati, 2013), but we need to mention that the MSRT has set guidelines for
credentialing and enumeration for publication by university professors. These
guidelines suggest that universities provide financial incentives to university
professors for publication. In addition, the points-based system for credentialing
asserts publications as a requirement for promotion. These factors have created
a culture in which MA dissertations are not merely regarded as learning practices
but as professional enterprises that should lead to publications bearing the names
of the dissertation supervisor and the student as joint authors. Many departments
have agreed on a benchmark for the inclusion of published papers in the overall
assessment of the dissertation, e.g. capping the top mark if a publication is not
emerging from the dissertation. This means that an MA dissertation’s maximum
score would be, for instance, 18/20, but if the student has published a paper,
usually jointly with the supervisor, the maximum mark would be awarded. This
is different from most Western educational cultures where there is no formal
pressure or bureaucratic requirements on MA or even PhD students to publish
their work until after graduation. It is also in sharp contrast with results from our
previous research in the UK, where publishing results of MA dissertations was
ranked as the least important aspect of writing an MA dissertation (Hasrati and
Tavakoli, 2015).
146 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era Evaluation, reflection and conclusion
In this chapter we have identified and elaborated on three key aspects of change
in MA TEFL programmes in Iran. This list, however, is by no means exhaustive
and should best be regarded as a sample of changes in these programmes.
Such changes should not be regarded as isolated and independent of each other.
On the contrary, we argue that we can only fully appreciate the complexity of the
changes in these programmes by looking at interaction among them.
The creation and possibility of rapid, easy connections has enabled academics to
access recent publications and programmes across the globe, which in turn has
made it possible to incorporate new approaches and theories in these programmes
in the absence of curricular changes at the ministerial level. In addition, increased
mobility has led to more conference participation by university professors who can
keep abreast with new developments in applied linguistics and language teaching.
A corollary has been to reduce the gap between some Iranian TEFL departments
and their Anglophone counterparts. These, as argued before, are most notably
personal variations and changes that are being implemented from below.
Rapid interconnections and mobility have also enabled Iranian students to continue
their studies in Anglophone countries and more recently in Malaysia and India 5.
This has led to new policies to increase admission to postgraduate programmes
in general and MA TEFL programmes in particular to encourage students to stay
in the country. In addition, Iranian students in foreign countries can also transfer
to Iranian universities (MSRT Student Services, 2014). This may be a strategy to
channel money spent in other countries into the Iranian HE system.
Similarly, new global technologies have made it possible for fee-based journals
to reach academics, most notably in developing countries including Iran with a
context of credentialing and material incentives for publication, tempting them
into speedy publications. This has affected Iranian MA programmes in general
and MA TEFL programmes in particular by redefining the role and purpose of
writing a Masters dissertation.
It is clear that the three changes in MA TEFL programmes reported in this chapter
(i.e. changes from below; quality or quantity; and publish or perish) interact in
complex ways, forming a constellation of global and local phenomena, an area
that merits further investigation. The changes we have identified in this chapter
will most probably be common to other MA programmes in Iran and even in other
developing countries, but more research is needed to investigate this topic and to
compare results from studies in similar contexts.
5
This statement is based on our local knowledge of the Iranian context.
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 147
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Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 149
Feedback type
preferred by Iranian
EFL teachers in postobservation
meetings
Sasan Baleghizadeh
150 | Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings
Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 151
12
Feedback type preferred by
Iranian EFL teachers in postobservation
meetings
Sasan Baleghizadeh
Introduction
Teacher supervision is an important issue in English language teaching (ELT)
because novice teachers need a mentor to help them with problems they are
likely to encounter (for example, classroom and behaviour management).
Mentoring teachers through classroom observation is both a rewarding and
challenging experience: rewarding in the sense that it involves helping younger
colleagues grow professionally and be better teachers; challenging in that it
sometimes requires delivering negative feedback.
Classroom observation often has two goals: teacher evaluation and teacher
development (Sheal, 1989). Traditionally, teachers are observed for evaluative
purposes to ensure uniform practices, check for standard classroom procedures
and prescribe needed changes (Bailey, 2006; Goldsberry, 1988). Classroom
observation, however, can be undertaken for teacher development not focusing
on strengths and weaknesses, but promoting reflective practice, providing
opportunities for teachers to explore new teaching possibilities, and helping
teachers acquire knowledge about teaching and developing their own teaching
theory (Gebhard, 1990: 1).
Almost all teachers like to be told what they need to do to become effective
teachers, yet they feel nervous in the presence of an observer using a checklist
to judge their performance as satisfactory or unsatisfactory during a postobservation
meeting. According to Williams (1989), most teachers do not favour
this form of observation because it is potentially threatening, prescriptive and
strictly observer centered. This traditional form of observation is known as the
directive or supervisory approach (Freeman, 1982), the primary goal of which is
to evaluate the teacher’s mastery of a prescribed methodology. ‘Good’ teaching
is defined in terms of a teacher’s adherence to a pre-planned set of classroom
procedures. The directive approach is also characterised by an unequal power
relationship between teacher and supervisor. The teacher is expected to follow
supervisors’ advice because they know what ‘good’ teaching means.
152 | Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings Apart from these two main shortcomings, namely prescriptiveness and
authoritativeness, the directive approach enjoys the advantage of clarity.
Teachers know what they are expected to do in class and supervisors know
areas on which to concentrate and comment. Additionally, this approach has
been proven useful for novice teachers in contexts where teachers need to
be given clear direction (Copeland, 1982).
The post-observation meeting
The observation cycle consists of three distinct phases: the pre-observation
meeting, where supervisors establish rapport with teachers and assure them
that they are there to offer help; the observation period, during which supervisors
carefully capture classroom events, making field notes or using checklists; and
the post-observation meeting, where supervisors indicate teachers’ strengths
and weaknesses. The post-observation meeting is a critical phase since it requires
supervisors to comment on and, at times, challenge teachers’ planning or teaching
behaviour. Supervisors need to be adequately trained and prepared for this phase.
They need to know how to praise, and how to deliver criticism, in a face-saving
manner and with evidence. They need to create an anxiety-free atmosphere and
know how to give effective advice.
According to Wallace and Woolger (1991: 322), a typical post-observation meeting
should include the following stages:
Stage 1: Establishing the facts: What happened? At this stage, supervisors and
teachers review the lesson, agreeing on the facts of what happened (i.e. the main
stages of the lesson) and critical incidents during the lesson. The main question at
this stage could be sub-divided into: a) What did the teacher do? and b) What did
the students do?
Stage 2: Objectives and achievements. At this stage, supervisors guide teachers
to talk about what was learned in the class. Again, the main question could be
sub-divided into: a) What was achieved? and b) What did the students learn?
Stage 3: Generating alternatives: What else could have been done? Here,
there is discussion of alternative strategies for a similar future lesson. This should
not be seen as criticism, but as an essential step towards ongoing professional
development.
Stage 4: Self-evaluation: What have you learned? This last question is of
importance in that teachers have to articulate what they have learned from the
observed teaching experience. The way they answer this question is significant
too, as an indicator of their powers of self-evaluation and self-improvement.
An effective post-observation meeting has a number of features. It should occur
immediately after the lesson when both teachers and supervisors have a fresh
memory of the lesson, and it should be data based. As Salas and Mercado (2010)
rightly argue, an effective supervisory dialogue is one that is based on empirical
data such as hand-written notes or recorded observations (either audio or video).
Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 153
Telling a teacher that ‘I did not observe enough corrective feedback,’ or ‘You did not
seem to correct your students sufficiently,’ does not work. Instead, by referring to
the number of opportunities in which the teacher could have applied corrective
feedback strategies and comparing them to the actual number of attempts during
the lesson, both supervisor and teacher can arrive at a more mutual and objective
understanding. The third important feature of an effective post-observation
meeting is that it should be goal directed. Both teachers and supervisors should
set clear future goals to improve problematic areas. A post-observation meeting
that does not result in improved action is nothing but empty words.
An effective post-observation meeting is one that takes both cognitive and
affective factors into consideration. The cognitive dimension refers to the new
information load conveyed to the teacher during the post-observation meeting,
while the affective dimension refers to positive support and face-saving strategies.
Some supervisors spend time commenting in detail on the lesson’s weak points and
give a full description of possible alternative courses of action, making the postobservation
meeting cognitively rich. Other supervisors are more conservative
in delivering criticism and dwell on positive points without commenting on those
aspects the teacher could have handled better, thereby making the meeting more
affectively supportive.
The following model, adapted from Bailey (2006), shows how these two factors
interact to form the following quadrant:
Figure 1: Interaction of cognitive and affective factors
Cognitively informative
Affectively
supportive
1 2
Affectively
unsupportive
3 4
Cognitively uninformative
The above model offers four options. The most favourable situation is both
cognitively informative and affectively supportive (Cell 1). Not surprisingly,
Cell 4 is the least favourable condition, which no observed teacher would ever
wish to experience. My experience of interviewing teachers shows that the majority
of feedback sessions fall into the two broad categories represented by Cells 2
and 3 in the above quadrant. The purpose of the study reported in this chapter
is an investigation of Iranian EFL teachers’ preference for either of these two
feedback types.
154 | Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings The study
The participants were 200 Iranian EFL teachers, both female (N=112) and male
(N=88) with an average age of 27. The selected sample included 100 novice
teachers (below two years of teaching experience) and 100 experienced teachers
(with an average of five years’ teaching experience). Some of the participants were
MA students of TEFL (N=69) who were taking a Teaching Practice course in which I
introduced the elements of an effective post-observation meeting. The rest were
BA students (N=131) majoring in English Language and Literature who attended
workshops I ran on principles of classroom observation, where I introduced the
feedback types represented in Figure 1. The participants were EFL teachers at
several well-known English language schools in Tehran, Iran. Table 1 shows the
number of the participants based on their gender and teaching experience.
Table 1: Distribution of the participants based on gender and teaching experience
Experience
Gender Novice Experienced Total
Female 58 54 112
Male 42 46 88
Total 100 100 200
All participants were asked to reflect on the four options – particularly Cells 2
and 3 – and send their comments and specific preference to me through an email
attachment no more than two days after they were introduced to the Cells in Figure 1.
The data was collected over a period of three years. The results revealed that there
was no significant difference between male and female teachers regarding their
preference for Cells 2 and 3. Table 2 shows that 49 per cent of both male and
female teacher groups preferred cognitively informative but affectively unsupportive
feedback, and likewise 51 per cent of the participants from both groups preferred
affectively supportive yet cognitively uninformative feedback.
Table 2: Frequency and percentage of teachers’ preferences
Teachers
Feedback type Female Male Novice Experienced
Cognitively informative/
affectively unsupportive
55 (49%) 43 (49%) 67 (67 %) 39 (39%)
Affectively supportive/
cognitively uninformative
57 (51%) 45 (51%) 33 (33%) 61 (61%)
However, regarding teaching experience, there was a significant difference
between novice and experienced teachers. While the majority of the novice
teachers (67 per cent) preferred supervisory feedback that was cognitively
informative, even if it was affectively unsupportive, most experienced teachers
(61 per cent) preferred the opposite type of feedback, namely one that is
affectively supportive yet cognitively uninformative.
Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 155
Evaluation
Before data analysis I had assumed the results would emerge in another direction.
My hypothesis was that novice teachers would welcome more affectively supportive
feedback, which would boost their confidence at the beginning of their career. The
results revealed that most of them favoured more cognitive-oriented feedback.
Even more surprising is the experienced teachers’ preference for more affectiveoriented
feedback despite the fact that they should supposedly be more confident
in receiving criticism.
The comments made by participating teachers were informative. Below, I cite a
number of extracts that show how both novice and experienced teachers think
and feel about the feedback they receive in post-observation meetings (all names
are pseudonyms).
Although the majority of novice teachers (67 per cent) were in favour of Cell 2,
namely feedback that is cognitively informative but affectively unsupportive, there
were some who preferred emotional support from the supervisor because they
thought they would leave the job in its absence. A female novice teacher comments:
Actually, I am in favour of Cell 3, which is affectively supportive. While the
main concern for a teacher is to learn something new and grow professionally,
affective support is much more important to me, because I am kind of fragile
and unfortunately every negative feedback in my career would break me easily
and causes me to quit teaching! (Aida, novice teacher, age 24)
This is a typical example of how a novice teacher, while admitting the need for
professional growth, expresses her preference for affective support because
she thinks negative criticism would completely demotivate her.
Similarly, another novice teacher notes that:
I would prefer cognitively uninformative and affectively supportive feedback
from the supervisor because I have a very low self-esteem. If somebody
criticises me that will not be of any help to me for improvement; I would give
up on that issue and call myself an incompetent teacher thereafter. I need to
be praised in order to continue. (Hamid, novice male teacher, age 25)
As mentioned before, despite these two comments from novice teachers, the
majority of them opted for Cell 2, which is feedback intended to add something to
their knowledge and hence is more cognitively oriented in nature. As one of these
teachers comments:
I prefer the second cell. It is really important for me that the observer gives
feedback on my various ways of teaching. The matter of being emotionally
supported is not the case for me. I had such an experience. An observer came
to my class and said my way of teaching was not appropriate for that level. He
criticised me harshly, yet provided me with a new alternative. Although at first his
way of criticising shook my confidence, shortly after that I thought of applying
156 | Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings his suggestion and it really worked. So I really expect an observer to offer his/
her suggestions for improvement, no matter whether it is affectively supportive
or not. (Parisa, novice female teacher, age 25)
Parisa admits that harsh criticism might hurt, yet could prove useful provided it is
accompanied by information helpful to the teacher (in this case, ‘a new alternative’).
Another female teacher makes a similar comment:
I prefer cognitively informative and affectively unsupportive comments of a
supervisor. For me, the most important thing is to improve the quality of my
teaching, so I do not care about those affectively unsupportive comments even
if they may be offensive. If I find my supervisor’s comment informative, I will try
to overlook and forget the annoying part of it. I believe it is better to be aware
of my problems in teaching and their solutions rather than remain unaware but
happy. (Maryam, novice teacher, age 23)
As for the experienced teachers, the majority of them (61 per cent) preferred
feedback that was affectively supportive with little cognitive load. Two typical
comments are as follows:
I do think affectively supportive condition that considers the emotional status
of a teacher will be the most efficacious. As a result, the third option is the
safest for me as an experienced teacher because I have almost enough
information related to my profession. However, I think that for novice teachers,
cognitively informative feedback will be more useful. (Ramin, experienced
male teacher, age 28)
Another experienced male teacher put it as follows:
Experienced teachers have gone through years of experiences and have got
fixed in their techniques and methods, so they do believe what they are doing
is based on long experiences and is absolutely correct. Therefore, it is hard
to add new information to them, so Cell 3 is better for these teachers.
(Sheida, experienced female teacher, age 29)
The majority of experienced teachers both implicitly and explicitly pointed out that
when teachers gain competence and confidence after several years of teaching, it
is hard to change their attitudes towards certain practices, particularly when they
become a fixed part of their cognition or belief systems. It might be possible to
change teachers’ peripheral beliefs after some time, but changing their core beliefs
seems extremely difficult (Phipps and Borg, 2009). Supervisors should therefore
exercise caution when delivering feedback to experienced teachers, because
many have developed and established their own style and philosophy of teaching,
which they hold to be true. The post-observation meeting for experienced teachers
is likely to foster tension if supervisors do not provide any affectively supportive
feedback. As a senior experienced teacher told me:
What I need from a younger supervisor is nothing but respecting what I’m
doing in my classes.
Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 157
Comments of this sort mean that the long-held beliefs of senior teachers
are the red lines that supervisors should approach tactfully.
Conclusion
This study was an attempt to explore Iranian EFL teachers’ attitudes towards
the type of feedback they would prefer to receive in post-observation meetings
following the four-cell grid proposed earlier. The results showed that while there
was no difference between male and female teachers’ attitudes, there was a
significant difference between novice and experienced teachers in that novice
teachers were mainly in favour of cognitively informative feedback whereas
experienced teachers mostly favoured the affectively supportive type. Novice
teachers may be more motivated to learn new things to improve their practice,
even at the cost of receiving negative feedback. Experienced teachers may be
more concerned about ‘face’ and hence prefer supervisors’ approval. The
implication is that the approach to observing novice and experienced teachers’
classes should be different. The directive approach, though traditional, appears
to work with novice teachers, particularly in settings where there is a prescribed
methodology. However, this approach may not work with experienced teachers
who believe in what they have been doing for some years. A better approach to
adopt for these teachers would be the non-directive approach, which is more
humanistic in nature and affectively supportive. Supervisors who advise teachers
through this approach do not prescribe what is best to do and nor do they make
judgmental comments, but they may ‘try to rectify the erroneous beliefs of the
teacher’. (Baleghizadeh, 2010: 10) This, however, requires expertise on the part of
supervisors to convince experienced teachers to change their beliefs at the same
time as saving their ‘face’. Such supervision is recommended only if sufficiently
trained supervisors are available.
References
Baleghizadeh, S (2010) Observation and feedback: Some theoretical essentials
for an effective observer training course. The Teacher Trainer 24/3: 8 –12.
Bailey, KM (2006) Language Teacher Supervision: A Case-Based Approach.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Copeland, W (1982) Student teachers’ preference for supervisory approach.
Journal of Teacher Education 33/1: 32– 36.
Freeman, D (1982) Observing teachers: three approaches to in-service training
and development. TESOL Quarterly 16/1: 21–28.
Gebhard, J (1990) The supervision of second and foreign language teachers. ERIC
Digest, ERIC Clearinghouse on language and linguistics (EDOFL-90-06). Washington
DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Goldsberry, L (1988) Three functional methods of supervision. Action in Teacher
Education 10/1: 1 –10.
158 | Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings Phipps, S and Borg, S (2009) Exploring tensions between teachers’ grammar
teaching beliefs and practices. System 37/3: 380 – 390.
Salas, S and Mercado, L (2010) Looking for the big picture: Macro-strategies for
L2 teacher observation feedback. English Teaching Forum 48/4: 18 – 23.
Sheal, P (1989) Classroom observation: Training the observers. ELT Journal
43/2: 92 – 103.
Wallace, M and Woolger, D (1991) Improving the ELT supervisory dialogue:
the Sri Lankan experience. ELT Journal 45/4: 320 –327.
Williams, M (1989) A developmental view of classroom observations.
ELT Journal 43/2: 85 –91.
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 159
Effecting
methodological
change through
a trainer-training
project: a tale of
insider-outsider
collaboration
Sue Leather and Khalil Motallebzadeh
160 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 161
13
Effecting methodological change
through a trainer-training project:
a tale of insider-outsider
collaboration
Sue Leather and Khalil Motallebzadeh
Introduction
In Iran there is a need to train teachers of English in the oral-communicative
approach, to keep pace with both Iranian students’ desire to speak English and
with the needs of Iranian society as a whole.
In this chapter we reflect on the Iran Trainer Training Project (ITTP), for Iranian
ELT professionals, which aims to address this need. We explain how we have gone
about introducing practical, interactive training methods to Iranian Master Trainers
in an attempt to introduce a cascade of practice-focused methodology to teacher
trainers and teachers. We make reference to our own collaboration as ‘insider’ and
‘outsider’ on the project, and the benefits of these two perspectives in developing
an effective intervention.
Context
Understanding the context of teaching and learning, as Wedell and Malderez (2013)
have pointed out, is important before initiating any educational change. Indeed,
they call it ‘the starting point for change’ (p. 228). It is for this reason that we start
with a brief overview of the current context of ELT in Iran.
English is the foreign language most widely taught in Iran. All students have to
take English in secondary schools and universities. There are also many private
language institutions teaching English across the country. Despite this popularity,
as Talebinezhad and SadeghiBeniss (2005) argue, few public schools and
universities have been successful in meeting Iranian students’ ever-increasing
desire to learn English communicatively (cited in Aghagolzadeh and Davari, 2014).
This has resulted in, as Riazi (2005) says, a high number of private schools and
language institutions offering English language at different levels in their curriculum.
Looking back on recent history, as Farhady et al. (2010) and Tollefson (1991) note,
the Islamic Revolution (1979) had a great impact on ELT in Iran. Tollefson believes
that the end of English domination was associated with the changing structure of
power in Iranian society. Beeman (1986) claims that after the Revolution, English
162 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project was mostly associated with Western subjugation of the Iranian people. It seems
that after the Islamic Revolution, English was, to a great extent, restricted to areas
such as diplomacy and science (Farhady et al., 2010).
In the past two decades there has been a rapid growth in science and technology
in the Iranian context. This has meant that the role of foreign languages, especially
English, is now a key factor in educational development. Meanwhile, the anxiety
over the spread of Western values in Iran through ELT has attracted many
Iranian authors to consider ELT as the silent hegemony of the West and call for
a movement towards localisation (Akbari, 2003; Davari, 2011; Pishghadam and
Naji, 2011). For example, Pishghadam and Zabihi (2012: 67) claim that the ‘West
has made every effort to ensure that the English language in its pure British and
American forms, along with their specific ideological, cultural, and attitudinal views,
are kept as uncontaminated as possible by other localities’. Failing to support
their claims with empirical data, they also accuse Iranian ELT professionals as
responsible for the marginalisation of Iran by showing positive attitudes towards
American culture (ibid.).
Objectives of teaching foreign languages in Iran
Teaching English as a foreign language has been approved as part of the
educational curriculum by the Iranian government. It is also reiterated by the
Fundamental Reform Document of Education (FRDE), ratified by the Iran Supreme
Council of Cultural Revolution in December 2011 (Ministry of Education, 2011). The
document sets out various operational objectives and corresponding strategies for
Iranian individuals to achieve. Teaching foreign languages is seen as a strategy to
achieve the objectives: ‘provision of foreign language education within the optional
(core-elective) section of the curriculum framework by observing the principle of
stabilisation and enforcement of the Islamic–Iranian identity.’ (strategy 1–5)
Status of English Language teaching in Iran
According to a report released by the Statistical Center of Iran (2014), there
were more than 12 million Iranian students studying at various levels in 2012.
Out of this number, more than five million are at the junior and senior high schools.
Based on the same report, more than four million students enrolled at both state
and non-governmental universities for the same period. To meet these students’
needs for English language at secondary and tertiary levels, two main models
of TEFL are employed by public schools, universities and private institutions:
traditional grammar and the reading-based method, and the oral-communicative
approach or communicative language teaching (CLT). The former is mostly
practised at public schools and universities while the latter is the core
methodology in private language institutions.
Although the principal objectives of teaching English at senior high schools
are helping students learn new words, reading comprehension, structures,
pronunciation and practising short conversation, as clearly stated in the secondgrade
book English II, most teachers practise reading, grammar and vocabulary
(Hosseinikhah et al., 2014). The new educational system in Iran has started a shift
from traditional to communicative methods in junior high schools. Kheirabadi and
Alavi Moghaddam (2014: 231) call this reform ‘the revolutionary process’. They, as
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 163
the main authors of the new textbook series English for Schools (Prospect 1 & 2),
have tried to blend communicative language teaching with local topics and culture
to enrich the learners’ cultural attachment and local identity. They add that the
objective of the new series, based on Common European Framework of Reference
(CEFR) themes and functions, is to help learners achieve B1 level. This series is
welcomed by Iranian EFL teachers, although no official report has been released.
During the past two years several workshops and seminars have been held by the
Ministry of Education to orient and empower teachers to use CLT.
English is mainly used as a vehicle to improve reading ability at universities. English
for Specific Purposes (ESP) is practised by English departments at universities
across Iran. Farhady et al. (2010) argue that a three-hour ESP course is taught
at universities through the translation method to enable students to read and
understand professional materials in English. This indicates that oral communication
is a neglected skill at tertiary level.
At private language institutes the core methodology follows CLT approaches.
Textbooks such as American File, Top Notch and New Interchange Series are
used. For most Iranian learners and teachers, the focus on oral skills in CLT in
such private institutions is considered advantageous and effective (Razmjoo and
Riazi, 2006). These institutions provide both their novice and experienced teachers
with obligatory training courses, which include theoretical and practical issues in
CLT. However, in a study examining the current teacher training programmes at
private schools in Iran, Motallebzadeh (2012: 90) argues that the ‘major principles
underlying such programmes are based on the EFL teachers’ and teacher trainers’
preferences.’ He concludes that teacher training programmes follow a trainercentered
mode and have little room for students’ or trainees’ needs. He also
maintains that such programmes emphasise the development of good EFL
teachers rather than good EFL learners.
Our brief overview, then, shows a complex and shifting context, in which oral
communication is of increasing importance.
Current models of teacher training/education
According to Wallace (1991), there are three popular models of teacher training
or education: the Craft Model, the Applied Science Model and the Reflective
Model. In the traditional Craft Model, trainees work closely with experienced or
master teachers and learn from them by observation, instruction and practice.
This model, as Christodoulou (2010) claims, lacks reflection on progress and
professional development. The Applied Science Model focuses on knowledge and
skill transferred from trainer to trainees and gives rise to the metaphor of teacher
educator as transmitter of knowledge (Swan 1993: 242). The Reflective Model helps
trainees add experience to their process of self-development. This model looks at
the teacher educator as ‘catalyst, collaborator and facilitator’. (ibid.)
Recently, Kumaravadivelu (2012) has proposed the Modular Model, consisting
of five modules: knowing, analysing, recognising, doing and seeing (KARDS).
According to this model, local contextual factors should determine both the goal
and content of teacher education programmes. He argues that local practitioners
should ‘take up the challenge, build a suitable model, and change the current ways
164 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project of doing language teacher education’. (p. 129) He sees sustained conversation
and constructive criticism carried out in a collaborative spirit as the principal
components of professional development.
Analysing teacher training programmes in Iran, the Craft and Applied Science
models are the most prominent (Motallebzadeh, 2012). The type of training
courses currently offered in universities, teacher training centres and language
institutes emphasise ELT knowledge transmission and shaping EFL teachers
through imitation of a master trainer (ibid.). Due to the rapid changes brought
about by new technology and new textbooks in public schools, teacher training
programmes in both public and private sectors require a shift from the Craft
model to more Reflective and Modular modes.
The ITTP project
Project aims, activities and structure
The ITTP project began in late 2011, so, at the time of writing, the project is just
over three years old. The aims of the project are to train cohorts of teacher trainers
to deal with the changing context of ELT in Iran, and deliver effective teachertraining
courses. The ultimate aim is to enable public sector teachers to teach
students to communicate in English.
The project has a number of strands. It is a cascade-training project, involving
the training of a number of cohorts of Iranian Master Trainers (MTs) and of Iranian
teacher trainers (TTs). The first cohort of MTs is now involved in training the next
cohort, with the support of international consultants. MTs are trained for 55 hours
face to face. Once trained, the MTs then select and train their own cohorts of
teacher trainers in Iran. These teacher trainers are then assessed, both by MTs and
by international consultants, using a set of criteria specifically devised for the ITTP
project. Once teacher trainers pass the assessment, they are able to deliver their
own teacher-training courses to teachers in Iran. The teacher-training course they
deliver has been written by a group of ten Iranian materials writers who have been
trained as part of the project.
In addition, there is online support for MTs and TTs via a VLE (virtual learning
environment). The platform is used to deliver continuous professional development
(CPD) to participants, in the form of professional development topics. These topics
are sometimes chosen by the international consultants and sometimes by the
trainers. Each topic runs for two or three weeks. They are usually training topics
such as How to design and plan an in-service training course, or How to evaluate
an in-service training course. The discussions are facilitated by the Iranian MTs
with some support from the consultants. The participants (all teacher trainers) take
part in the discussions and tasks on a voluntary basis and are assessed through
participation. At the time of writing, over 100 trainers from all over the country
are signed up for the VLE.
To sum up this description, the project structure is multi-layered. These layers
overlap. There are MTs, materials writers and teacher trainers. The MTs train
teachers to become teacher trainers. The teacher trainers deliver the workshops
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 165
designed by the materials writers. Some materials writers are also teacher trainers
or MTs. All are supported online by structured continuing professional development
discussions. See Figure 1, below.
Figure 1: The ITTP project
Materials
writers
Master trainers
Online support
Online support Online support
Teacher
trainers
Project strategies
In the ‘Context’ section above, we mentioned that the practice of ELT in Iran falls
into two main categories: the traditional grammar and reading-based method, and
the oral-communicative approach, sometimes known as communicative language
teaching (CLT).
In strategising the ITTP project, we were mindful of the need not only to fully
understand the context, but also to find a methodological way forward that
did not totally sideline the knowledge and skills of the Iranian context. Holliday
(1994), writing about international projects such as ITTP, explores the BANA–TESEP
dichotomy. BANA is ‘that which is oriented towards the private sector in Britain,
North America and Australasia’. TESEP is an acronym that comes from Tertiary,
Secondary, Primary, as ‘state education in the rest of the world’. (Holliday 1994:
12–13) Holliday argues convincingly that methodologies created in BANA contexts
do not readily transfer to TESEP contexts, and that there is a power differential
between the two, with TESEP becoming second class as it is forced to make
unsuitable adaptations. The widespread attempt to introduce the communicative
approach in TESEP contexts is one example of this. His discussion of ‘tissuerejection,’
where project innovations do not ‘take’ because of deep-seated cultural
and contextual differences, is a familiar scenario.
166 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project The international consultants’ background in BANA, with CLT as their main frame
of reference, clearly gives them a certain cultural perspective on teaching
and learning, and on the roles of teachers. It predisposes them towards what
Holliday (1994: 53–54) calls the ‘learning group ideal’, the ‘notion of the optimum
interactional parameters within which classroom language learning can take
place’. From their cultural perspective, the ‘learning group’ is the best way to
achieve what Holliday calls ‘process-oriented, task-based, inductive, collaborative
communicative … methodology.’
Whereas the BANA context tends to start from practice, and holds process in high
regard, in the Iranian context, theory and content have a high status. One danger,
then, particularly in training situations, is what Maingay (1997: 120) has called
‘a lack of awareness of underlying assumptions’. For this reason, it has been our
intention in ITTP to create sustained conversation and collaboration between the
‘insiders’, or Iranian trainers, and the ‘outsiders’, the international consultants.
It is our belief that a ‘learning conversation’ (Argyris 1992: 53) between insiders
and outsiders can create a positive and fruitful atmosphere for a teacher training
or education model to support development. This insider-outsider dialogue and
collaboration is the lynchpin of our overall project strategy.
With all this in mind, we have put some strategies into place in the ITTP project
to try to avoid the imposition of one set of methodological assumptions, deriving
from a specific context, on to a totally different context. We now outline some of
these strategies.
Overall
We have had to work within the limitations of a classical cascade project, since
the ‘outsiders’, or international consultants, in this project have not had access to
participants within Iran itself. Within these limitations, we have tried to find ways
of co-creating project outputs as much as possible.
Training and methodology
1. We have included theory in the MT training courses, often in the form of
short pieces of input or readings.
2. We have included sessions that attempt to raise awareness of participants’
understandings of content and process.
3. We have included daily reflection in the training courses as a way of observing
how participants are processing the methodology they are experiencing.
4. Micro-training and preparation for micro-training makes up to 50 per cent
of training courses. This is another way of observing how participants are
processing methodological input.
5. From the very first level of the cascade, Iranian MTs have worked alongside
international trainers. This has enabled better transference, as Iranian trainers
have been able to communicate needs, interpret, and localise the ideas and
methodologies of the international trainers/consultants.
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 167
6. Supervision has decreased over time, so that we are now at the point
where Iranian MTs are in charge of Master Training courses, with minimal
‘outside’ input.
7. Though working from a timetable drawn up in advance, we have often
changed the timetable as we go through the courses, as both ‘sides’
perceive emerging needs.
Materials development
1. Materials development was led by Iranian trainers/materials developers and
supported by the international consultants. The resulting course is something
which Iranian trainers are comfortable delivering.
Assessment
1. Assessment of teacher trainers is always done by a team of Iranian and
international assessors co-operatively.
2. Teacher trainers are assessed by practical examination and by feedback
from the MTs who have trained them in-country.
Online support
1. MTs facilitate most of the discussions on the VLE.
2. The discussions are mainly about applying ideas, methods and techniques
within the specific, individual Iranian contexts of the participants.
Reflection
ITTP, as a context-sensitive project, is revealing how successful a blended model
of trainer and teacher development can be in the Iranian context. The project has
benefited from various features of the Applied Science Model, the Reflective Model
and the Modular Model. Moving from feeding to leading and showing to throwing
(McGrath, 1997) is one the major highlights of the training model.
In addition, the collaborative role of insiders and outsiders has significantly
affected the success of the project by developing learning or dialogic conversation
between Iranian Master Trainers and the international consultants. The VLE, as the
main platform for online communication among trainers and consultants, has been
shown to be an effective mode for CPD.
Meanwhile, the focus on loop input throughout the whole project is a strength.
Loop input, coined by Woodward (1986) is a ‘specific type of experiential teacher
training process that involves an alignment of the process and content of learning’.
(Woodward 2003: 301) Through successive training courses, Iranian trainers have
become more aware of process and its relationship to content, and of the process
options involved in training sessions. This has also encouraged reflection on the
balance between content and process among teacher trainers at all levels of
the cascade.
168 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project Conclusion
The ITTP project is still in progress, but we have already seen significant successes
in the way that Master Trainers and teacher trainers are engaged and empowered
through the project. Twelve Master Trainers are running their own face-to-face
courses in-country. The number of courses being run varies, but on average the
teacher trainers deliver courses to 30–50 teachers a year. The average length of
their course is five days (c. 30 hours), but some have run longer part-time versions
to suit their participants’ schedules.
MTs are also providing online CPD for groups of teacher trainers through the VLE.
At this time there are some 100 participants logged on to the VLE. Ninety-two
Iranian teacher trainers have passed the assessment process and are able to
deliver the teacher training course in Iran. Two Iranian Master Trainers from the
initial Master Training cohort of 12 are about to deliver the next 55-hour face-toface
Master Training. Capacity building is happening in a real and measurable way.
We have been able to assess the impact of the training undertaken by MTs incountry
by the performance of teacher trainers at assessments. We can then
give feedback to Master Trainers in order to modify training on an ongoing basis.
Impacts on teachers have not yet been meaningfully assessed, and clearly this
will be of paramount importance in the final assessment of the success of ITTP.
As the final users of the project are the teachers and their target students, it seems
necessary to design a quasi-experimental or a correlational research project.
We hope that there are a number of strategies and outcomes in this project that will
aid sustainability. Surely the most important achievement so far is the development
of a large group of professionals who have become engaged in the project and
have shown a willingness to contribute to ELT in their home context.
References
Aghagolzadeh, F and Davari, H (2014) Iranian Critical ELT: A Belated but Growing
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Studies (JCEPS) 12/1.
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Akbari, R (2003) Silent hegemony: ELT as linguistic imperialism in Iran. Paper
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Beeman, WO (1986) Language, Status and Power in Iran, Bloomington: Indian
University Press.
Christodoulou, BI (2010) Teacher Self-Reflection. An unpublished PhD Dissertation.
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from an Iranian Perspective. Unpublished MA thesis, PayamNour University.
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Farhady, H, Hezaveh, FS and Hedayati, H (2010) Reflections on Foreign Language
Education in Iran. TESL-EJ 13/4.
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Hosseinikhah, A, Mehrmohammadi, M, Fardanesh, H and Akbari, R (2014)
A Comparative Study of Iranian and Swedish English Curriculum. Journal of
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Kheirabadi, R and Alavi Moghaddam, SB (2014) New Horizons in Teaching
English in Iran: A Transition From Reading-Based Methods To Communicative
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London: Routledge.
Maingay, P (1997) ‘Raising Awareness of Awareness’, in McGrath, I (ed) Learning
to train: Perspectives on the development of language teacher trainers. Hemel
Hempstead: Prentice Hall.
McGrath, I (1997) ‘Feeding, Leading, Showing, Throwing: Process Choices in
Teacher Training and Trainer Training’, in McGrath, I (ed) Learning to train:
Perspectives on the development of language teacher trainers. Hemel Hempstead:
Prentice Hall.
Ministry of Education (2011) Fundamental Reform Document of Education (FRDE) in
the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran. Iran. Available online at: http://dca.razaviedu.ir/
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Motallebzadeh, K (2012) ‘Can We Make Good EFL Teachers? A Reflection on the
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Contributors | 171
Contributors
Ferdows Aghagolzadeh, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Tarbiat Modares
University, Iran
Shahrzad Ardavani, Teacher of English, Tehran, Iran
Sasan Baleghizadeh, Associate Professor of TEFL, Department of English
Language and Literature, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Martin Cortazzi, Visiting Professor of Applied Linguistics, Centre for Applied
Linguistics, University of Warwick, UK
Hossein Davari, Assistant Professor of English, Damghan University, Iran
Philip Durrant, Lecturer in Language Education, Graduate School of Education,
University of Exeter, UK
Farinaz Fartash, MA graduate, Department of English, Tabriz Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
Elham Foroozandeh, Assistant Professor of ELT and Literature, Department of
English, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Forouzani, Assistant Professor of ELT and Literature, Department of
English, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran
Mostafa Hasrati, Lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics, University of Bath, UK
Julia Hüttner, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, University of
Southampton, UK
Lixian Jin, Professor of Linguistics and Intercultural Learning, Director, Centre
for Intercultural Research in Communication and Learning (CIRCL), De Montfort
University, UK
Shiva Kaivanpanah, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Foreign
Languages and Literatures, University of Tehran, Iran
Sepideh Khodakarami, MA graduate, English Language Education, Alzahra
University, Tehran, Iran
Sue Leather, Director, Sue Leather Associates, ELT Consultancy and Training,
Vancouver, Canada
Li Li, Senior Lecturer and Director, MEd in TESOL, Graduate School of Education,
University of Exeter, UK
Golnar Mazdayasna, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Yazd University, Iran
Alireza Memari Hanjani, Lecturer, Department of English, Eslamshahr Islamic Azad
University, Iran
172 | Contributors
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini, Assistant Professor, Department of English
Language and Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
Mona Mohabbatsafa, Postgraduate Researcher, School of Education,
University of Southampton, UK
Gholam Ali Molaei, High School Teacher of English, Yazd, Iran
Khalil Motallebzadeh, Associate Professor, Islamic Azad University,
Torbat-e-Heydarieh and Mashhad Branches, Iran
Majid Nemati, Associate Professor, Head, English Language and Literature
Department, University of Tehran, Iran
Zohreh Seifoori, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Tabriz Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
Parvaneh Tavakoli, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, University of Reading, UK
Samaneh Zandian, Postgraduate Researcher, Centre for Applied Linguistics,
University of Warwick, UK

ISBN 978-0-86355-769-9
© British Council 2015 / E555
The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation
for cultural relations and educational opportunities.
The British Council’s objective in producing this publication is to provide an informed
overview of the current situation in English language teaching in the Islamic Republic
of Iran from the viewpoint of local practitioners and researchers for the enrichment
of ELT professionals worldwide. The volume, highlighting the themes of Innovations,
Trends and Challenges, consists of 13 chapters, covering language policy, syllabus
and materials design, methodology, and teacher and trainer training, with examples
drawn from the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education, and from public
and private sectors. The linkage between topics, levels and sectors provides a
fascinating mosaic of ELT developments in Iran.
The editor of this publication, Professor Chris Kennedy, has had a long and varied
career in ELT and Applied Linguistics as teacher, trainer, manager, researcher
and consultant in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. His research interests
include language policy, innovation, project evaluation and investigation of linguistic
landscapes. He is a Past President of IATEFL and was for many years Chair of the
British Council’s English Language Advisory Committee. He is an Honorary Research
Fellow at the University of Birmingham, and an Honorary Fellow at the University
of Warwick, UK.

English language teaching in
the Islamic Republic of Iran:
Innovations, trends and challenges
Edited by Chris Kennedy

English language teaching in
the Islamic Republic of Iran:
Innovations, trends and challenges
Edited by Chris Kennedy
ISBN 978-0-86355-769-9
© British Council 2015 Design/E555
10 Spring Gardens
London SW1A 2BN, UK
www.britishcouncil.org
Contents | 1
Contents
Foreword........................................................................................................................................................3
Overview
Chris Kennedy.................................................................................................................................................. 5
1 To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian
education system
Hossein Davari and Ferdows Aghagolzadeh ...........................................................................13
2 A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini and Sepideh Khodakarami............................................23
3 How have political and socio-economic issues impacted on
the motivation of Iranian university students to learn English?
Shahrzad Ardavani and Philip Durrant.......................................................................................35
4 Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities
Golnar Mazdayasna and Gholam Ali Molaei.............................................................................49
5 Developing school English materials for the new Iranian
educational system
Elham Foroozandeh and Mohammad Forouzani....................................................................59
6 The impact of language games on the nature of interactions
in the Iranian EFL primary classroom
Mona Mohabbatsafa and Julia Hüttner......................................................................................73
7 EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances
of participatory structures
Zohreh Seifoori and Farinaz Fartash...........................................................................................83
8 Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience
Alireza Memari Hanjani and Li Li...................................................................................................95
9 Migrant literature and teaching English as an international
language in Iran
Samaneh Zandian .............................................................................................................................113
10 Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran
Martin Cortazzi, Lixian Jin, Shiva Kaivanpanah and Majid Nemati................................123
11 MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era
Parvaneh Tavakoli and Mostafa Hasrati..................................................................................139
12 Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in
post-observation meetings
Sasan Baleghizadeh.........................................................................................................................151
13 Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project:
a tale of insider-outsider collaboration
Sue Leather and Khalil Motallebzadeh.....................................................................................161
2 | Contents
Foreword | 3
Foreword
The teaching and learning of foreign languages is one of the most powerful
tools we have to build a better understanding of, and stronger connections with,
other parts of the world; through this process, we build trust for and of ourselves,
our communities, and our countries.
It is in the interests of both the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and the UK to improve
the bilateral relationship. The British Council believes that better teaching and
learning of English in the IRI, and better teaching and learning of Farsi/Persian
in the UK will lead to more interest in each other’s peoples and societies, a greater
understanding of each other’s cultures, and a deeper trust.
This volume explores the innovations, trends, and challenges of English language
teaching in the IRI (we hope that a future volume may explore the teaching of
Farsi/Persian in the UK). Despite the disconnect between the IRI and the major
English-speaking countries over the last 35 years, the teaching and learning of
English in the IRI is thriving. Demand for English is high, and its benefits recognised
at the most senior levels: IRI Ministry of Education officials have talked of the
English language’s ‘direct impact on [Iran’s] social, economic, and scientific growth’
(quoted in Borjian, 2013: 116). Looking beyond the internal benefits of English,
IRI’s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini recognised, in a quote which prefaces
the IRI’s new English language textbooks, Prospects, the way that English can be
powerfully used to build a better understanding of the IRI internationally: ‘[T]oday,
modern foreign languages should be included in the school curricula … we can use
foreign languages to promote ourselves abroad’ (Curriculum Development Centre
of IRI Ministry of Education, 2013: 5; British Council translation). English is a bridge
to other countries and communities, providing opportunities for individuals in
education, work, and mobility; it is an important part of the school curriculum,
and we see this as clearly in the IRI as in the other countries with which we work.
We hope that this publication will provide a platform to demonstrate the best practices
and research of teachers and teacher trainers in the IRI, which will be of interest and
great use to English language teaching professionals in other countries. Through the
chapters we see issues explored which will be familiar to educators in many countries:
the tensions between traditional practice and more recent pedagogical thought,
issues around the need to be sensitive to the promotion of English language teaching
and potential effects on local culture and identity, and important questions concerning
the importance of intercultural awareness and the protection of local values and
principles in the face of increasing international communication. These subjects will
be familiar to those working in language teaching around the globe, and we hope
that the particular context of these questions in the IRI will spur the development
of others’ work in their own countries and contexts.
The British Council has been supporting the teaching and learning of English in
the IRI since 1942, and we continue to support teachers and learners of English
across the country. As we are in the process of building stronger relations with the
IRI to better enable us to deliver a mutually beneficial cultural relations portfolio,
we sincerely hope that this volume is seen as another step forward in developing
more understanding, and rebuilding trust.
Danny Whitehead
Director Iran, British Council
March 2015
4 | Foreword
Overview | 5
Overview
Chris Kennedy
I have interpreted the design on this volume’s front cover as an abstract
representation of a mosaic. Such a design is appropriate and relevant since the
purpose of this collection is to provide a mosaic, although inevitably incomplete,
of English language teaching (ELT) developments in Iran, in order to give readers
a picture of the variety of impressive professional activity in that nation. I hope
this volume’s content will provide a state-of-the-art baseline of interest and use
to those outside Iran, and will encourage others working inside Iran to continue
to explore local connections between ELT theory and practice. I hope too it will
remind readers that their concerns, at first sight seemingly specific to their own
local context, may have much in common with other situations, and that the global
ELT profession shares unexpected similarities.
The organisation of this volume follows a standard systemic format, with 13 chapters
on the Iranian situation, moving from cultural and socio-economic influences on
language policy and practice, to syllabus and materials design (including needs
analysis), to methodologies and, finally, to teacher and trainer training, involving
primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education, and public and private
provision. However, in this brief overview, I would like to take a slightly different
approach, and attempt to group the chapter topics around the three themes
suggested by the title of the collection, namely Innovations, trends and challenges,
while accepting that the themes interlink. Figure 1 below shows the three themes
and their mutual linkage.
Figure 1: Interlocking themes
Innovations
Challenges
Trends
6 | Overview
Innovations
Foroozandeh and Forouzani (chapter 5) give a personal and informed history of
ELT materials in Iran, culminating in the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
approach of the current Prospect secondary school series, which, in its early
stages, highlights national culture and the importance to students of the local
context. Both Leather and Motallebzadeh, and Davari and Aghagolzadeh (chapters
13 and 1 respectively) mention the importance of the materials for the future of ELT
in Iran, but stress that the move towards CLT should not cause the abandonment
of current more traditional practices. It is premature to see how well the courses
will embed within the system, although student heterogeneity, variation in school
resources, and the mismatch between traditional national university entrance
examinations and Prospect pedagogy give a flavour of potential struggles ahead.
However, it is encouraging that the materials and particularly teachers’ reactions to
them are being evaluated and hopefully evaluation will continue and be extended
to feedback from students.
Other innovations relate to methodology and to examples of teacher-initiated
classroom-based research. Zandian (chapter 9) reminds us of the importance
of literature as an integral part of ELT classrooms. She suggests an effective
procedure for promoting both intercultural awareness and exposure to different
varieties of English in order to encourage student critical reflection on the nature
of native-speaker English, in the Iranian context, standard American and British
English. She achieves these aims by selecting literature written in English by
migrants, including those from Iran, who are able to give insights through their
writings into their bicultural lives. She draws on her experience in the secondary
school sector, but her approach could as effectively be used with older students
and adults. Mohabbatsafa and Hüttner (chapter 6) introduce language games
into a primary school classroom, and demonstrate that the new methodology
and materials change the nature of the communication from a teacher-dominated,
passive class to one where pupils play more interactive roles with each other and
the teacher. Seifoori and Fartash (chapter 7) investigate the attitudes of language
institute teachers and students to different types of classroom organisation,
whole-class work, group/pair work and individual work, and show that although
teachers declare a preference for the more student-organised group/pair work,
the class in reality remains teacher dominated. Memari Hanjani and Li Li (chapter 8)
explore the use of collaboration and peer review in university writing classes,
techniques according to the authors that are not common in the Iranian system,
as they involve considerable changes in attitudes and beliefs on the part of
teachers and students. The authors suggest a staged approach to the new
methodology, using collaborative techniques initially where students work together
on essay comments from the teacher, and then, depending on student motivation,
introducing the more radical peer review in which students evaluate each other’s
essays. The interesting question these four studies raise is how to move from
individual classroom innovation to its integration in the wider educational system,
which takes commitment, time, resources, attitudinal change and training.
These studies are characterised by a move towards a learner-centred curriculum,
something we shall see later in the Trends section below, and the article by
Cortazzi et al. (chapter 10) is also part of this development. Using the techniques
Overview | 7
of metaphor research on a large group of university students, the authors were
able to collect an array of metaphorical comments from the students, revealing
insights into student views of their teachers, and their cognitive and affective
characteristics. This creative exercise was of benefit to students who could
discuss their findings and reveal, through the mediation of metaphor, their
attitudes towards their teachers and towards teacher opinions of them as
students. Such identity research could also be a powerful awareness-raising
tool for supervisors (Baleghizadeh, chapter 12) and teacher training programmes.
Leather and Motallebzadeh (chapter 13) describe a project that has as its ultimate
objectives the training of English teachers, but they start from the premise that in
order to achieve successful teacher training, you need to train professional cohorts
of teacher trainers who can themselves train additional trainers to, in turn, develop
teachers. Such cascade models of trainer and teacher training are becoming
widespread in many situations in which large numbers of teachers need to be
trained nationally, although cascade projects are not easy to implement. The
authors present a detailed account of the processes needed for successful
implementation, and suggest that insider–outsider collaboration can work well
if both parties work together constructively in negotiating a trainer programme
content that is receptive to new ideas but can be adapted to fit local circumstances.
Trends
The ELT trends described in this collection derive from higher-order socioeconomic
and political developments occurring in Iran and in the wider world.
Tavakoli and Hasrati (chapter 11) see international trends such as globalisation
impacting on higher education (HE) worldwide, leading to HE expansion, businessoriented
HE institutions and transnational student mobility, developments which
in turn have affected Iranian state and private universities in general and MA ELT
programmes in particular. Intake in such programmes has increased, with some
worries about quality. The MA curriculum content, according to the authors, has
not radically changed, though younger staff introduce piecemeal changes to their
own courses, an example of bottom-up change which eventually might lead to
more widespread content change if a critical tipping point can be reached.
Iranian students, in common with students internationally, are concerned
about getting qualified, and wish to achieve academically in Iran, but HE
internationalisation has also led them to look outside the country for future
higher qualifications and in some cases longer-term careers. Indeed Ardavani
and Durrant (chapter 3) warn against an exodus of young professionals, though
they also state, together with Davari and Aghagolzadeh (chapter 1), that students
want to contribute to Iran’s growth and many state they wish to return after
qualification. One of the carriers of internationalisation and globalisation has of
course been the English language and Iran has not been immune from the results
of its expansion. Several authors in this collection (Ardavani and Durrant, chapter 3;
Davari and Aghagolzadeh, chapter 1; Zandian, chapter 9) believe that English is
now a necessity and is acting as a bridge between Iran and other communities
internationally, and, as a consequence, emphasise the need for intercultural
training. Mirhosseini and Khodakarami (chapter 2) examine the demand for private
sector English language institute provision and institutional language policies
resulting from the expansion of English as an International Language (EIL). It is
8 | Overview
clear the institutes surveyed are less concerned with national language policies
than with responding to student demands and satisfying client expectations in
order to create conditions for a successful business operation. Private institutes in
this sense may be regarded as more learner-centred than state organisations, and
such commercial attitudes may account for the use in the institutes of international
rather than local Ministry-endorsed textbooks, and a concern for international
measures of language achievement. However, I have already indicated in the
section on Innovations above that there is greater interest in learner-centeredness
also in the public sector, reinforced by Mazdayasna and Molaei’s work (chapter 4)
on needs analysis at secondary level, who argue strongly that researching learner
needs, wants and desires is a necessary first stage prior to designing syllabuses
and materials.
The widespread use of EIL may slowly be changing current Iranian attitudes towards
standard US and British varieties of English (Zandian, chapter 9). If students are
exposed to varieties of English spoken by expert users who are not American or
British, they may realise that the high prestige accorded to US and British standard
varieties may be misplaced, or, at least, may be too narrow a focus. Indeed, the
research conducted by Ardavani and Durrant (chapter 3) seems to indicate that a
number of university students wish to identify with an international community
outside Iran as well as with their local community, and that, although these
communities are accessed through languages including English, a ‘native-speaker’
variety is no longer appropriate or relevant. This is likely over the longer term to
lead to a situation of variety-switching or variety-mixing, in which individuals will
tune into a communication and unconsciously select an appropriate variety for
particular purposes.
Challenges
Mirhosseini and Khodakarami (chapter 2) argue for a more explicit, less fragmented
English in education policy and regret the lack of a fit between statements of policy
from official bodies and their implementation at lower levels in the educational
system. Such a loose linkage between policy and practice is common in many
national educational systems since, even in highly centralised systems, it is difficult
to control the variables and differing agendas existing between the various agents
of planning, from Ministry officials to curriculum teams, materials writers, testers,
inspectors, trainers, school directors, teachers, students and parents. Indeed,
there may be an argument for welcoming loose linkages, since they give a degree
of freedom to the various agents to innovate away from the constraints of policy,
though the danger is, of course, one of fragmentation of purposes and objectives.
An alternative is to replace a top-down process with a reverse planning approach,
which begins with an assessment of classroom realities and subsequently plans
upwards through the different layers of the policy-making process. As an example,
Mazdayasna and Molaei (chapter 4), Foroozandeh and Forouzani (chapter 5) and
Zandian (chapter 9) mention the small number of hours allocated to the English
language school curriculum, which means that English proficiency targets are
unlikely to be achieved. A reverse planning approach would either accept the
lack of learning time and consequently produce realistic curriculum objectives
or, alternatively, attempt to increase the number of hours to match desired
proficiency outcomes.
Overview | 9
One of the reasons for the hesitant Iranian language policy is an unresolved
ambivalence towards English reported by several contributors. The ambivalence
is expressed in different ways, as a tension between tradition and modernity
(Cortazzi et al., chapter 10), or as a struggle between an enemy of local culture
and a necessary tool for progress (Davari and Aghagolzadeh, chapter 1), and
between local and international identities, resulting, at least at lower secondary
level schooling, in an emphasis on local culture (Leather and Motallebzadeh,
chapter 13).
Training and development appears to be a crucial area. Mazdayasna and Molaei
(chapter 4) and Davari and Aghagolzadeh (chapter 1) appeal for language
awareness and language development training for both students and teachers
to ensure the success of the new school English coursebooks, and Baleghizadeh
(chapter 12) supports targeted cognitive and affective approaches in the training
of teacher supervisors to respond to the diverse needs and wants of supervisees.
Seifoori and Fartash (chapter 7) caution against a technocratic view of training,
preferring strategies that engage with teacher attitudes and beliefs to raise
awareness of and reflection on different modes of thinking and acting.
So I return to the mosaic. I have tried to present here a number of the mosaic
pieces and their size and significance to give readers an idea of the mosaic’s
composition. It is of course incomplete, as pieces remain to be added and some
have been lost. A finished mosaic is unlikely in any case, as it will constantly
change as pieces are replaced and renewed. But for a larger, more complete
picture, I recommend readers to the individual chapters in this collection.
You will enjoy them.
Acknowledgments
I should like to thank all those working in and for the British Council, especially
Ellen Berry, Leila Tehrani and Danny Whitehead, for their unstinting help and
assistance in producing this volume. My thanks in particular must go to the many
contributors who kept to tight deadlines, agreed without complaint to changes
and amendments, and produced work of high quality.
Chris Kennedy
University of Birmingham
10 | Overview
To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system | 11
To teach or not
to teach? Still an
open question
for the Iranian
education system
Hossein Davari and Ferdows Aghagolzadeh
12 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system
To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system | 13
1
To teach or not to teach?
Still an open question for
the Iranian education system
Hossein Davari and Ferdows Aghagolzadeh
Introduction
The story of English language teaching (ELT) in Iran, as one of the most notable
anti-imperialistic countries in the world, has experienced a host of extreme ups
and downs. English is simultaneously known as the language of enemies (i.e. the
United States and the United Kingdom) on the one hand (Borjian, 2013) and as a
tool for progress (Riazi, 2005) on the other. While Hayati and Mashhadi (2010)
believe that Iran’s policy on English stops short of nationwide dissemination of
the language, the last decade in particular has witnessed a remarkable increase
in the number of Iranians learning English. Davari (2013) points out that the rapidly
changing situation in Iranian society is transforming English language learning
into a fashionable trend, with the result that ELT is not only a flourishing market
in the private sector, but is also playing a major role in English language spread.
The undeniable shortcomings of English learning in centralised public sector English
learning, leading to low efficacy and inefficiency with the growth of a new booming
private sector ELT market, have been mainly rooted in policy makers’ ambivalence
towards English education. To prove this claim, instances of inconsistency between
available policy documents and paradoxical practices are reviewed to show that the
issue of ELT remains a sensitive and covert unsolved question.
The ups and downs of English in Iran
In recent years ELT in Iranian society has been documented in several publications
including Dahmardeh (2009), Farhady et al. (2010), Hayati and Mashhadi (2010),
Ataee and Mazloom (2013), Borjian (2013), Davari (2013), and Aghagolzadeh and
Davari (2014) among others. What these works have in common is the belief that
under succeeding political and social changes, English has ebbed and flowed in
this society. For example, before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, as a result of
extensive collaboration with the West, especially the USA and UK, on economics,
education, political and cultural affairs, English and English education received
much attention such that French lost ground to English, which at that time became
Iran’s principal foreign language. Two prominent centres, namely the British Council
14 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system and the Iran-American Society (IAS), contributed to the development and
expansion of English as their official mission. The list of their contributions
in this field is extensive:
■■ offering general English courses and international English proficiency exams
■■ conducting teacher training summer workshops
■■ providing consultation to Iran’s Ministry of Education
■■ promoting English for specific purposes (ESP) methodology and textbooks
at university levels
■■ recruiting native-speaker English language instructors
■■ providing grants for English language teachers and professors to study English
literature and teaching methodology in American and British universities
■■ holding teacher training seminars and setting up branches in major cities
(see Yarmohannadi, 2005; Hayati and Mashhadi, 2010; Borjian, 2013; Strain,
1971, cited in Khajavi and Abbasian, 2011).
Alongside such endeavours, with growing attention to English, private English
language institutes came into existence. They established a growing number
of large-city branches and shouldered the responsibility of English extension,
especially among well-off families.
But such a heyday for English did not last long and with the advent of the Islamic
Revolution, a change of scene took place. The newly established government
opposed Western cultural, political, social and educational elements, and English
language activity was no exception. Due to perceptions of parallelism between
English language and the USA and UK, the language was faced with waves of
hostility from some post-revolutionary officials. According to Aliakbari (2002),
negative attitudes towards English led to a closure of the private English language
institutes as well as a purge of ELT textbooks. According to Borjian (2013), during
these years, the questions as to what to do with English and whether it should
stay on school and university curricula or be entirely banned were at the centre
of heated debates among the new ruling powers. While such debates finally led
to teaching English (Tollefson, 1991), the Revolution sought to nationalise its use.
The first wave of localised ELT appeared. New localised ELT school and university
textbooks were developed and the name of the Iran-American Society was
changed to the Iran Language Institute (ILI) with new objectives and a curriculum
in line with the ideological orientation of the newly established government.
In this situation, influenced by the conservative actions and beliefs of the
government, the first educational plan with regard to foreign language learning
was formulated in 1982. Due mostly to the sensitivities towards English language,
despite a lack of human resources, five other foreign languages (German, French,
Italian, Spanish and Russian) were introduced as foreign language choices in the
Iranian education system. As Farhady et al. (2010) note, following this amendment,
the national curriculum committee prepared school textbooks for these languages.
It was not surprising that, because of a lack of teachers as well as applicants for
these languages, English remained the most dominant foreign language in the
education system.
To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system | 15
At the beginning of the second decade of the Revolution in 1989, accompanied
by a wave of economic privatisation, private language institutes, formerly closed
down, resumed their operations, and new private English language institutes were
established. A perceived failure of the public education system, characterised by a
traditional teacher-centered approach and a grammar-translation method, led to a
flourishing private sector, despite some officials’ sensitivity and resistance.
In the third decade onwards around the beginning of the 21st century, society
paid more attention to English as the language of globalisation, communication,
science and technology. Influences at this time were globalisation and the Internet,
as well as social, cultural and educational transformations such as the expansion
of higher education, the growth of mass media and the ease of communication
with other societies and cultures. In the absence of any acceptable and defensible
performance of public education in the field of English teaching, the private sector
flourished. Despite changes and innovations in the private sector, there was no sign
of change in the public education structure and an imposed top-down resistance
was apparent. For example, while junior and senior high school textbooks in
mathematics, literature and Arabic were revised, updated and developed in new
formats, the content and aims of teaching English did not undergo any essential
changes and English textbooks remained much the same.
Finally, after around three decades of stasis, resistance was partially overcome,
due to increasing criticism of the status quo, the growing attention paid to English
in educational and development documents, and also society’s enthusiasm towards
the language.
In the remainder of this chapter we shall consider some causes of this
contradictory situation in which there is both a tendency towards ‘more English’
and a resistance leading to ‘less English’.
Reflections on the state’s ambivalent position
While language-in-education policy is one of the key mechanisms for implementing
educational language policies, until recently Iranian academic, political and cultural
settings have not received much attention and no formal document in language
policy, whether national or educational, has been developed or implemented.
In addition, reviewing available political and cultural documents also reveals that,
in spite of the importance of English language as the main foreign language in this
society as well as the long-standing sensitivities around it, there is no document
specific to English language. As a result, understanding the state’s orientation to
English inevitably involves referring to documents that even fleetingly have dealt
with English.
Our findings indicate that after more than two decades of inattention to English, it
has been explicitly and implicitly mentioned in a few newly developed educational
and development documents, especially during recent years. We scrutinised such
documents and their connection with current practice.
16 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system The first document dealing with English language, Comprehensive policies of the
Islamic Republic of Iran regarding globalization, was approved in 2004. English and
French are introduced as global languages that are necessary for Iran’s active
participation in the current world, though there does not appear to be any legal
requirement for implementation. Officials ‘must approach English as a necessary
skill and not as an element against identity,’ (p. 18) revealing the state concern that
English is a language threatening Iranian national and cultural identity. The mention
of French along with English as global languages also indicates a sensitivity
towards English.
Another publication entitled The National Curriculum Document was finalised in
2009. According to this document, besides computer literacy, knowing a foreign
language is one of the two essential axes of literacy in the third millennium, but is
also important in the development of tourism, business, technology, science and
political awareness.
Regarding foreign language education, the document recommends a
communicative approach and stresses learning all four language skills.
Other tentative suggestions are:
■■ Due to lateralisation around the ages of 10 to 12, the age of language
instruction should be lowered.
■■ As an optional subject, language should be taught at elementary level
through games and poems.
■■ Local issues as well as Islamic and Iranian values should be included
in textbooks.
Arabic is the language of religion, and the only taught foreign language in the
formal education system is English, yet in this document instead of using ‘English’,
the phrase ‘foreign language’ is still used. A sense of caution and hesitation also
seems apparent behind the document’s suggestions.
The third document that refers to English language is The fundamental
transformation of education finalised and approved by the Ministry of Education
in 2010. (The Ministry is responsible for all top-down decisions affecting primary
and high schools, including the adoption of particular curricula, teaching methods
and methodology, and the provision of resources and equipment.) This important
document is the basis for any transformation and development in education
during a 12-year period of primary and secondary schooling, and yet the status
of English is obscure. Allocating only one sentence to foreign language teaching,
the document introduces ‘foreign language study as an optional (semi-prescriptive)
course in the curriculum on condition that its teaching stabilises and strengthens the
Islamic and Iranian identity.’ (p. 20)
Additional points are worthy of attention. Like the document described previously,
the term ‘foreign language’ has been substituted for ‘English’. The programme is
designated as ‘optional’, and its description as ‘semi-prescriptive’ remains
ambiguous. Its teaching is also subject to certain ideological conditions.
To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system | 17
Reviewing these three documents discloses not only the inconsistency between
them, but also shows the state’s hesitation, conservatism and ambivalence towards
English language. In the following section, we review some English language
teaching practices in the education system.
From unformed policies to haphazard practices
In the absence of any specific document on foreign language education policy
(Kiany et al., 2010), together with the contradictory suggestions in the abovementioned
documents, the question that arises is: What has taken place in the
field of English language teaching practices and performances during the
recent decade?
As already pointed out, after three decades of an inflexible curriculum, resistance
was partially broken and the first steps were taken to change the system. Influenced
by the private sector’s qualified success, the need for changes in the national
curriculum arose. As an initial step, the first and the second volumes of a six-series
English textbook for high schools were published, in 2013 and 2014 respectively,
under the title of Prospect. In this new curriculum, mostly limited to textbooks’
revision, English education has been reconceptualised not only to encourage
students’ active participation in the leaning process and use of the target
language in communication, but also to encourage teachers to promote students’
communicative skills and minimise mother tongue use. Although it is too soon to
evaluate the performance of this curriculum, without any specific reform in other
components, including those relating to personnel, resource and evaluation
(Kaplan and Baldauf, 2005), the goals may not be attainable.
For example, English language teachers’ language proficiency, content knowledge
and pedagogical skills will need upgrading to meet the curriculum’s requirements.
Success cannot be guaranteed in the absence of appropriate in-service training
for the teachers used to traditional methods and now presented with new books
and content. One of the first requirements of implementing a communicative
approach is the use of trained and fluent teachers, but because of a shortage
of such teachers there is pressure to employ untrained teachers as an interim
measure. Thus, due to an insufficient supply of qualified teachers, and a lack of
in-service training to maintain and increase teachers’ proficiency, the curriculum
may not be able to fulfil its expectations.
The issue of time allocation also raises some important questions. Implementing
a communicative approach, especially in those societies where English is a foreign
rather than a second or additional language, involves substantial time allocation
to increase students’ proficiency. In this new curriculum the allocated time, instead
of increasing, has decreased. Kaplan and Baldauf (1997) suggest most foreign
language education worldwide is delivered at the rate of three 50-minute periods
each week. The average time in the Iranian education system is around 50 to 80
minutes per week.
18 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system Language proficiency assessment is another challenge in the education system.
Preparing and administrating end-of-year proficiency exams needs to be in tune
with the communicative approach, yet the exams have remained much the same as
before and no parallel reform has been made to the English examination system in
Iranian schools.
Concluding remarks
The chain of changes in English language instruction has some notable missing
links mostly deriving from ambivalence towards the language. The main curriculum
change has been limited to bringing about a methodological and cultural textbook
change, and it is far from restructuring English education in terms of personnel
and time.
We have seen that the last decade in particular has witnessed a remarkable
increase in the numbers of Iranians learning English especially in the private
sector and, at the same time, questions and criticisms have been raised about the
effectiveness of the formal education system’s performance. Attempting to play a
more important role in this arena, the formal education system has hesitantly and
conservatively begun to take some steps forward. However, our review of the gulf
between inconsistent policies and questionable practices indicates that success
is not guaranteed. The system has ignored important implementation factors, as
noted above, casting further doubts on the Iranian education system’s chance
to succeed.
As long as no realistic unified English-in-education policy is developed,
‘less or more English?’ remains an open question.
References
Aghagolzadeh, F and Davari, H (2014) Iranian critical ELT: A belated but growing
intellectual shift in Iranian ELT community. Journal for Critical Education Policy
Studies 12/1: 391–410.
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20 | To teach or not to teach? Still an open question for the Iranian education system
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto E LT policies in Iran | 21
A glimpse of
contrasting
de jure–de facto
ELT policies in Iran
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini
and Sepideh Khodakarami
22 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 23
2
A glimpse of contrasting de
jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini and Sepideh Khodakarami
Introduction
The English language teaching (ELT) edifice tends to be known by its visible
elements such as course materials, teaching practices and tests. Teachers,
learners, administrators and many academics generally deal with aspects of these
frontline matters, possibly at the expense of noticing subtle higher-order steering
forces that direct the broad ELT enterprise. Such macro-level forces, which may
be called policies, are sometimes officially dictated but may also remain unofficially
embraced and practised without being overtly stated. Policies, however, influence
and orient almost the entire administrative and practical scene of any social
institution in any social context, including language and education concerns
and, more specifically, ELT in Iran and other countries (for example, Al-Issa, 2007;
Chowdhury and Kabir, 2014; Kiany, et al., 2011; Kirkgoz, 2009; Seargeant, 2008).
In this chapter we explore aspects of ELT policies in Iran and the overarching
orientations at which the practice of learning and teaching the English language is
directed. Based on the distinction that has been made between overt and covert
policies (Nero, 2014; Schiffman, 2006), language (education) policy should not only
be seen as ‘the explicit, written, overt, de jure, official, and “top-down” decisionmaking…
but also the implicit, unwritten, covert, de facto, grass-roots, and unofficial
ideas and assumptions’ (Schiffman, 2006: 112). Carrying the same distinction to
the specific area of ELT policies, we scrutinise officially stated policies as well as
implicitly embraced policy orientations and the possible mismatch between them.
In depicting officially stated overt policy directions, we specifically explore four
major national documents that set educational policies or bear policy messages
applicable to educational endeavours such as ELT. To detect aspects of covert
de facto policy assumptions, we rely on interviews with teachers of several
private language teaching institutes in search of some underlying orientations
that shape the real-life practice of ELT in Iran. An illustration of these two streams
of overt and covert policies, and their comparison and contrast, shapes the main
body of the chapter and we conclude with hints at some probable origins as
well as consequences of the contrasting views that configure each one of these
policy trends.
24 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran Overt directions
One broad aspect of the tumultuous ELT story in Iran has been historically shaped
by the official influences of socio-cultural and political authorities (Borjian, 2013;
Riazi, 2005). Official policies, though not regarded as the final say, do leave their
own traces on actual ELT practice since the allocation of different types of state
resources are determined by such overt policies. Therefore, in this section we
explore four official documents that include general or specific policy direction
pertaining to the teaching and learning of foreign languages, including English.
The documents are: The 20-year National Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran
(National Vision, 2005); The Comprehensive Science Roadmap (Comprehensive
Roadmap, 2009); The Fundamental Reform Document of Education (Reform
Document, 2011); and The National Curriculum Document (National Curriculum,
2009). The quotes from the documents are our translation of the original Farsi
texts though The Fundamental Reform Document has an official English version
from which we quote.
The National Vision is set to lead the country through 20 years of progress
towards the aims of the nation in all aspects. The document, which is devised
by the Supreme Leader and the Expediency Council, is a reference for all official
involvements, including education. The broad vision set by this document can
be viewed as bearing messages for the general direction of official educational
practices, including ELT. The following are among the ideals of The National Vision
to be reached by 2025:
■■ Iranian society, within the perspective of this vision, will have these features:
developed in accordance with its own cultural, geographic and historical
characteristics, and relying on the ethical principles and values of Islam …
loyal to the Revolution and the Islamic system and to the blossoming of Iran,
and also proud of being Iranian.
The Comprehensive Science Roadmap sets national-level policies in science and
technology. It includes broad policy lines as well as more specific plans and goals
to be attained within science and technology, including educational developments,
encompassing foreign language education. The following statements are excerpts
from the Roadmap that bear messages as to the policies needing to be adopted
regarding ELT at different levels:
■■ Values: The supremacy of the Islamic Tawhidi worldview in all aspects of
science and technology; fundamental scientific reformation, especially
revising humanities within the framework of the Islamic worldview. (p. 9)
■■ National strategy: Incorporating the Islamic perspective in educational syllabi
and textbooks. (p. 36)
■■ National strategy: Increasing the level of Islamic awareness, belief and
behaviour of those active in the area of science and technology. (p. 37)
■■ National action: Reform and transformation of language teaching methods,
especially for Arabic and English in general education. (p. 51)
■■ National action: Localisation and development of foreign language
education syllabi and contents based on Islamic culture. (p. 57)
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 25
The Fundamental Reform Document of Education sets educational reform ideals.
Efforts are stated to have been made to ‘take note of the strategic objectives of
the Islamic Republic … [and] the perspective and goals of education in the country’s
2025 vision’ (p. 7). In stating its basic values, the document refers to the National
Vision as well as the Science Roadmap and puts emphasis on ‘Islamic–Iranian and
revolutionary characteristics’ (p. 17) and ‘joint Islamic–Iranian identity’ (p. 18) on
the part of learners. Setting objectives and strategies, the document specifically
refers to educating individuals who, among other characteristics: ‘… believe in
Islam as a right path and a norm system and … abide by religious ritual, and ethical
principles’ (p. 29).
Among the ideals mentioned in this document, cultivating commitment to ‘the
culture of Islamic… manners’ (p. 32), to ‘the values of the Islamic Revolution’ (p. 32)
and to ‘Hijab (Islamic dress code)’ (p. 34) is highlighted. The document, while
emphasising the need to strengthen ‘Persian language and literature,’ (p. 18) sets
a clear policy for foreign language teaching and states one of its strategies as:
‘Provision of foreign language education … [based on] Islamic–Iranian identity’ (p. 32).
The National Curriculum Document considers foreign language teaching and
learning as a major educational area. Together with content specification and
features of other educational areas such as Persian language and literature, arts
and sciences, the document focuses on foreign language learning and teaching
with the aim of developing ‘the skills of a foreign language’ and of ‘strengthening
Islamic–Iranian identity’ (p. 18). The following are highlights of ELT-related
specifications in this document:
■■ Foreign language education is a suitable ground for understanding, receiving
… and transferring human achievements in various oral, visual and written
forms for different purposes and audiences within the framework of the Islamic
system ... (p. 37)
■■ Foreign language teaching … should be considered as a means of strengthening
national culture and our own beliefs and values … At elementary levels,
educational content should be organised around local topics and learner
needs like health and hygiene, daily life, the environment, and societal values
and culture … At higher levels, the selection and organisation of content will
be based on cultural, scientific, economic and political functions … (p. 38)
Covert trends
The realisation of these official policies in actual ELT practice is not easy to
assess. However, even a sketch of general implementation in a few teaching
contexts might illustrate some aspects of how overt policies are received in
educational institutions. Aiming at such a sketch, we tried to focus on English
language institutes with nationwide branches popular among language learners.
Five institutes were approached and five participants including one deputy
manager and four teachers were interviewed. To preserve anonymity, the
institutes are referred to as institutes A, B, C, D and E.
26 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran Our semi-structured interview, conducted in English, included two sections.
The first section focused on overall directions as well as the cultural and social
concerns of the institute authorities towards various aspects of the institute’s
practice of English teaching. In the second section a brief explanation of the official
ELT policies discussed above was presented to the interview participants and they
were asked to comment based on their institutes’ position and to compare those
official policies with implicit institute policies. The interviews were recorded,
transcribed and explored based on a grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006).
The institutes’ policy directions fall into three thematic patterns: general positions,
socio-cultural stance and positions towards official policies. The following is a fairly
detailed depiction, explanation and exemplification of these major themes and
their minor thematic components.
General positions
The institutes’ general view of issues such as an ideal language learner and ideal
teaching is depicted by this major theme. In many cases the teachers interviewed
referred to the lack of consistency among institute branches. Different branches
may act differently toward policy issues but the overall aims and directions of
institutes’ decision makers as interpreted by these teachers comprise the two
sub-themes of business success and addressing student demands.
Business success
Apart from policies on teaching and learning practices, language teaching institute
authorities seem to have financial success as their overarching aim and main
concern. Finance appears to be a major policy-setting force in their ELT practices.
According to the teachers interviewed, in both state and private institutes, teaching
and learning content and even the regulations are strongly connected to financial
issues, branch expansion and attaining so-called international standards:
■■ As long as the student comes and pays for each term it’s OK … The fact is that
it’s more like a business than anything else ... (A)
■■ ... there are no ideals. There are no clear cut definitions of a good student …
based on what I can see in the institute, a good student is the one who comes
and registers each and every term ... And a good teacher is a teacher who …
keeps the students happy … No matter what you do in the class you got to keep
the students happy, students and parents. I mean the person who pays … (A)
■■ What they probably dream about is keeping in line with international standards
… so you see all these workshops … CELTA, CELT, DELTA. (B)
Student demands
Translating the policy goal of business success into a more tangible version,
the institute managers regard the satisfaction of client demands as their major
overall aim. English language learners, despite diversity in age and social status,
often share similar concerns when devoting time and money to learning English.
The importance of what is labelled learning quality and gaining the supposedly
best results dominates even learners’ minds and, in the case of younger learners,
concerns parents. Fulfilling these ambitions is a major target of each English
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 27
language centre in order to retain learners as their clients. The ability to
communicate, regardless of its exact meaning, is probably the most important
stated student demand and is therefore a high priority in the overall policy of
the institutes:
■■ The aim is to have students who are proficient in English … who can
communicate in the language. (B)
■■ Well, the ideal … is to have a person who is competent in English who can
speak the language … But other than the test we have no means of measuring
… whether the student has been successful or not. (B)
■■ The main aim is being able to speak English perfectly. (C)
■■ … the main goal is communication. (A)
■■ Mostly ideal … are the people who are able to use the language. (D)
■■ … they have to continue that for a long time in order to get to that ideal person,
ideal English speaker. (E)
Apart from the broad and unspecified purpose of being able to speak English,
a vast majority of adult Iranian learners start learning English with the motive
of either applying abroad or qualifying in the national university entrance
examinations for graduate or postgraduate studies, both requiring a language
proficiency certificate. It is unsurprising, therefore, to see institutes advertising
their teaching quality by promising learners high scores on international English
language tests such as IELTS and TOEFL, which are regarded as the yardstick of
measuring learners’ language proficiency and are in high demand from learners
in language institutes:
■■ Actually the main aim … is IELTS ... They want to learn many things and try to
pass that level with actually about seven. Good mark is seven for them. (C)
■■ We have these classes … the whole level is taught in one term, so in 40
days the whole elementary level is covered and it has been especially
designed for people who want to emigrate ... That is how we serve the
society [laughing] … (B)
■■ In our institute we have also TOEFL and IELTS examination, again with the
intention of emigration either for education of for life. (A)
■■ ... most of the times when we ask students why they are studying English
they say that we want to go Europe or America. (D)
Socio-cultural stance
When specifically prompted to reflect on the institute directors’ perspectives
regarding social and cultural concerns in English language education, three
main patterns emerged: a purported adherence to serving society, an apparent
commitment to cultural values and avoiding contentious topics.
28 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran Social service
The teachers interviewed believe the institutes view the very provision of
language teaching as serving society. Teachers highlight points as in the
following interview excerpts:
■■ As far as I know the main aim of institute … is just IELTS … I’ve been teaching
in this institute for about three years and I have not seen anything regarding
society so far ... The main service is just IELTS examinations and how to
prepare students for such [an] exam ... (C)
■■ ... they want to create proficient learners, and they don’t talk to us about the
society or the values we have in Iran. The main goal is being able to speak
English perfectly. (C)
■■ … all the students are willing to work and study … Because they are younger
they can serve much better in the future ... In the future the students …
can use their language in the society in whatever they are working. (E)
Cultural values
Beyond the mere service provision of language education and at a deeper sociocultural
level, institute managers are committed to some sort of cultural values
as well. The teachers confirm that their institutes do recognise the cultural and
social relevance of their ELT practices and materials. The following examples,
however, show that conceptions of value and the meaning of commitment are
hardly unified. Nor is the nature of the values necessarily in line with overt official
policies discussed earlier. Discrepant cases exist, like the third one below pointing
to an entirely different direction and the last one that surprisingly views some
culturally loaded issues as not very culture based:
■■ We all have to wear maghna’e [headgear]. Girls and teachers ... male teachers
are not allowed to wear jeans or t-shirts. They have to wear formal clothes …
They should not make a relationship with each other. (C)
■■ … mostly it is the kind of religious cultural value because they already have to
accept them … have to wear special type of clothes, the teachers, the students,
everybody. For example, the teacher is obliged to come with scarf only, and
shawl or something like that is not accepted and for the students they have to
come with scarf, they have to come with minimum amount of make-up ... (E)
■■ ... I have witnessed that even in TT [teacher training] courses nothing is
mentioned about society, values, culture, beliefs, nothing. (C)
■■ We usually never talk about culture, whether it’s Iranian culture or British ...
Even the British culture doesn’t come up … because the topics are about
shopping, holidays … Even the topics are not very culture based ... (E)
Contentious topics
A further intriguing issue is the type of topics covert institute policies require
to be avoided. They seem to be similar to content also avoided by commercial
ELT textbooks used worldwide. Regardless of the reason why these two types
of avoidance coincide, the important point is that the policies in the official
documents require engaging with such issues with certain positions. Avoiding
them may be interpreted as an attempt not to encourage different viewpoints
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 29
that might clash with official policies, and this may be seen as trying to avoid
confronting state perspectives. However, avoiding topics such as religion and
politics altogether hardly conforms to official policies:
■■ In our institute three topics are forbidden … You do not touch them … hijab,
religion and politics … (B)
■■ I know we had troubles, especially during the elections [2009] … they say
… just avoid these topics and we avoid trouble. (B)
■■ … two main topics are avoided in any range. One is religion, the other one
is politics ... We’re not supposed to talk about that … (D)
Position towards official policies
Interestingly, none of the interviewees had ever heard about the major official ELT
policies described earlier in this chapter. They think their institute authorities are
not aware of these policies either or, at least, the teachers were not told about such
policies in teacher training courses or institute meetings. However, when asked to
reflect on such policies, the teachers interviewed depicted two categories of
institute attitudes: ‘unaware but sympathising’ and ‘unaware and non-sympathising,’
discussed below.
Unaware but sympathising
The first group of institutes is one whose personnel are not aware of or do not
explicitly consider the officially stated overt ELT policies but to some extent seem
to be in agreement with such concerns. Such policies may be seen as implicitly and
partially enacted in the institutes’ ELT practice. This covert implementation might
be apparent in textbook content or in institute regulations:
■■ I think Islamic … [perspectives] exist a lot … and to be honest ... I think they
exist and to a very big degree, very strongly. (A)
■■ … the fact that teachers are discriminated by … [gender] and students are
divided and there is no co-education and sometimes the topics that you bring
up in the classes for ladies are different ... I mean if my supervisor comes into
my class I may shift the topic, because I’m not looking for trouble. (A)
■■ … these types of policies are not given to the teachers … but still I think … is
more in line with those goals. (E)
■■ … in the very first session that I went for my demo, after the test, I was said
that … if you want to bring any example please bring in local ones; for example,
if you want to talk about the Christmas Eve … talk about the Norouz too, you
have to localise everything for students … (E)
Unaware and not sympathising
Institutes in this second category, according to teachers interviewed, would
shrug off the official statements or even dismiss them if they are told about them.
These institutes do not consider implementing official policies even implicitly
because such perspectives are not in accord with their own policies and beliefs.
The only exception might be in the event of a student or parent complaint
regarding a book’s content or the institute’s environment. In such a case the
institute owners’ own policy might be altered to avoid trouble:
30 | A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran ■■ I see no trace of such policies even Islamic ones … I’m observing teachers.
What they say and what they actually do in their classroom is exactly the
opposite of what we believe as Iranian people, let alone Muslims ... (C)
■■ I haven’t heard any of these [policies] being mentioned by our [institute]
authorities, I don’t think they know any of these, I don’t think they consider …
any of these … (A)
■■ What they [institute authorities] probably dream about is keeping in line with
international standards of what teaching English language is … They are not
Iranian. They are not Islamic. They make you a better teacher based on British
or American English-speaking standards. So, they do not consider these
policies ... and I think for them it’s senseless. (B)
■■ … you’re teaching the language ... You may bring [in] a lot of music, a lot of
movies. You’re actually teaching the culture. Teaching those [cultural] norms is
a little bit part of the language ... It’s part of your job because they [students]
ask you for that, because they want to emigrate most of them ... (D)
Reflections and conclusion
The discrepancy between officially stated ELT policies in Iran and those implicitly
practised seems to be evident, at least within the limited scope of the data in this
chapter. However, what remains to be discussed is the interpretation of such a
landscape. One way to interpret it may be represented by an awkward quotation
from an academic in New York, which appeared on the back cover of a recent book
on ELT in Iran: ‘There can be no clearer indication of the desire of the Iranian people
and civil society to belong to the global culture and community, despite continued
government ambivalence in educational policy and its outright hostility to the
transfer of foreign ideas.’ (Said Amir Arjomand, in Borjian, 2013, back cover)
Such a statement may not be surprising coming from an observer far removed
from the current socio-cultural and political context of Iran and probably with a
mentality of the need to inject democracy from the so-called global community
into non-democratic hostile states. However, such positions might appear to be too
naïve and simplistic to capture the reality. A more profound understanding may
require a broader view of the spread of English within the past century and how
British international policy after World War II, combined with the emergence of the
American presence in international media and academia, fostered ELT in countries
such as Iran.
Such a view may crucially include pointers such as these quotes from a 1959
United States Congress report (US Congress, 1959): ‘… worldwide interest in the
English language is one of our greatest assets’ (p. 31); ‘Even in the Communist world
American influence can be extended through the medium of the English language’
(p. 22). The not-so-neutral transfer of foreign ideas can be seen in later similar
documents as well (US Congress, 1979): ‘The international teaching of English can
give the United States many important advantages … It offers an entering wedge
into closed societies’ (p. 45). More recently, similar positions can be found in other
official documents: ‘… it would be wise to invest in … developing ways to engage the
next generation of Middle Easterners, especially through English education … After
all, the battle for hearts and minds … is a long-term project’ (US House, 2001: 35).
A glimpse of contrasting de jure–de facto ELT policies in Iran | 31
Therefore, while ‘understanding, receiving … and transferring human achievements’
(National Curriculum, 2009: 37) is clearly espoused by state documents touching
upon official ELT policies in Iran, the official aim of incorporating local perspectives
into ELT syllabi (Comprehensive Roadmap, 2009: 36), considering ELT as a means
for strengthening the national culture and our own beliefs (National Curriculum,
2009: 38) and strengthening the Islamic–Iranian identity (National Curriculum,
2009: 18) through foreign language education, may be easily judged as wise
policies. What might be argued to be lacking is twofold. First, the officially stated
positions regarding ELT in Iran are mostly policy segments rather than coherently
structured policies. This may make it difficult to depict a clear image of what is to
be achieved by the policy and, for example, what Islamic–Iranian identity means.
Secondly, even within this tentatively stated policy, there seems to be a lack of
concerted effort to create awareness of the cultural, social and political functioning
of English in ‘a world of diversities’. (Mirhosseini, 2008) One can hardly assume that
the language institutes’ policy makers are totally unaware of official socio-cultural
policies. The issue is that, to them, these official ELT policy statements may sound
like ‘just big words,’ as one of the interviewees describes them. Constructing
coherent ELT policies, creating awareness regarding the ideological nature of ELT
(Mirhosseini, 2015) and communicating the logic of official policies to frontline
practice contexts may therefore be the missing links in contrasting de jure–de
facto ELT policies in Iran.
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Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 33
How have political and
socio-economic issues
impacted on the
motivation of Iranian
university students
to learn English?
Shahrzad Ardavani and Philip Durrant
34 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 35
3
How have political and socioeconomic
issues impacted on the
motivation of Iranian university
students to learn English?
Shahrzad Ardavani and Philip Durrant
Introduction
This chapter describes a study that aims to understand the socio-economic factors
that motivate Iranian university students to learn English. Drawing on the notions
of international posture, ideal self and imagined communities, we describe how
the Iranian political context has increased students’ desire to develop their English
in order to enhance their career prospects, to be recognised as members of the
international community and to contribute to the development of their country.
Political and economic context
English education and policies at Iran’s universities
In Iran, two types of university exist: state governed and private. The most
prestigious universities in Iran are state governed. Entrance is highly competitive
but the government pays for tuition and accommodation for those who succeed
in the entrance exam. Students failing the entrance exam but still wishing to
pursue their studies can join a group of private universities known as Islamic
Azad University, which was established in 1982 as a solution to accommodate
surplus students (Mohebati, 2004). Although it is difficult to obtain precise figures
on student numbers, roughly 50 per cent of high school graduates choose a path
to higher education.
Both private and public Iranian universities provide all students with the opportunity to
study a core general English syllabus. Additional modules in English are available
but subject to specific course requirements. The dominant method of teaching
English within universities is Grammar-Translation, the main goal enabling students
to read and understand English texts that may benefit their majors.
Iranian university students and migration
Iran, as a developing country, needs educated professionals to drive its economic
development. However, it has lost a great number in the past few decades (Torbat,
2002). Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, a large number of Iranians have emigrated
to Western countries. They left their country between 1979 and 1988 (during the
creation of the Islamic Republic and the end of the war between Iran and Iraq) and
36 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English are identified as the ‘Iranian diaspora’ (Elahi and Karim, 2011). There are significant
Iranian populations living in the United States and the rest are scattered across
Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia (Abbasi, 2003).
Today, many high-achieving students continue to leave Iran for the USA or other
countries. According to UNESCO data (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2014), 51,549
Iranian students are studying abroad. The most popular destinations are shown in
Table 1.
Table 1: Most common destinations for Iranian students
(UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2014)
Destination country Number of students
Malaysia 9,311
United States 6,763
United Kingdom 3,372
United Arab Emirates 3,204
Italy 2,975
Canada 2,805
Germany 2,757
Australia 2,452
Sweden 2,440
India 2,131
Saba reports that 25 per cent of university graduates leave the country, resulting in
an estimated annual loss of $50 billion to the nation (Saba, 2011). The contributing
factors towards the decision to leave the country are many, and include:
■■ avoiding military service
■■ lack of jobs in Iran (statistics show that the average unemployment rate for the
year, ending on March 20 2014, reached 10.4 per cent) (Tehran Times, 2014)
■■ superior research facilities available elsewhere
■■ a degree from a top university in Iran does not guarantee a position that is
commensurate with qualifications
■■ candidates for suitable jobs in government ministries and academia must
conform to religious and political attitudes (Saba, 2011: para 9).
Theoretical framework
To help understand the political and socio-economic factors that contribute to
Iranian university students’ motivation, we will draw on three main theoretical
ideas: international posture, L2 motivational self-system theory and imagined
communities. This section will briefly outline each of these ideas.
International posture
Gardner (1985) proposed the idea of integrative motivation – an individual’s level of
desire to become part of an L2 community – as a way of understanding motivation
among immigrants to an L2 context. This notion, however, does not fit well with the
context of English as an international language, where an English learner may want
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 37
to be a global citizen rather than have an English, Australian or Canadian identity.
Yashima (2009: 145) proposed the term International Posture. This term ‘tries to
capture a tendency to relate oneself to the international community, rather than
any specific L2 group’.
It could be argued that international isolation has deprived Iranian students of
such a sense of belonging to an international community. Iranian students who
were brought up during the post-Revolution regime are discouraged from adopting
the ‘Western’ values, which are often associated with internationalism, and have
been encouraged to have Islamic beliefs and be united Muslims (Razavi and
Juneau, 2001).
L2 motivational self-system theory
L2 motivational self-system theory (Dörnyei, 2005) suggests that possible selves
are underpinned by what learners might wish to become and what they are
afraid to become. Learners’ perceptions about their desired future self-states
have an impact on their behaviour by accentuating the discrepancies between
current and future desired states. For example, the ability of the general Iranian
population to travel freely around the world is restricted, due to diplomatic and
visa arrangements. However, many students have a strong desire to achieve
internationally oriented future self-states and think that learning English can
lead to many opportunities outside their native country.
The ideal L2 self, according to Dörnyei (2005: 106), is ‘the L2-specific aspect of one’s
ideal self’. This is the ideal image of the L2 user that one likes or desires to be in the
future, including wishes, hopes and dreams. If learners conceive of themselves as
successful persons in their future career or education, this self-image will move
them to reduce the discrepancy between their actual selves and the ideal image
of themselves. Higgins (1987: 34) notes that this process is not always conscious:
‘One’s self-discrepancies can be used to assign meaning to events without one being
aware of either the discrepancies or their impact on processing’. For instance,
Iranian students might experience tension if they envision studying or working
in an English-speaking country (an ideal self) but are not currently able to speak
English (current self), so to overcome this tension they enrol on a language course.
The ought-to L2 self is the L2-specific aspect of one’s ought-to self. This factor
in the L2 motivational self-system refers to skills that one believes one ought to
achieve as a result of perceived duties, obligations or responsibilities (Dörnyei,
2005). Hadfield and Dörnyei (2013) comment that this image is noticeable in some
Asian countries, where students are motivated to master a foreign language to fulfil
their family expectations.
Research into the L2 motivational self-system reveals similarities with Higgins’s
(1998) distinction between two types of instrumentality, ‘preventional and
promotional’, both of which are relevant to students’ desire to learn a language.
Preventional instrumentality is similar to the ought-to L2 self (for example, studying
hard to pass an examination in order not to disappoint parents). Promotional
instrumentality is similar to the ideal L2 self where motivation is formed by desirable
self-images in the personal, social and professional context of the target language.
Perhaps surprisingly, a comparative study conducted by Taguchi et al.
38 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English (2009) found a high correlation between the instrumentality-promotional construct
and the ought-to L2 self. The first author of this chapter has observed that, on
account of the political turbulence in Iran during the last 35 years, many Iranian
parents who did not have a fulfilling youth themselves believe that if their children
are successful then this reflects on their success as parents – their own parental
form of success. So they nurture the thought in their children that learning English
will open a new horizon for them in other countries. Studying English in order to go
overseas may therefore be promotional for these students who were brought up to
fulfil their parents’ desires.
Apart from these two future self-guides, the L2 motivational self-system
encompasses an L2 learning experience dimension. The L2 learning experience
includes and puts more emphasis on ‘learners’ attitudes toward second language
learning and can be affected by situation-specific motives related to the immediate
learning environment and experience’. (for example, teacher, peers, materials)
(Dörnyei, 2005: 469)
In conclusion, the L2 motivational self-system suggests that there are three
primary sources of motivation to learn a foreign/second language: learners’
visions of themselves as effective L2 speakers, the social pressure coming from
the learners’ environment, and positive learning experiences.
Imagined communities
Learners are able to connect with imagined communities that are beyond the local,
intangible, and not immediately accessible (Kanno and Norton, 2003). The images
shape the ideal L2 self, and the learner is seen as a social being interacting with
other members of the imagined community (Ryan, 2009).
The combination of Norton’s idea of imagined community (2001) and Dörnyei’s
ideal L2 self model (2005) suggest a model of motivation in which learners build
an ideal image of themselves as users of the language in the target community.
Investment in an imagined community influences identity construction and
engagement in learning (Wenger, 1998; Anderson, 1991; Norton, 2001). The
imagination of the Iranian people since the Revolution has been a political tool
for compliance with promises of an ideal future. However, the capacity to create
their own imagined future communities among young Iranians now seems well
developed and, paradoxically, is a political area over which the government has
less control, as shown, for example, in several Iranian student protests (Erdbrink,
Washington Post, 2009). These images may affect learners’ investment in the target
language and achieving future aspirations is clearly a motivation for what learners
do in the present. A student studying engineering at an Iranian university may start
learning English because he imagines himself as a successful engineer in the USA,
and English is an important means of gaining this future affiliation. According to
Appadurai (1996), the imagination is mediated by communication technology and
migration, with the internet and various media having a great impact on what it is
possible to imagine. However, imagination should not be considered the same as
fantasy. Simon (1992: 4) makes a distinction between ‘wishes’, which might not
require action, and ‘hopeful imagination’, which requires action for a better future.
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 39
Research methods
The study described here is based on semi-structured interviews conducted
with eight students (four male, four female). Participants were studying in the
departments of Mathematics, Software Engineering, Information Technology,
Medical Sciences and Graphic Design at four state universities. Interviews were
conducted in participants’ native language (Farsi) and lasted between 20 and
30 minutes each. They were audio-recorded and then transcribed. Transcriptions
were organised into comprehensible themes, according to the methodology
described by Berg (2009). A mind-map of each participant’s comments was
created. The main branches were deductive categories while sub-branches were
inductive categories that emerged from the data. Micro-categories were listed
and given a number and the corresponding quotes from each interview were
filed in the appropriate category. The quotes were cross-referenced with the
name of the participants and quantitatively analysed. For a better overview,
micro-categories were grouped into larger contextual groups. Finally, a report
was compiled for each branch with sample quotes.
For the purposes of this chapter, participants’ quotations were translated into
English by the first author.
Findings
The research identified Iranian students’ desire to leave Iran as the main factor
influencing their motivation to learn English. They believe they cannot fulfil their
aspirations in their own country, and fear losing the opportunities and qualifications
on offer in other communities. However, many intend to return to their host country
to contribute to its development and success. The following sections discuss the
key aspects of this motivation.
The significance of career aspirations with regard to language learning
The main influence for the participants to learn English is the strong desire to go
abroad to develop their careers. The younger generation looks for either better
or different qualifications or career opportunities than those available in Iran.
Seven out of eight participants claimed that they are improving their English
because it is directly linked to their views of personal enhancement in terms
of education and career outside Iran. There is an anxiety that remaining in the
country may inhibit future career prospects:
I will use English to educate myself in my speciality … using English towards
a medical residency and fellowship in the USA. (Interviewee M)
I am planning to apply for higher education in Canada; I will study in English,
without which I would definitely not have better success either in my education
or later on in my profession. (Interviewee E)
Responses varied depending on the interviewees’ chosen career paths.
For Interviewee M, English is fundamental to her ambition to become a medical
doctor. Economic aspiration is not important to her, as she is more interested
in how English can improve her ability to become a good doctor.
40 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English As I am studying medicine, most textbooks are in English … Medscape updates
us with the top medical news in English. I need to know English to use these
applications, interact with my patients and future colleagues. (Interviewee M)
Interviewee E links her future career as a scientist to a strong engagement with
the international scientific community:
[…] even if I study my PhD in Iran, as a scientist I would like to go to international
conferences and be in touch with other countries. (Interviewee E)
Interviewee H suggests:
If I want to work in a governmental organisation, where the salary is good with
a lot of benefits, I need to have connections rather than qualifications, but in the
US, there is a meritocracy and I would have job security and a reasonable salary
based on my qualifications. (Interviewee H)
While these participants were highly motivated from the start of their studies,
they still want to achieve more, and to this end they feel the need to go beyond
the borders of Iran. While one reason for wishing to leave Iran may be economic,
another relates to the benefits that engaging in the international community can
bring to professions, in particular those in academia.
The above quotations indicate that, while career goals are an important driver,
the students are also driven by a desire to maintain social or intellectual status, to
gain intellectual self-improvement and to stay connected with international citizens
while remaining inside Iran. They view knowing English as a means to look beyond
their borders and promote their own social, cultural and national identities, and
as a tool for spreading their ideas.
Students’ career aspirations in the imagined community
The students’ imagined future is crucial to motivation. Norton (2001) suggests
that students have a tendency to construct their identity using English in different
imagined communities and to regulate this by enhancing their English and taking
examinations such as TOFEL and IELTS to reach beyond their existing environment
and experience. The motivation to learn English, together with the ability to
communicate in English, may indeed break down barriers to ‘achievement’
and extend their community beyond the borders of their country.
In some cases, the term ‘imagined community’ actually becomes something of a
real community, which Appadurai (1996) claims is mediated by the internet and by
migration, when students living inside Iran communicate with students outside it.
This direct link to the imagined community heightens motivation to learn English
(Appadurai, 1996), encouraging students in Iran to decrease the discrepancy
between their current situation and their ideal self in their imagined community.
As Interviewee B points out:
[…] outside Iran we would have free access to scientific and academic
information ... Although we can improve in our own society … this improvement
is easier in other countries … we have asked our friends abroad, and they all
confirmed that. (Interviewee B)
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 41
The majority of participants mentioned a better social status based on
meritocracy, freedom of expression and freedom at work as their aspirations
in the imagined community.
These aspirations, which are components of Iranian students’ desired future
self (Dörnyei, 2009), heighten their motivation and enable them to surmount
some of the barriers that would otherwise inhibit learning. Such an increase in
motivation could be viewed as a focused escapism – an avoidance of reality by
absorption of the mind in an imaginative situation (Dictionary.com, 2014) – which
assists the students in overcoming some of the perceived barriers that otherwise
inhibit learning within their home country. Idealised notions – of freedom of
expression, quality of life, high standards of education, security and peace – aid
participants to connect themselves to the imagined community and to distance
themselves from less desirable elements of their present situation:
I would have freedom of expression, and also I would have more freedom at
work, therefore I can apply new ideas in my career and be more creative since I
have greater freedom ... To achieve a high education and a better life in the USA
requires applying for the visa as a first step. As an Iranian student I have to work
hard and I have to travel to another country to apply for a visa. (Interviewee H)
The significance of the political context with regard to language learning
The political context is a recurring pivotal theme present in almost every participant’s
comments. In this section, two main themes will be discussed: firstly, the political
implications of language and identity; secondly, the significance of language
learning as a motivation to contribute to Iran’s development and success.
Language, internationalism and identity
In response to the question, Will you use English in order to be known as part of the
world of native speakers of English, or would you like to be known as a person who is
bilingual and belongs to an international community?, one participant noted that
there is a political stigma attached to her identity that could limit her aspirations.
This motivates her towards international community membership in order to
distance herself from her Iranian identity as a protection against discrimination on
the basis of her nationality. She utilises an international identity by being fluent in
English to prevent herself from being labelled.
I prefer that when I speak nobody recognises my nationality … when people find
out my nationality, they start putting me in a category and start pre-judging me.
I would like to be known as an international person without the restrictions that
my nationality places on me, but this is impossible; therefore I am trying to learn
to speak English as fluently as a native speaker. (Interviewee E)
Conversely, Interviewee S is keen to emphasise that while she wishes to be part
of the international community and enhance her English, her Persian heritage is
valuable to her and is an inherent part of her knowledge and identity.
As well as I know English, I have an even better knowledge of my native language,
Persian, the language of my literature and culture. I have realised that every day
of my life has contributed to my culture and thus I do not see how I can be native
speaker of English. (Interviewee S)
42 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English All participants are willing to go overseas to study or work, interact with intercultural
partners and have an attitude of openness toward other cultures (Yashima, 2002),
but this openness does not mean participants wish to be identified as a member
of the target language community (Interviewee E is an exception).
Contribution to Iran’s success and development
Five of the participants noted their hope that learning English could contribute
to the development of society politically through the understanding of their
fundamental rights. They declare that interacting with people from other cultures
and religions could improve their country, since people in Iran do not know much
about their fundamental rights, and they consider it a distant goal, whereas such
rights in European countries are often seen as norms. Learning more about these
rights by learning English in Iran is a solution proposed by Interviewee H:
Some Iranians are not aware of their basic human rights, including freedom of
speech and beliefs, freedom of press, freedom of religion and social equality
and meritocracy. When they can interact in English with other nations, they
would understand these rights, which might contribute to society or themselves.
(Interviewee H)
Influences from the societal and political issues mentioned above cause students
to value the target language and its communities, increasing their desire to improve
themselves and leave the host country with the intention to return and disseminate
knowledge and skills, contributing towards Iran’s advancement. The L2 motivational
self system indicates a strong mutual contribution of ‘ideal self’ and ‘ought-to self’.
Some of the participants desire to learn English for ideal visions of the future
outside Iran (ideal-L2 self) in order to prevent themselves, and in some cases
their home country, from lagging behind developed countries (ought-to self).
The findings on these Iranian students’ sources of motivation seem congruent
with past research suggestions (cited in Dörnyei, 2009: 18) that harmony between
the ideal- and ought-to selves can enhance the motivational impact of the idealand
ought-to selves.
Conclusion
Learning English as a foreign language may be seen as a metaphorical bridge
between one life and the perceived opportunity of a better life (in an imagined
community). The majority of the participants consider language learning as a
path to achieving success in their chosen field. They describe factors affecting
this including gaining a better social status, strengthening freedom of expression,
accessing the benefits that engaging in the international community can provide
for their professions, and contributing to Iran’s development. Finally, they see
language development as a path to distancing themselves from a socio-economic
domestic environment with which they are unhappy. The common thread running
through all of the participants’ interview responses is the value of learning a
language for its perceived future benefit rather than for its intrinsic value.
The current situation in Iran is leading students to want to go overseas for their
career development in order to increase their socio-economic level and be more
professional in their career. This is a sad loss of skills that Iran does not want. It is
important for the government to take steps in countries like Iran to provide rich
Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English | 43
educational opportunities with the hope of a prosperous career for its competent
young generation. This generation can contribute to the development of their
country if they are given the opportunities to gain from the achievements of
other countries and are able to impart this knowledge gained internationally.
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46 | Issues impacting motivation of Iranian university students to learn English
Needs analysis for
General English
courses: a model for
setting priorities
Golnar Mazdayasna and Gholam Ali Molaei
48 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities
Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities | 49
4
Needs analysis for General
English courses: a model for
setting priorities 1
Golnar Mazdayasna and Gholam Ali Molaei
Introduction
The impact of English as a lingua franca and the growing demand for English as
a foreign language (EFL) courses has highlighted a need for language awareness
among EFL instructors and curriculum designers. EFL teachers’ awareness of their
learners’ needs is vital for the effective outcome of any EFL course. Although such
learners’ needs are theoretically of prime importance in current learner-centered
approaches, a needs analysis is rarely conducted in the General English (GE)
classroom. It is argued that it is not possible to specify the needs of GE learners.
However, in this chapter we highlight an example of an objective and subjective
needs analysis in Iran. We show that it is possible to specify GE needs of high
school students (Grade 11) and that needs analysis can be useful in any GE
classroom worldwide as a basis for designing aims, courses and materials.
Needs analysis in learner-centered approaches
One of the most important principles underlying learner-centered approaches
of language learning is that teaching/learning programmes should fulfil learners’
needs. Needs analysis, according to Brindley (1989), is a vital prerequisite to the
specification of language learning objectives. According to Richterich (1983), two
types of needs analysis are necessary: one is aimed at establishing broad goals
related to language content, while the other is aimed at collecting information
about learners, which can be used to guide the learning process once it is under
way. These two types of analysis can be referred to as objective and subjective
needs analyses. Objective needs are obtained from different types of factual
information about learners and their use of language in real-life communication
situations, as well as their current language proficiency and language difficulties.
Subjective needs refer to the cognitive factors of personality, confidence, attitudes,
and learners’ wants and expectations with regard to the learning of English and
their individual cognitive style and learning strategies. In this chapter, we provide
an example of how needs data was collected and interpreted, and provide the
reader with a basis for judging whether it is possible to specify learners’ needs
in the GE classroom, and whether or not it is a potentially useful exercise.
1 The research reported in this chapter refers to an earlier set of ELT coursebooks and not to the Prospect ELT
materials described in this collection in the separate chapter by Foroozandeh and Forouzani.
50 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities The mixed-methods study involved a small-scale interview with different
stakeholders including high school students and EFL instructors in the province of
Yazd. The interview data provided input to the design of a large-scale questionnaire
administered to 2,000 students and 20 instructors in 35 state and private high
schools in the provinces of Yazd and Shiraz, to determine perceptions and attitudes
of the students’ foreign language needs.
Needs analysis questionnaire
Preliminary interviews were conducted with 40 high school students and eight
EFL instructors in the province of Yazd. The main goal of conducting interviews
was to elicit information regarding the interviewees’ perspectives on objective and
subjective needs, problematic areas that students encounter, and their attitudes
and expectations regarding the GE course. The interviewees’ perspectives on the
importance of language skills proficiency were elicited. They also expressed their
beliefs and attitudes about class activities, pedagogy and their perceptions of
communication in the foreign language. Based on the findings of the preliminary
interview, two sets of needs analysis questionnaires were developed; one for
students and the other for language instructors.
Students’ needs analysis questionnaire
The student questionnaire, using a five-point Likert scale, had seven sections.
The first (items 1–6) was designed to explore the opinions of the students about
their GE learning needs. The second, third, fourth and fifth sections (items 7–25)
gathered students’ beliefs about their needs for listening, speaking, reading and
writing skills in English respectively. The sixth section (items 26–28) dealt with
students’ learning needs in respect of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, and
the seventh (items 29–33) language pedagogy. The questionnaire was translated
into Persian and distributed in the high schools during the academic year 2011–12.
Analysis of the questionnaires
The information from the questionnaires was coded and entered into a computer
database. The responses of the three groups of participants were then crosstabulated
for each item. The questionnaire demonstrated adequate reliability
(0.73). A considerable number (60 per cent) of private and state high school
students and their instructors felt that learners ‘greatly needed’ to increase their
knowledge of GE for the University Entrance Examination. A study by Khaniya
(1990) revealed that a majority of EFL teachers teach their students on the basis of
final examinations because they think that the students’ high scores on their final
exams preserve their reputation as good teachers. All formative and summative
evaluation in schools and the University Entrance Examination are based on
multiple choice questions.
A majority (63 per cent) of private and state high school students and 50 per cent
of instructors agreed ‘to a great extent’ that students are interested in learning
English. A majority (60 per cent) of private high school students, almost half
(43 per cent) of the state high school students and a significant number of instructors
(65 per cent) reported that the contents of the books were not interesting.
Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities | 51
A majority of private high school students (75.4 per cent), state high school
students (65 per cent) and instructors (75 per cent) considered it ‘extremely
important’ that English should be taught as a foreign language from the primary
school, similar to other countries such as Germany, Turkey and Japan. Nearly
all instructors (90 per cent), a large majority of private high school students
(78 per cent) and a substantial number of state high school students (68 per cent)
agreed that there was an urgent need to design high-quality textbooks for foreign
language education.
A majority of instructors (65 per cent), private high school students (54 per cent)
and almost half of the state high school students (41 per cent) revealed their
dissatisfaction by responding that the GE course did not help students to improve
their listening skills. A majority of instructors (65 per cent) and private high
school students (51.5 per cent), and almost half of the state high school students
(42 per cent) felt that students needed to listen to a radio or television programme
in English. Seventy-five per cent of instructors, 40 per cent of state high school
students and 33 per cent of private high school students felt that students should
listen to stories in English. Students are not always provided with audio-visual
facilities, and listening skills in the past have not been taken seriously in the
syllabuses for foreign language education.
Almost all instructors (95 per cent), and a majority of private (67.3 per cent) and
state high (66.2 per cent) high school students agreed ‘to a great extent’ that
students needed to improve their speaking ability. A majority of instructors
(70 per cent) and private high school students (64 per cent), and almost half
(44 per cent) of the state high school students reported that the GE course did
not help students to improve their speaking skills. A majority of instructors
(65 per cent) and private high school students (63.2 per cent), along with over
half (52 per cent) of the state high school students, agreed ‘to a great extent’
that students needed to participate in class discussion. An overwhelming majority
(80 per cent) of the instructors, and more than half of the private and state high
school students (51 per cent) felt that students ‘greatly’ needed to improve their
English to talk to their teachers and classmates. Nearly all instructors (85 per cent),
and over half of the private (60.4 per cent) and state (52 per cent) high school students
agreed ‘to a great extent’ that students needed to give a summary in English.
Nearly all (90 per cent) instructors, 60.4 per cent of private and 54 per cent of
state high school students felt that students needed to improve their reading
skill to ‘a great extent’ and that the GE course did not help students improve their
reading skills.
Reading short simplified texts may not automatically transfer to longer and more
dense academic texts. Moreover, students tend to employ a bottom-up strategy
of translating sentence by sentence, common to language-oriented approaches.
They are not sufficiently exposed to authentic texts and materials and are not
familiar with the rhetorical patterns of paragraph organisation such as definition,
description, cause-effect, and comparison and contrast (Filice and Sturino, 2002).
Just over one-third of instructors (35 per cent) reported that students would
benefit greatly from learning subjects such as science, geography and theology
through the medium of English from primary school to the high school.
52 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities Almost all instructors (85 per cent) and a majority of private (65 per cent) and
state (62 per cent) high school students agreed ‘to a great extent’ that students
needed to develop their writing skills, which the GE course did not do. A majority
(65 per cent) of instructors and private high school students (60 per cent), along
with a considerable (57 per cent) number of state high school students, felt that
students needed to write email messages to ‘a great extent’. Nearly all instructors
(95 per cent) and a number of private (59 per cent) and state (58 per cent) high
school students believed students needed to provide short answers to reading
comprehension questions to ‘a great extent’. These results are in line with the study
conducted by Kormos, Kontra and Csolle (2002), which showed that non-native
students at the tertiary level in Hungary needed to develop their writing skills to
write an email as well as provide explanations and instructions in the written form.
Interestingly, all instructors and a majority of private (66 per cent) and state
(64.5 per cent) high school students reported that students ‘greatly’ needed to
increase their knowledge of grammar. Similar views were expressed with regard
to both vocabulary and pronunciation.
Fifty-four per cent of private high school students, 39 per cent of state high
school students and 35 per cent of instructors were not satisfied with the teachercentered
approach. On the other hand, a substantial number of instructors (65 per
cent), private high school students (64.4 per cent) and state high school students
(56 per cent) responded positively and were in favour of using a learner-centered
approach to teaching GE courses.
Fifty-three per cent of private high school students, 45 per cent of instructors and
40 per cent of state high school students were not satisfied with English courses,
including the textbook, the time allocated and the methodology. These findings
are in line with Allami et al. (2009) who concluded that English language teaching
materials developed by the Ministry of Education did not conform to high school
students’ demands. Nearly all instructors (90 per cent) and a majority of private
(65 per cent) and state (61 per cent) high school students reported that students
were in favour of class activities such as role playing, pair and group work.
Results and interpretation of the data
The in-depth needs analysis conducted across different public and private high
schools in the two main provinces gave us an opportunity to examine students’
objective and subjective needs from different perspectives. These perspectives
both supported and complemented each other. The findings showed a high
rate of agreement/consistency among the stakeholders concerning the use
and importance of the four skills, learning needs, attitudes towards language
instruction, content, methodology and length of the GE course.
Both groups were aware of students’ difficulties. The instructors’ assessment of
students’ proficiency revealed that they did not have satisfactory proficiency levels
in English. According to them, the GE course emphasised micro-linguistic aspects
of reading skills at the cost of writing, listening and speaking, and only prepared
students to pass written examinations, not enabling them to use English effectively.
Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities | 53
Students improved neither their grammatical or communicative competence, nor
their ability to learn and use common core and academic vocabulary appropriately.
Students reported that issues such as the limited number of credits allocated to GE
courses, content, methodology and activities did not help them reach the level of
proficiency needed to complete realistic tasks in their prospective careers. Results
revealed that although students and instructors realised the importance of using
English to be successful in their studies and future careers, and, in spite of the fact
that students were strongly motivated to improve their English language skills,
school foreign language education had failed to satisfy students’ expectations and
increase their level of English. Nunan (1989: 176) asserts that ‘the effectiveness of
a language programme will be dictated as much by the attitudes and expectations of
the learners as by the specifications of the official curriculum’. The results suggested
that EFL instructors should reconsider their roles and widen their repertoires of
language teaching strategies. There is a great need to raise the awareness of
prospective EFL instructors concerning daily lesson planning. There is an urgent
need to make policy makers, ELT educators and language instructors aware of the
needs, wants and lacks of high school students. As English is the international
language of research, science, technology and commerce, it has created a new
generation of learners who are aware of their short- and long-term needs.
Reflections on GE programmes
Several points can be highlighted from the results of our research regarding
GE programmes. The initial stage before designing a GE course is to conduct a
needs analysis in order to assess the students’ needs, wants and lacks. Needs
analysis, which is a prerequisite for establishing course objectives, materials
selection and choosing appropriate tasks and activities, seems to have been
neglected in GE programmes.
Second, the materials, methodology and activities in GE programmes do not
apparently help students to increase their English language proficiency. Teaching
materials should be flexible in terms of quantity and difficulty, and should range
from simplified texts to authentic articles. The learner should be involved fully in
both the content and the language topics using an inductive, problem-solving
approach to grammar, a lively layout, highly interactive, enjoyable and manageable
small-group activities, project work and a task-based unit structure. Students
should think creatively. More extensive methodological guidance should be
provided in a teacher’s book.
Third, GE programmes are examination-oriented. In their English classes students
carry out various tasks included in the examination papers (for example, multiple
choice, true/false or gap-filling exercises for checking reading comprehension
skills). They memorise vocabulary without using the items in innovative tasks.
The emphasis is on learners’ preparation for tests and examinations instead of
developing the underlying competence to perform tasks related to their disciplinespecific
studies.
54 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities Fourth, the aims and activities of any GE textbook should be analysed and
understood by investigating the input and interactional modifications necessary
to promote desired learning outcomes in the class (Kumaravadivelu, 2008). For
example, Crace and Acklam (2006) clearly defined the type of input presented to
learners and the type of output expected. They used a combination of deductive
and inductive approaches to teach grammatical points. The content was based
on both the meaning and form of the language. Authentic texts were included in
integrated reading, listening and writing tasks. Learners were meant to be active
in class, discussing different issues and using tasks provided.
Brown (2001) suggests an integration of the four skills in course content.
A lesson framework for a reading course might look as follows:
■■ A pre-reading discussion of the topic to activate schemata.
■■ Listening to a lecture or a series of information statements about the topic
of a passage to be read.
■■ A focus on a certain reading strategy, say, scanning.
■■ Writing a paraphrase of a section of the reading passage.
Brown’s framework requires students to discuss, listen, read and write about
the topic.
Fifth, students need guidance in expanding their lexico-grammatical repertoire.
Learners’ difficulties in reading, translation and writing are often caused by either
limited vocabulary or its inappropriate application.
Sixth, a GE curriculum needs to integrate strategy training into the reading lessons
so that students can use strategies effectively. Reading strategies should be
introduced while reading passages and they should be integrated with writing
instruction. Students need explicit teaching of different reading strategies in order
to become better readers. ELT instructors should explain the strategies and their
importance in improving reading comprehension. Teachers should model the
strategies, and give feedback. In addition, students need to develop study skills.
Study skills encompass a wide range of activities. They include listening and
note-taking, reading skills such as skimming, scanning, guessing meanings from
context and using the dictionary, discussion and oral presentation, and writing
skills such as paraphrasing, and summarising.
Thus, it is important to design materials that focus on developing the students’
underlying competence. Co-texts and such devices as graphs, diagrams and
semantic maps were not included in the coursebooks consulted during our
research. The materials did not follow principles of discourse analysis, genre
analysis or reading skills and strategies. The textbooks were not accompanied
by a teacher’s manual. There were no teaching training workshops, nor any
attempt to observe how the courses were being implemented.
Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities | 55
Conclusion
Most GE courses in schools have been conducted without assessing students’
learning needs, the indispensable first step in curriculum development. This has
resulted in the criticism that courses are unrealistic and unable to prepare the
students to face the challenges and demands in their prospective careers. The
relevant factors that policy makers and ELT teachers should consider will now be
highlighted based on the findings of the present study.
There are many factors to take into account, including (1) students’ learning
needs, (2) learners’ present knowledge and knowledge gaps, (3) course objectives,
and (4) resources available, in terms of staff, materials, equipment, finances and
time constraints.
Several procedures such as interviews, observations and questionnaires have
to be employed to gain insights into students’ objective and subjective needs.
The needs analysis results will determine the necessities, lacks and wants to
be incorporated into the syllabus and become the basis for specifying course
objectives. The findings of this study indicated the importance of the students
increasing their academic literacy in both productive and receptive skills, implying
that all four skills should be integrated in course content.
Results revealed that students were dissatisfied with textbook content and
teaching methodology. Findings also indicated students’ preferred participation in
class activities through pair work and group work, learning through discussion and
reasoning. The methodology used should be learner-centered rather than teachercentered.
A GE programme would foreground work on lexis, grammar and
discourse, with reading and listening texts used as input to activities.
Techniques such as role playing and problem-solving activities should be used
to increase students’ proficiency in the oral/aural skills. Students should be
encouraged towards autonomy. As Waters and Waters (2001: 379) suggest, ‘by
posing study problems rather than simply providing ready-made answers right from
the start of the learning-to-study process, the basic constituents of effective study
become not only the object of the learning but also its means.’ They believe students
should adopt a critical, questioning approach to studying, and should be given
activities to encourage critical thinking and self-confidence, and to improve such
skills as reading, note-taking and summarising.
Becoming an effective teacher of GE requires experience, training, effort and
commitment. The training and education of ELT teachers in linguistic and
pedagogic knowledge must be supported by all, including the Ministry of Education
in conjunction with private and state high schools. It is the teacher who ultimately
plays a crucial role in delivering desired course outcomes.
56 | Needs analysis for General English courses: a model for setting priorities References
Allami, H, Jalilifar, AR, Hashemian, M and Shooshtari, Z (2009) Are Iranian school
students’ language needs taken into consideration? Iranian Journal of Language
Studies 3: 125–142.
Brindley, GP (1989) ‘The role of needs analysis in adult ESL program design’,
in Johnson, RK (ed) The Second Language Curricula. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Brown, HD (2001) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language
Pedagogy. New York: Pearson Education Ltd.
Crace, A and Acklam, R (2006) Total English. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Filice, SL and Sturino, D (2002) Integrating authentic materials and language skills
in English for pharmacy instruction. Pharmacy Education 2/2: 59–62.
Hutchinson, T and Waters, A (1987) English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Khaniya, TR (1990) The wash-back effect of a textbook-based test. Edinburgh
Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh.
Kormos, J, Kontra, EH and Csolle, A (2002) Language wants of English majors in a
non-native context. System 30/4: 517–542.
Kumaravadivelu, B (2008) Understanding Language Teaching: From Method to
Post-method. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
O’Malley, JM and Chamot, AU (1990) Learning Strategies in Second Language
Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Richterich, R (1983) Introduction to Case Studies in Identifying Language Needs.
Oxford: Pergamon (Council of Europe).
Waters, A and Waters, M (2001) ‘Designing tasks for developing study competence
and study skills in English’, in Flowerdew, J and Peacock, M (eds) Research
Perspectives on English for Academic Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 375–389.
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 57
Developing school
English materials
for the new Iranian
educational system
Elham Foroozandeh and Mohammad Forouzani
58 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 59
5
Developing school English
materials for the new Iranian
educational system
Elham Foroozandeh and Mohammad Forouzani
Introduction
The history of high school English coursebooks in Iran dates back to 1938
when a committee of Iranian and American educationists and professors was
formed to develop a series of English books exclusively for Iranian high schools.
The pre-Revolution materials belong to the years 1939 –79, while the postrevolution
materials fall into three periods, namely 1982 –90, 1991–2010 and
the new English for School Series from 2012 to date. The focus of this chapter
is mainly on the development, implementation and evaluation of the new series
entitled Prospect, but prior to that a brief account of the approach and design
of the old materials from 1939 to 2010 will be given.
Part 1: Pre-Revolution Series: 1939 –79
Prior to this period, a variety of English as a foreign language (EFL) materials
produced in English-speaking countries were used in the Iranian schools, but
the then Ministry of Culture sponsored a huge project to develop materials for
schools with contributions from Iranian, American and English educators and
language specialists.
1939–mid-1960s The first official English coursebooks for the Iranian high
schools were designed and developed by a team of Iranian and English-speaking
English language teaching (ELT) specialists and linguists in 1938 and were made
available to schools in 1939. The six-volume series follows the Direct Method (DM)
and Reading Method (RM) with a variety of topics, but no design format can be
observed in the series. The topics range from Persian literature to world literature,
history, science, biography and art. No teacher’s guide accompanies the series,
but each volume provides the teachers with a ten-page introduction with detailed
guidelines on classroom management, adopting a humanitarian approach to the
teaching–learning process, and emphasising the importance of spelling and
handwriting using appropriate error-correction techniques.
As mentioned above, no fixed pattern governs the layout of the lessons, so Lesson 1
in Book One may start with a poem with no warm-up or follow-up activities, while
another lesson would contain grammar points with relevant exercises. A bilingual
(English–Persian) glossary is also provided at the end of the book to help students
with text translations.
60 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system While the high school series was developed based on DM and RM principles,
the general trend in the mid-1960s was Situational Language Teaching (SLT).
As a result the school series was revised, and new materials developed based
on SLT principles.
1964 – 78 The six-volume Graded English Series that replaced the previous series
has a clear layout with a fixed number of pages and new words in each lesson.
The series follows SLT principles, includes more illustrations and is accompanied
by a comprehensive teacher’s guide for each volume. The teacher’s guide provides
step-by-step explanations for teaching the language components and skills in each
lesson. Different methods of spelling practice and dictation are also introduced.
New words are highlighted in red in contrast to the black and white version of the
old series, and each lesson contains both dialogues and short reading passages
followed by a grammar point and relevant exercises.
Besides following the current trends of the time, the Graded English Series is
probably one of the best series developed between 1939 and 2003 in terms
of the organisation of lesson components, layout and the teacher’s guide.
Part 2: Post-Revolution Series: 1982 – 2010
1982 – 90 The first revision to the high school English curriculum and materials
after the Islamic Revolution took place in 1982 and remained effective until 1990.
English was removed from Grade 1 of junior high schools, and students started
English in Grade 2. Coursebooks were revised based on RM principles, and
conversational skills received little emphasis. The four coursebooks developed
for the four years of senior high school had different layouts and designs, and
Book 4 as the last in the series had the most emphasis on reading, vocabulary
and grammar. No teacher’s guide accompanied the series.
1991– 2010 In 1991 Grade 4 was removed from the high school programme
and was replaced by a new level called Pre-University for students intending to
continue to university. Others could graduate from high school as soon as they
finished Grade 3. The English Coursebook for the Pre-University level was divided
into Book One and Book Two in a single volume, and was developed based on
RM and SLT principles. There were long reading passages together with several
grammar points to prepare students for the English section of the National
University Admission Examination.
The Pre-University coursebook underwent fundamental changes in 2003, and
it is the first high school coursebook to incorporate Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT) principles in the history of school English in Iran. Warm-up activities,
role plays, context-based language and colourful illustrations are among important
revisions. Other high school coursebooks in Grades 1, 2 and 3 remained the same
with some minor revisions.
When the 6-3-3 System (see below) was made effective in 2011, the lower
secondary and upper secondary levels required totally different materials, which
are now being written at the Curriculum Development Center (CDC), Ministry of
Education, Iran. Part 3, below, is an account of the planning, implementation and
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 61
evaluation of the first two packages of the English for School Series, which were
published in 2013 and 2014 and are used in lower secondary schools in Iran.
Part 3: The 6-3-3 System: English for Schools
Birth After the Iranian Ministry of Education reformed the educational curricula
in 2010 and officially announced the 6-3-3 System, the revision of course
syllabuses for all subjects including English was put to the top of the agenda in
the Organisation of Educational Research and Planning (OERP) at the Ministry.
6-3-3 refers to six years of elementary school, three years of lower secondary
school (formerly junior high school) and three years of upper secondary school
(formerly senior high school).
Eleven subject matter books in different grades (for example, Grade 6 in
elementary school and 7, 8 and 9 at lower secondary) underwent fundamental
changes in their content and design. Coursebooks for Grades 1 and 6 were
re-written. As for English, the policy makers officially announced Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT) as the main principle governing the materials. This
approach was fundamentally different from the Reading Method on which the
school English books had been based for 26 years despite minor revisions.
To respond to the Ministry’s call for writing new school books for the 6-3-3 system,
a group of six materials developers were invited to the English Department at
the Ministry’s Organisation of Research and Planning. The group consisted of
two assistant professors of ELT, two MOE (Ministry of Education) experienced
teachers and two linguists with doctoral degrees. The members of the materials
development (MD) team had experience in different aspects of teacher education,
syllabus design and materials development, coursebook evaluation, genre and
discourse analysis, and psychology of language teaching.
The team met in August 2011, and it took members about four months to
design the syllabus for the lower secondary Grades 7, 8 and 9. More than 100
EFL coursebooks available in Iranian and international markets as well as those
available online were collected. The contents of the materials were analysed with
a focus on the first 10,000 most frequent words as well as grammar for young
12-year-old adults. A variety of topics were selected and categorised into personal,
public, vocational and educational domains, then the Iranian learners’ needs and
lacks in secondary school were considered, and Common European Framework
of Reference (CEFR) targets for A2 and B2 users were established.
Challenges There were several challenges for the materials developers in
implementing the CLT syllabus in the lower secondary English programme.
One was a lack of school teachers’ experience, or, by the same token, their
disbelief in the effectiveness of managing English classes based on CLT principles.
This widespread disbelief might be rooted in the fact that to succeed in the National
University Admission Examination, students are not tested on their communicative
competence. There are no parts in the English section that require applicants to
produce any spoken or written samples of their language proficiency. They are
tested on their grammar knowledge and reading comprehension skills, covered
62 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system well by the former coursebooks and supplementary materials provided by
schools or private language institutes.
A second source of the teachers’ reluctance to use CLT principles could be the
demanding nature of the CLT method. CLT requires a considerable amount of
communication in the target language, and there are a large number of teachers
who are not comfortable managing the class in English. Teachers had been used
to teaching English using the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) for the past
30 years, and the radical shift from GTM to CLT was a shock.
Another challenge was the limited number of English hours in the curriculum: two
hours a week in a total of 26 weeks in the academic year (from September to May),
far below the minimum requirement for sufficient exposure to the target language
in a CLT classroom. The limited time was a serious drawback in that it was neither
possible to limit the scope of the book to less than the minimum content defined
for eight lessons, nor sensible to expect the teachers to cover the content and
achieve the objectives defined for Book 1 in only two hours a week. After research
and reflection, the materials development team decided to define CEFR A2 and B2
levels at the end of lower secondary and upper secondary school respectively.
The third challenge was the heterogeneous population of Grade 7 pupils who had
just finished the six-year elementary school. The materials had to accommodate
more than 1,200,000 12-year-olds from different parts of the country including
the underprivileged, semi-privileged and privileged. School contexts would range
from a single plain room with around five students with no CD player or any other
technology, in a remote rural area with mules as the only means of transport, to
well-resourced schools with smartboards, individual computers, sophisticated
digital communication and an internal network connecting students and teachers.
Students in these well-provided schools would usually come from a strong
English background, and were often bilingual as a result of one parent being
an English speaker or their having studied English in private institutes. On the
other hand, students in underprivileged areas had never experienced hearing
a single sentence in English, had no idea of Western culture, would not need
English in their daily life and would rarely get the chance to meet a foreigner
in their neighbourhood except for those who lived in a tourist area. Families’
negative attitudes toward learning English and Western culture was also a
concern in both underprivileged and privileged families, attitudes sometimes
complicated by religious concerns.
The packages in the English for Schools Series include a student’s book, a
workbook, a teacher’s guide and an audio CD of the conversations. Prospect 1
and 2, already written and used in schools since September 2013 and 2014
respectively, are described in the following sections.
English for Schools: Prospect 1
Approach, design, methodology and assessment
Approach With regard to Iran’s specific national values and ideologies, the
fundamental shift in approach in 2010 was likely to cause objections, resistance
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 63
or, at best, scepticism about the effectiveness of CLT in a school context where
teachers had been teaching English with grammar translation methods for more
than 26 years. However, in line with the argument for placing the context at the
heart of the profession (Bax, 2003), the authors took into consideration the
immediate Iranian context in selecting illustrations, topics, proper names and
interactions that could be closest to the natural target setting while conforming
to national values and ideologies.
Design and methodology The Prospect series for the lower secondary school
was meant to teach both literacy, which continues into Prospect 2 and 3, and
communication. Prospect 1 was the hardest to design with regard to the already
mentioned heterogeneous population of the Grade 7 students. The alphabet letters
with their corresponding sounds are presented in a context that would sound
natural and easy to follow for students both with a background in English and those
with no such background.
Different letter/sound presentation methods were studied in commercial ESL/EFL
coursebooks. Blended (synthetic) phonics was rejected as it best suits children
more than young adults who already have the experience of first language
acquisition. Instead, analytic phonics that encouraged whole-word reading could
be a more suitable method for this age group. Selection of the letters was decided
on the basis of the frequency of the letters in Persian words and names, and the
similarity of the corresponding sounds to the Persian ones. For instance, Lesson 1
introduces M and K as two of the most frequent alphabet letters with sounds very
close to English k and m, and A as the most frequent vowel sound that could be
added to two consonants and make the pronunciation of a minimum three-letter
word (for example, ant) possible.
The specific alphabet letters in each lesson are presented in dialogues with the
themes and functions of introducing self, introducing others, age and date, family,
appearance, actions in progress, address/phone numbers/time and favourite food/
giving suggestions.
Each of the eight lessons in Prospect 1 is presented in four colourful pages and
includes the following sections:
1. Conversation, which takes place between Iranian interlocutors (teacher–
student, student–student).
2. Practice 1, Practice 2 (and in some lessons Practice 3), which introduce
language functions (for example, questions).
3. Sounds and letters, which includes one conversation with the purpose of
teaching and learning the pronunciation of a given sound in a context that
seems natural enough to require that interaction (for example, a student who
mispronounces or asks for the correct pronunciation of a word, and a teacher
who helps/corrects).
4. Listening and reading with the purpose of teaching the students to listen and
‘scan’ for required information, read the given tabular information and check
the correct boxes.
64 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system 5. Speaking and writing, encouraging students to use the expressions and
functions of the lesson to communicate with each other and engage in pair
and/or group work filling out forms and completing surveys. Limited written
production is required in this section. What students are required to produce
correctly is the letters they have learned; other parts of the word are written
with the teacher’s help. For instance, in Lesson 1 they complete a form about
three classmates’ first and last names. Teachers encourage the students to
write down the letters they know and complete the name(s) together and/or
with the teacher’s help.
6. Role play, which students carry out to practise the language functions and
expressions necessary for talking about the lesson’s theme.
Prospect 1 also includes a separate workbook and a step-by-step teacher’s guide.
Extra photocopiable activity sheets are included in the teacher’s guide, which is
also available online.
Assessment Students’ overall performance is evaluated on the basis of their
scores in the formative and summative assessments specified in Table 1, below.
It should be mentioned that before the 6-3-3 curriculum, two final scores were
recorded in the students’ report sheets for their oral and written performance
during the semester, but there were no benchmarks for the oral exams. The
specification of scores on the language components and skills are based on the
presentation of the same items in the lessons. This highlights the importance of
listening–speaking activities in the syllabus of Prospect 1 compared with that of
the previous coursebook.
All the end-of-semester exams are developed by classroom teachers for Grades 7
and 8, but the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) is planning a national standard
test when students finish Grade 9 – the end of the lower secondary school.
The sample tests posted on the CDC’s website guide teachers to provide their
own for further practice. The stems in the sample tests are given in Persian so that
the students can easily follow the directions and undertake the activities in English.
For instance, the Persian stem may state that: ‘Ali’s father wants Ali to create an
email address for him. Help Ali enter the information on the website in English.’ Ali’s
father’s particulars (First name, Last name, Age, Job, City, Country, Contact number
and Mailing address) are given in Persian, but the website form is in English. As a
result, students read the information in Persian and change it into English to
complete the form.
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 65
Table 1: Assessment
End-of-semester final evaluation
Oral exam Written exam
Formative
Assessment
(20 points)
Summative
Assessment
(20 points)
Formative
Assessment
(20 points)
Summative Assessment
(20 points)
Listening: 5 points 1
−− Conversation
−− Practice
−− Listening and
writing
−− Interview: 5 points
−− Monologue:
5 points
−− Role Play:
10 points
−− Listening and writing:
10 points
−− Reading and writing:
10 points
Speaking: 5 points
−− Reading, speaking,
writing
−− Practice (functions)
NOTE: The final
oral assessment for
Semester 1 will be
based on lessons
1–4. For Semester
2, 5 points will be
related to lessons
1–4 and 15 points
for lessons 5–8
Workbook
activities and
literacy skills
(spelling and
pronunciation)
NOTE 1: Final score
on Written Exam
= (Formative +
Summative) / 2
NOTE 2: Final written
exam for Semester 1:
Lessons 1–4
NOTE 3: Final written
Exam for Semester 2:
5 points from Lessons
Listening and
Speaking: 10 points
−− Talk to your Teacher
(expressions)
−− Literacy (spelling
and pronunciation)
−− Role play
1 Benchmark:
Comprehension
of questions and
answering the
teacher’s/rater’s
questions in English
or Persian
SEPTEMBER EXAM (Repeated for fail students)
Summative oral + Summative written = 20 points
Summative Oral (20) / 5 = 4 Summative Written (8 points listening + 8 points reading/writing) = 16
Teacher training workshop
In August 2013, 200 senior teachers from all provinces of Iran were invited to the
first Prospect Workshop held at a Teacher Education Centre in Tehran. For logistical
purposes, they were divided into two groups each with 100 participants, and each
group was in turn put into four classes of 25. The participants mostly held Master’s
degrees in English, and a few participants were undertaking their PhD at the time.
They were all selected and invited by the Ministry of Education.
The workshop for each of the two groups was scheduled for six days from 8 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Four members of the materials development team ran the workshops
for the four sub-groups in each week. The workshop’s timetable was scheduled in
a way that each sub-group would attend the training sessions of all four trainers
on each day.
66 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system The workshop materials included (1) handouts on the concept of CLT with clear
explanation about its principles and classroom applications, (2) PDF files of the
teacher’s guide, (3) hard copies of Lesson 1 and (4) the audio files of the dialogues.
Two workshop trainers presented micro-teaching sessions of a ‘Welcome’ Lesson
because it was new in terms of approach, design and methodology. Teachers were
wondering how they could start the class in English with both students with a good
background in English and those from underprivileged school contexts or rural
areas with minimal encounters with English, if at all. Trainers emphasised that,
especially for zero beginners, there should be a balance between the use of L1
(Persian) and English to overcome students’ fears and prevent discouragement.
The role of body language, gestures, mimicry and realia were highlighted during
the micro-teaching with participants playing the role of the students.
On the first day of the workshops, teachers, especially the experienced ones,
expressed their scepticism over the efficiency of the new coursebook, the
possibility of handling classes using the CLT method and generally over the
whole training programme. However, after no more than two days, most teachers,
including the disapproving ones, began to like Prospect 1 and could connect with
it (personal communications to authors of this chapter during the workshops).
Much time and effort was put into the planning and implementation of the training
programme, but the CDC’s main concern was the cascading effect. The 200 trained
senior teachers were to cascade the information to teachers in later workshops to be
held in their provinces before the start of the academic year in late September 2013.
The workshops’ DVD shared with all participants included trainers’ presentations,
micro-teaching, classroom lectures on the CLT approach in general and the application
of the method in Iranian schools in particular, dialogue audio files, a PDF file of the
teacher’s guide, and the Prospect 1 coursebook and workbook that were just
published and were about to be made available on the market.
Teachers’ feedback
During September and October, the materials development team monitored the
implementation of the Grade 7 English programme and received feedback from
teachers who were involved in the cascaded training in their provinces.
These school teachers did not feel well briefed about the methodology of Prospect
1, the cascading effect with which the CDC was most concerned. They claimed
they felt more comfortable teaching all alphabet letters in the first two weeks of
the academic year instead of keeping pace with the alphabet presentation in the
coursebook. They expressed their distrust in using whole-word techniques and
had decided to teach the alphabet letters in the traditional way from A to Z.
Teachers were also teaching dialogues line-by-line instead of exposing students
to audio-visual inputs and eliciting the whole meaning of expressions, as well as
locating the letters that were the focus of a given lesson. Based on the teachers’
feedback, the major challenge that students faced when learning the English
alphabet by the analytic phonics method was the presence of other unknown
letters in a given word.
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 67
Surprisingly to the team, some teachers from the less privileged provinces or
Tehran districts reported that students were following the materials and were
eager to take part in group work and role plays in order to communicate in English.
In response to the above-mentioned comments, the CDC held immediate meetings
with teachers in different educational districts in Tehran and other provinces to
reinforce the purposes behind the new methodology. The materials development
team suspected that the Ministry decision to train only 200 senior teachers to
cascade the training to about 7,000 teachers across the country had not been
as effective as expected.
From December 2013, two months after the beginning of the academic year,
more positive feedback was received regarding students’ improvement in oral
communication. The feedback was collected through official phone calls and emails
to the CDC English Department office. Teachers sounded satisfied with students’
performance compared to their experiences with the previous English books in the
same lower secondary grade.
The positive feedback for Prospect 1 generally included:
1. Respect for students’ identities by focusing on the personal domain
(using ‘My’ in lesson topics).
2. Use of real pictures instead of cartoons.
3. Use of all language skills.
4. Addition of audio files as an integrated component of each lesson.
5. Addition of a separate workbook to the materials.
6. The step-by-step teacher’s guide.
7. Group and pair work suggested in all lessons.
8. Relative reflection of real life.
9. Photo dictionary at the end of the book.
10. Lively classroom atmosphere.
11. Little need for commercial materials as extra practice.
12. Real-life contexts for conversations and interactions.
13. Use of familiar names and places in Iran.
14. Attention to meaning rather than form.
15. Inclusion of ‘Review’ sections after every two lessons.
16. Defining the teacher’s role as facilitator not the sole input provider.
17. Engaging students in interactions.
18. Appropriate use of colours.
68 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system Suggestions for improvement were varied. Before publication, the student book
and workbook were reviewed by a group of school teachers and university
professors, and their comments regarding style, content and design were generally
applied. Teachers also shared their concerns and suggestions for improvement a
couple of months after the start of the academic year as follows:
1. Inaccessibility of hard copies of the teacher’s guide. Copies were available from
the Ministry’s bookstore in Tehran and not all teachers from other provinces
were able to collect the copies in person. However, the soft copy was already
shared on the CDC’s website for ease of access.
2. Lack of teacher expertise to teach the new coursebook. This is related to
the cascading effect that the CDC had to support later through in-service
workshops and briefing sessions.
3. No sample tests in the coursebook. Several sample tests were made available
online in the second month of the academic year, but teachers felt more
comfortable with hard copies.
4. Mismatch between the volume of each lesson and the limited time (less than
two hours) for the English course in the week.
5. Lack of audio-visual aids in many schools to carry out the lessons’ activities.
6. No explicit grammar section in the coursebook. This comment conflicts with the
main purpose of the materials to ‘use language to learn it’ in the first two years
of the lower secondary level, and be introduced to grammar explicitly in Grade
9, the last grade in lower secondary. The issue has frequently been discussed
since the first Prospect Workshop in September 2013 and was re-emphasised
in the later in-service training sessions.
7. Difficult vocabulary in the dialogues that prevented students from writing
and memorising them. Teachers have been advised not to make students
‘memorise’ the dialogues or words that are not the focus of a given lesson.
The dialogues are intended to provide auditory input for students to attune
their ears to English sounds and words, and they need to ‘scan’ for specific
information from the dialogues.
8. Impossibility of shift from GTM to CLT in large classes. In workshops, teachers
were encouraged to use pair and group work to help them move from the
GTM and teacher–student interaction to student–student interaction in a CLT
classroom. Three months after the start of the academic year, more positive
feedback was received about the success of the new coursebook and the
teachers’ own performance based on CLT principles.
9. No Western culture in lessons; all names, characters, and places are Persian.
Using a foreign language would be more successful if learners were aware of
the cultural values of English-speaking communities. Prospect 1 was primarily
intended to enable Iranian students to use English to talk about themselves
and describe their immediate environment. The culture of other groups was
not an immediate need at this basic level, and its presentation has been
delayed to higher levels.
Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system | 69
10. No use of CD in class: lack of time and/or equipment. The materials
development team attended to this negative feedback by communicating
with senior teachers, emphasising the necessity of the listening component in
the programme and the efforts that had been put into producing the CD with
professional sound managers, radio programme directors, and native and
near-native speakers who recorded the conversations at Radio Tehran.
Based on teacher feedback, the materials development team conducted several
in-service training programmes between October 2013 and March 2014. Necessary
revisions to the coursebook and workbook were identified, and the second edition
of Prospect 1 was published and made available to schools in the summer of 2014
for the following academic year.
English for Schools: Prospect 2
Approach, design, methodology and assessment
The same approach, design and methodology are defined for Prospect 2 with
differences in content and the number of lessons. There are seven lessons with
the topics of My nationality, My week (daily routines), My abilities, My health, My city,
My village and My hobbies, with relevant language functions and expressions.
Each lesson is presented in five colourful pages and consists of the
following sections:
1. Conversation
2. Practice
3. Spelling and Pronunciation (corresponding to Sounds and Letters in
Prospect 1)
4. Listening and Writing (corresponding to Listening and Writing in Prospect 1)
5. Reading, Speaking and Writing (corresponding to Speaking and Writing in
Prospect 1)
6. Role Play
While Prospect 1 focuses on literacy at word level, the focus of Prospect 2 is
extended to phrase level, paving the way for grammar teaching in Grade 9
(Prospect 3).
The Prospect 2 coursebook is supplemented with a workbook in which the activities
are all set in a rich context so that language use and practice will sound as natural
as possible. The workbook activities for each lesson in the student coursebook is
divided into two sections (Reading and Writing), each with four tasks.
To facilitate students’ understanding, all instructions are given in Persian.
A scenario is given so that students can imagine the situation in which they need
to perform specific language functions or tasks. These activities focus on both
literacy and language use. For instance, the first activity for Lesson 1 in the
workbook requires students to read a world map with Persian names of countries
and provide the equivalent English names/spellings. In another activity, the
70 | Developing school English materials for the new Iranian educational system
students find cities with ‘ch’ and ‘sh’ in their names on the map of China. In a further
activity, the names of eight countries are given in Persian, and students check
the list of their football teams on the FIFA website provided as a screenshot in
their workbook, find the teams’ English names and rankings, and give a report to
the class. To use language to talk about abilities in Lesson 3, for example, pictures
of people doing certain activities are given and students decide who is good at
which activity, writing answers in English.
Assessment The same specifications and schedules presented in Table 1, above,
are defined for Prospect 2 formative and summative assessment.
Teacher training workshop
Similar to the Prospect 1 training workshop held for senior teachers in the summer
of 2013, a more practice-based workshop for Prospect 2 was held in August 2014.
Teachers’ feedback
Prospect 2 was much easier to teach for teachers who had experienced Prospect 1,
but there were complaints about dialogue difficulty and the numbers of lessons.
Due to the nationwide student heterogeneity, feedback ranged from highly positive
to negative, depending on the area and school contexts.
Interestingly, schools that were located in remote areas showed positive feedback
on the lesson My Village, as it encouraged both teachers and students to talk more
about natural scenery, towns and urban life, as well as jobs common in rural areas.
Feedback is still being sent by email and posted on the CDC English Department
website. A full report on Prospect 2 implementation is in progress, but teachers’
feedback to date shows a more positive view than that received for Prospect 1 in
the early months of the implementation in 2013.
Based on this first-hand account of the planning, implementation and evaluation of
the English for School Series: Prospect 1–2, it could be claimed that materials have
initiated a revolution in the teaching of English in Iranian schools in the past three
decades. The Curriculum Development Centre at the Ministry of Education in Iran
is engaged in an ongoing process of writing, assessing and revising the latest
materials, and teachers and students are playing a crucial role in the successful
implementation of the series.
The impact of language games on the nature of interactions | 71
The impact of
language games
on the nature of
interactions in the
Iranian EFL primary
classroom
Mona Mohabbatsafa and Julia Hüttner
72 | The impact of language games on the nature of interactions
The impact of language games on the nature of interactions | 73
6
The impact of language games on
the nature of interactions in the
Iranian EFL primary classroom
Mona Mohabbatsafa and Julia Hüttner
Introduction
The importance of interaction for language learning has been established in
research (Ellis, 1990; Mitchell and Myles, 2004; Storch, 2007) and can arguably be
seen as the basis for several pedagogic practices, such as the use of communicative
language teaching or interactive language games. In the context of Iranian primary
schools, described here, it was found that EFL learners are deprived of interaction
opportunities and do not actively participate in classroom activities. In Grade 5
classrooms, pupils are considered more as passive receivers of knowledge and
most classroom talk is dominated by teacher talk.
In order to create interaction opportunities for these language learners, a curriculum
comprising role play, matching games, card games and guessing games was
introduced into an Iranian EFL primary classroom to establish whether or not the
use of language games can encourage pupils to participate more fully in classroom
activities compared to the traditional teacher-centred EFL classroom. Six traditional
and six game-based lessons were video recorded to answer the following questions:
1. What is the nature of interactions between teachers and pupils and among
pupils in an Iranian EFL primary classroom?
2. How are these interactions influenced by the introduction of language games
in the classroom?
Statement of the problem
The teacher’s dominance in language teaching environments has been criticised
as an oppressive educational practice (Giroux, 2004). Studies have shown that in
language classrooms where the teaching and learning process is dominated by the
teacher and language learners remain passive receivers of knowledge, an unequal
student–teacher power relation is created .The teacher dominates the learning/
teaching process to such an extent that the learners’ active involvement becomes
harmfully limited (Nunan, 1993). Such a limitation is usually imposed on the learners
by restricting their contributions as discourse participants in terms of their rights
about what to say, what not to say, when to talk and how much to get involved in
the classroom. This practice in language classrooms impacts the outcomes of
the language learning in a negative way (Bailey and Servero, 1998; Pace and
Hemmings, 2007; Walsh, 2008).
74 | The impact of language games on the nature of interactions While such studies have shown that the dominance of teachers in language
classrooms does not help learners’ language development, some language teachers
in different parts of the world still continue to use such strategies to control
classroom talk (Sawyer, 2004). Iran is one of those countries where a number of
EFL teachers dominate the teaching/learning process (Kiany and Shayestefar, 2010).
Iranian EFL teachers still practise traditional teaching methods such as grammar
translation and audio-lingual methods, which fail to provide opportunities for pupils
to use language communicatively (Kariminia and Salehi, 2007).
The teacher’s dominance in Iranian EFL classrooms has created a formal learning
environment that Gardner (2010) believes can have a negative effect on pupils’
motivation and their attitude towards learning a foreign language. A strict and
impersonal relationship fails to provide a pleasant and supportive classroom
atmosphere. According to Gardner (2010), a friendly teacher–student relationship
and a positive classroom facilitates pupils’ language learning, as learners become
motivated to participate in classroom activities. Pupils do not appear to have such
opportunities in Iranian EFL classrooms. Iranian teachers do not appear to provide
pupils with sufficient rewarding words and positive feedback in the classroom
(Nahavandi and Mukundan, 2013), which, as Brophy (1981) reports, can increase
students’ self-esteem and build a closer teacher–pupil relationship.
In response to such difficulties, a method of teaching through language games
was introduced into an Iranian EFL primary classroom. I wished to see whether
the methodology would make a qualitative shift in interactions towards a more
pupil-centred model and to what extent teachers and pupils would respond to
these opportunities for learning. The study was conducted with 20 11-year-old
pupils and one EFL teacher in an Iranian EFL state primary classroom.
Method of data collection
Observation and procedures
Classroom observation was conducted over a six-week period. Observation was
an appropriate method for the purpose of the study as it allowed direct analysis
of the teacher’s and pupils’ behaviours and their interactions occurring in the
classroom (Merriam, 2009). Direct observation could also provide valid and
authentic data compared to other methods such as questionnaires and interviews
(Merriam, 2009). In Iran, as in many other countries, research can be a sensitive
area and respondents may be reluctant to say or write what they really think
(Akbari and Tajik, 2008). If the data was obtained from questionnaires and/or
interviews, valid and authentic participant data might not be obtained.
To decide which observation type was more appropriate for the purpose of
the study, observation methods were reviewed and their advantages and
disadvantages considered. As Creswell (2007) notes, participant observation
requires engaging in the activities and involvement with the subjects. This type
of observation, as Breakwell et al. (2000) report, can provide a great amount of
data not only about the participants’ actions and behaviours but also about their
feelings and attitudes. However, participant observation, as Simpson and Tuson
(2003: 14) argue, is the most ‘subtly intrusive’ form of observation, requiring the
researcher to become a member of a group and participate in the activities while
still acting as a detached researcher.
The impact of language games on the nature of interactions | 75
In non-participant observation the observer watches events and activities from a
distance (Seliger and Long, 1983). Non-participation saves observer time, which
can be spent video-recording sessions and taking notes of observed incidents.
Moreover, non-participant observation allows observers to be more objective
and prevents their feelings affecting the results (Bryman, 2004). However, like
participant observation, non-participant observation has some disadvantages;
for example, the lack of involvement in classroom activities could prevent the
observer from seeing or hearing classroom events. It could also be difficult to
clarify what pupils do or say unless engaged in the activities with them (Creswell,
2003). In non-participant observations, the presence of the researcher can affect
the participants’ behaviour (Merriam, 2009).
After reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of participant and nonparticipant
observation, non-participant observation was selected in order to
save time and aid objectivity. In addition, I needed to demonstrate empirically
what the patterns of interaction are in a ‘typical’ classroom and my involvement
as a participant-observer would have influenced the results (Bell, 2005). Six
sessions of traditional and six sessions of game-based lessons were observed
over a period of six weeks, and both traditional and game lessons were videorecorded
in sequence.
Each observation session lasted for 60 minutes. Traditional lessons were taught
from the coursebook and the teacher applied the usual teaching methods
(grammar translation and audio-lingual methods) to teach the language items.
The teacher introduced the language items such as vocabulary and grammar rules
by writing them on the whiteboard and pupils copied them in their notebooks. The
teacher asked the pupils to repeat the language items that were modelled by the
teacher chorally and then the coursebook activities were individually practised.
Pupils filled in blanks to complete a sentence, wrote the missing letter/s of a word
and corrected some mistakes. However, pupils were not able to practise language
items communicatively, as the nature of the coursebook activities did not require
communication and the teacher did not initiate pair or group work.
In the game lessons, lessons were taught through language games. Language
items including vocabulary and grammar, some new and some already known
to pupils, were introduced and then included in language games for pupils to
practise communicatively. The activities in the coursebook were replaced by
language games so that pupils could practise with their peers collaboratively
rather than working individually as they did in traditional lessons.
Findings
The findings obtained from the analysis of the 12 observation sessions (six
traditional and six communicative lessons) were recorded, transcribed and coded
based on Sinclair and Coulthard’s (1975) coding scheme. The frequency of the
communicative acts were counted in order to find out how the teacher’s and pupils’
communicative acts were affected by the use of language games. The verbal
interactions between the teacher and pupils and among pupils were selected from
the transcripts of different video-recorded lessons at different stages and then
described in detail.
76 | The impact of language games on the nature of interactions The findings from the analysis revealed that in traditional lessons pupils’ interactions
were highly controlled by the teacher and pupils did not talk and practise the target
language communicatively in the classroom. Due to the teacher’s dominance in the
classroom, the atmosphere of the classroom was formal, which created a distant
relationship between teacher and pupils and among pupils. Even the classroom
set-up represented the teacher’s authority. The teacher was standing in front next
to the whiteboard and pupils were sitting in rows facing the teacher and the board.
Pupil talk was restricted to replying to the teacher’s questions or repeating the
language items in chorus. Pupils sat and listened to their teacher and they were not
allowed to talk unless asked to do so. Pupils were also not permitted to leave their
seats unless they wanted to leave the classroom, in which case they had to seek
the teacher’s permission. There was no pair or group work involved and pupils were
not actively involved in the learning process through interacting with each other
or their teacher.
The quantitative analysis of the data revealed that modelling language items was
the most dominant communicative act performed by the teacher, representing
45 per cent (N=267) of 594 communicative acts. When the teacher modelled a
language item, pupils were required to repeat the language item after the teacher
in chorus, which did not create opportunity for pupils to use the target language
in a communicative and meaningful way. The analysis further revealed that in
traditional lessons, choral repetition of language items was the most dominant
communicative act performed by pupils, representing 57 per cent (N=269) of
468 communicative acts. According to Hardman (2005), choral responses do
not provide opportunity for meaningful communication in class and do not allow
pupils to fully engage in the learning process.
The question-and-answer sequence was another feature of classroom interaction
observed in these Iranian EFL classrooms. The analysis of the data showed that
display questions to which answers are known to the teacher (Dalton-Puffer, 2007)
were the most common type of teacher questions in traditional lessons, representing
81 per cent (N=114) of the total number of 141 questions. The questions required
short answers such as a single word or a short phrase. The teacher asked these
questions to practise new language and to check pupils’ comprehension of taught
language items. According to Handeda (2005), practising new language items and
checking pupils’ comprehension are two important functions of display questions.
However, this type of question does not provide interaction opportunities for pupils.
On the other hand, the use of referential questions, answers to which are unknown
to the teacher (Dalton-Puffer, 2007), significantly increased in game lessons
from 13 per cent (N=18) of 141 questions in traditional lessons to 77 per cent
(N=117) of 152 questions in game lessons. A motivating and enjoyable classroom
atmosphere was created by the use of language games (Hansen, 1994) and made
pupils eager to reply to referential questions. According to Cullen (1998), referential
questions can create more interaction opportunities than display questions, as
they allow learners to produce lengthier utterances and use the target language
communicatively in a meaningful way.
The impact of language games on the nature of interactions | 77
The use of language games created a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere, pupils
were more relaxed and bid more in game lessons, showing more interest in
classroom activities. Calculations of the data showed that bidding to participate in
classroom activities increased from three per cent (N=14) of 468 communicative
acts in traditional lessons to 20 per cent (N=173) of 869 communicative acts in
game lessons. Pupils’ elicitation questions increased from three per cent (N=16)
of 468 communicative acts in traditional lessons to 11 per cent (N=95) of 869
communicative acts in game lessons. One reason for this increase was due to the
fact that pupil–pupil questioning was common in language game-based lessons as
pupils had opportunities to interact with each other and work in pairs or groups to
perform activities. However, in traditional lessons pupils were not able to interact
with each other and were not provided with pair or group work opportunities.
Reacting to the teacher’s instructions was another communicative act affected
by the use of language games. Pupils reacting to the teacher’s instructions
significantly increased from seven per cent (N=35) of 468 pupils’ communicative
acts in traditional lessons compared to 31 per cent (N=269) of 869 pupils’
communicative acts in game lessons.
Conclusions
As indicated in the introduction section, there is evidence that some Iranian EFL
learners are deprived of interaction opportunities and classroom talk is dominated
by teachers (Kariminia and Salehi, 2007). The findings in my study showed that the
introduction of language games in an Iranian EFL primary classroom changed the
nature of interactions, which became more pupil centred. In game lessons, pupils
were more actively involved in the learning process, elicited more information from
the teacher and pupils, and reacted more to the teacher’s instructions. The use of
referential questions was more common in game lessons, and so pupils were able
to talk more and produce longer utterances. The introduction of language games
to an Iranian EFL primary classroom provided more opportunity for pupils to talk
and interact in the target language compared to traditional lessons.
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Storch, N (2007) Investigating the merits of pair work on a text editing task in
ESL classes. Language Teaching Research 11/2: 143 –159.
Walsh, J (2008) The critical role of discourse in education for democracy.
Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies 6/2: 54 – 76.
80 | The impact of language games on the nature of interactions
EFL learners’ and
teachers’ perceptions
versus performances
of participatory
structures
Zohreh Seifoori and Farinaz Fartash
82 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances
EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances | 83
7
EFL learners’ and teachers’
perceptions versus performances
of participatory structures
Zohreh Seifoori and Farinaz Fartash
Language teachers’ use of participatory structures (PSs) such as whole-class
work (WCW), pair/group work (P/GW), and individual work (IW) is rooted in their
beliefs about the language learning process on the one hand and their personal
experiences as language learners on the other. This study sought to explore
Iranian EFL teachers’ and learners’ perceptions and actual use of PSs. The
participants were eight teachers recruited randomly from two popular English
language institutes in Tabriz, a metropolitan city in the northwestern part of
Iran, and 80 EFL learners attending the same teachers’ classrooms. The research
data was collected via two parallel researcher-designed questionnaires that
were administered to elicit teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of PSs, and an
observation form that recorded the teachers’ actual use of such structures during
a typical teaching session. The teachers’ performances were quantified based on
a 1–4 scale indicating the use of the PSs at all teaching stages. Statistical analyses
of the questionnaire research data indicated that Iranian English teachers opted
for P/GW, WCW and IW, respectively. Iranian learners’ preferences were for WCW
followed by P/GW, and IW did not reach significance level. As for actual practice,
teachers used WCW most of the time, followed by IW and P/GW, the least frequently
used participatory structure. Teachers’ perceptions and their actual use of PSs
showed significant differences only with regard to P/GW. The findings have
practical implications for language teachers and educators.
Introduction
Language pedagogy has been described with reference to a particular set of
theoretical principles and corresponding classroom practices originating from
assumptions concerning the nature of the learning process and the role of learners
on the one hand, and the function of teaching and the part language teachers can
play to facilitate the learning process on the other. Theoretically, learning in general
and language learning in particular have been construed as multifaceted cognitive,
affective and social processes that are governed by numerous factors pertinent
to the learners’ cognitive and affective variables as well as the socio-cultural and
political context of education. The interplay among these already-complex sets of
parameters escalates the intricacies of the learning process. Language pedagogy
is now firmly based on the conviction that a multidimensional pedagogical system
is required to take account of multiple and dynamic learning processes.
84 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances Similarly, language teaching methodology has evolved into a parallel multifaceted
system to aid practising teachers with the delicacies of the teaching process.
Kumaravadivelu (2006) has characterised a post-method pedagogy as a threedimensional
system comprising particularity (features typical of each specific
teaching process), of practicality (what Freeman (1998) has referred to as
pedagogical thoughtfulness fed by reflective teaching), enabling teachers to
bridge the gap between theory and classroom practice, and of possibility
(participants’ experiences in the socio-political environment influencing their
identity formation and shaping their belief systems).
Post-method teachers, according to Kumaravadivelu (2006 op. cit.) and Wallace
(1991), possess the potential to know not only how to teach but also how to develop
reflective approaches despite academic and administrative constraints imposed by
institutions, curricula and textbooks. Yet regardless of this potential and language
teachers’ adherence to post-method pedagogy, either ostensible or genuine,
the major question is the extent to which they have extricated themselves from
the influences of pedagogical practices they experienced as students and have
succeeded in performing teaching and learning activities that are compatible
with their stated beliefs. Moreover, the degree of congruence between teachers’
and learners’ beliefs about numerous features of language learning seems of
crucial importance in judging the probability of achieving educational goals and
objectives. Any attempt to respond to these questions has to be based on careful
scrutiny of both teachers’ and learners’ beliefs about a specified set of variables
and corresponding classroom activities.
Participatory structures
One such variable dominating classroom practice is participatory structures
(PSs), or the procedures that govern how teachers’ and learners’ participation in
classroom activities is organised. Ellis (2003) identifies two types of participation
in classroom activities: individual and social. The former represents instances of
learners engaging in class work individually, whereas the latter involves interaction
between the participants. PSs comprise four major types: individual work (IW),
pair work (PW), group work (GW) and whole-class work (WCW).
Individual work (IW)
IW has been described as self-dependent learner attempts (Prabhu, 1987)
to reflect on and complete a given activity or task. This type of participation
accommodates individual variation. Research findings support the lower rate
of errors and higher levels of fluency as a result of individual planning compared
to group planning (Ellis, 2003). However, IW provides little chance for interaction
with the teacher and with students, and it is sometimes difficult to monitor individual
learner activities.
Pair work (PW)
With the advent of communicative language teaching (CLT), the shift of emphasis
from language knowledge to language use led to a realignment of teaching
methodology in favour of promoting learners’ fluency and oral proficiency.
PW was suggested as an alternative to IW to maximise learners’ talking time by
EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances | 85
engaging them in semi-communicative interactions. This kind of learners’
participation is advocated by the proponents of both strong and weak versions
of CLT or, more specifically, by advocates of task-based language teaching (TBLT)
and task-supported language teaching (TSLT). The former underscores the need
for uncontrolled authentic meaning-focused tasks that prepare learners for genuine
communication in real-life situations, while the latter accentuates the significant role
of controlled pedagogic form-focused tasks that give the learners the opportunity to
practise and automatise their knowledge of language.
To Ur (1981), PW represents a type of collaboration that can be carried out in fixed
pairs, when students work with the same partner to complete a task/activity, or in
flexible pairs, when students are allowed to undertake the activity while changing
partners. PW activities can include controlled role plays, simple question-andanswer
exercises, brainstorming, checking activities in pairs, and more genuine
and interactive personalised activities. Although the ultimate purpose in PW
activities is to involve learners in speaking, they can be employed at various
stages of teaching skills and sub-skills.
Group work (GW)
Despite the benefits attributed to PW, this kind of learner participation seems
hard to control in large classes. GW has been suggested as a classroom procedure
that can serve identical purposes. A distinct difference between PW and GW relates
to the number of learners participating in the activity. Depending on the size of the
class, more than two students participate in GW, which optimises collaborative
work and is more compatible with the principles of co-operative learning. GW
activities can be designed to engage students in interactive or quasi-interactive
communication for a short period of time with a minimum of logistical problems
(Brown, 2001). Games, role plays, simulations, brainstorming, tasks, group discussion
and project work are examples of GW activities. The final decision about which to
use is influenced primarily by the lesson objectives, the learners’ proficiency level
and their socio-cultural characteristics.
Johnson and Johnson (1994) delineated group interaction as ‘promotive’ in
nature since it embodies individuals’ attempts to encourage and facilitate each
other’s efforts to complete the assigned task and achieve the groups’ objectives.
It also promotes caring and committed relationships, psychological adjustment and
social competence, enabling learners to learn how to give and receive assistance
to exchange information, challenge each other’s ideas, rely on each other and act
in trustworthy ways. In addition, GW enhances motivation, enjoyment, autonomy
and social integration. Brown (2001) believes GW generates interactive language,
fosters an affective climate, promotes learner responsibility and autonomy,
and, finally, individualises instruction. However, many language teachers feel
apprehensive about the use of such activities. One criticism concerns the necessity
of attention to form as an essential aspect of instruction, which, according to Ellis
(2003) and Williams and Burden (1999), is at risk in P/GW. They suggest that such
meaning-focused activities are not necessarily conducive to attention to form,
particularly at elementary and pre-intermediate levels of proficiency.
86 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances P/GW activities have also been criticised for making large classes hard to control and
a subsequent loss of teacher control over pair and group interaction. Persistent use
of such PSs may be linked to fossilisation of the learners’ inter-language system
characterised by a relatively fluent but inaccurate command of the target language.
Finally, from the teachers’ perspective, P/GW can represent a serious challenge
requiring meticulous planning to select appropriate activities, monitor group
performance and provide subsequent feedback. Some teachers may doubt
whether such activities are worth the effort because students will be exposed
to imperfect language models and incorrect feedback.
There may be a consensus that the advantages of GW outweigh the disadvantages,
but many teachers, particularly in EFL contexts, feel daunted by the challenge and
often revert back to their tried and trusted experience-bound methods. Such GW
activities might also be in contrast with the cultural expectations of many learners,
who are used to learning deductively and explicitly in teacher-fronted contexts.
Practising teachers may enthusiastically or even grudgingly admit the benefits of
P/GW yet continue to adhere to more traditional structures such as IW and WCW.
Whole-class work (WCW)
The fourth participatory structure employed by language teachers is WCW,
in which all class members are the addressees in teacher–student interaction.
Ellis (2003) makes a distinction between reciprocal WCW, in which the teacher
is an equal participant in the interaction, and non-reciprocal activities, where the
teacher is the input provider who plays the main role in the interaction. The major
threat in this kind of interaction is lack of negotiation and the subsequent high
rate of teacher talk. Reciprocal WCW is a feature of classroom teaching confined
to specific stages of teaching, aimed at lowering learners’ stress and activating
their relevant schemata (for example, initial warm-up questions, or engaging
participants in a genuine exchange of ideas in the form of content-based or
form-focused whole-class discussion). Reciprocal questions work well when they
are used to activate/establish background knowledge or explain new ideas and
concepts. Whole-class discussion might be considered as an effective semicommunicative
activity that encourages fluency and a meaningful exchange of
ideas among the participants, ensuring teachers’ access to all students, as well
as being a time-efficient strategy.
Non-reciprocal WCW is an inevitable characteristic of instructional contexts where
the teacher has to play the role of input provider, typically at what has become
known as the presentation stage of teaching in a grammar classroom, or the
preview stage of teaching other language skills. Despite these benefits and the fact
that WCW can serve introverted and reflective learners, an overemphasis on such
traditional non-reciprocal activities may relegate some learners, particularly the
shy ones, to passive recipients who receive the input and try to retain it through
memorisation. Many teacher-fronted classrooms in EFL contexts are predominated
by WCW and culminate in nothing more than rote learning.
EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances | 87
Teachers’ and learners’ beliefs
Based on the definitions proposed by experts in the field (Erkmen, 2010; Nespor,
1987), beliefs and perceptions are acquired sets of assumptions originating from
personal experience or expert knowledge and are strongly influenced by sociocultural
milieux. Unlike knowledge, which is conscious and stable, beliefs, according
to Nespor (1987), are unconsciously held, and often implicit and resistant to
change. Such beliefs might be about general spheres of life or fall within more
restricted areas such as learning and teaching, and may influence learners’ and
teachers’ beliefs and perceptions of PSs.
Erkmen (2010) linked beliefs to general or scientific knowledge that can be implicit,
factual or experiential and, thus, affective and evaluative in nature. From this
perspective, learners’ perceptions are more directly shaped by their classroom
experience since they still lack the professional knowledge essential for shaping
and reshaping beliefs. Since such experience is gained within the classroom
context, teachers’ practices can exert a profound and lasting influence. Graves
(2000) underscored the significance of the learning experience by relating
teachers’ beliefs to their past experience as learners. Borg (2001) viewed beliefs
as a guide for thought and behaviour. Brown and McGannon (2007) emphasised
many incorrect beliefs teachers hold about foreign language learning that
influence their teaching, and thereby their learners’ beliefs.
All learners bring their beliefs to an educational programme, which influence
what and how they learn (Breen, 1989). They evaluate the activities they perform
during the learning process and interpret them from their own perspectives.
The effectiveness of programmes can be increased if methods match learners’
expectations and if teachers, by discovering students’ attitudes towards various
types of PSs, can eliminate erroneous student assumptions about language
learning (Ludwig, 1983). Horwitz (1988) investigated learners’ beliefs and
Barkhuizen (1998) investigated learners’ preferred activity types. Ellis (2003)
highlighted the paramount role of PSs because they influence the learning process
and outcomes, reflect learners’ and teachers’ beliefs about classroom participation,
and shape the way teachers and learners behave.
This study
The aim of this study, previously never undertaken as far as we are aware in the
context of Iran, was to explore Iranian teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of
participatory structures, and teachers’ actual performances in EFL classrooms.
The following research questions were formulated:
1. What are Iranian English teachers’ perceptions of PSs in EFL classrooms?
2. What are Iranian English learners’ perceptions of PSs in EFL classrooms?
3. Are there any differences between teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of PSs?
4. What are Iranian teachers’ actual performances in terms of classroom PSs?
5. Do Iranian English teachers’ perceptions of PSs match their actual
performances?
88 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances Method
Participants
Eight teachers and their 80 intermediate Iranian EFL learners, 33 males and
47 females, at two popular English Institutes in Tabriz, a metropolitan city in the
northwest of Iran, participated in this study. The research sample was recruited
from a population of 100 learners within the age range 20 to 42. The research
data was collected over a time span of 12 weeks.
Instrumentation
To collect the research data, the researchers employed three different instruments:
a Preliminary English Test (PET), administered to assess the learners’ homogeneity;
two questionnaires; and an observation form. Two internationally licensed teacher
trainers designed the Teachers’ Perception Questionnaire (TPQ) and a Learners’
Perception Questionnaire (LPQ), with each questionnaire comprising 18 items with
Likert-scale responses. They were organised into three sections dealing with WCW
(items 1 to 6), IW (items 7 to 12) and P/GW (items 13 to 18). A total score of 24 would
indicate total agreement with each section and a positive perception, whereas a
total score of 6 would indicate teachers’ disagreement and a negative perception.
A classroom observation form measured teachers’ actual use of the three PSs in
the classroom. This form was based on items from the questionnaire and the four
stages of language skills teaching: warm-up, preview, view and post-view. Four
teaching sessions of each teacher were audio-recorded and the data was used to
check and validate the results of the structured non-participant observation.
Results
Teachers’ perceptions
The first research question addressed Iranian English teachers’ perceptions of PSs.
Statistics revealed that teachers held highly positive perceptions of G/PW (18.50)
followed by WCW (17.75) and IW (14.12). A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
revealed the participant teachers perceived G/PW as the most important activity,
followed by WCW and IW. The apparent difference between G/PW and WCW was
not found significant.
Learners’ perceptions
Similar statistical analyses were performed on data obtained from the LPQ to find
out learners’ perceptions of PSs (the second research question). WCW, with a mean
of 16.37, was perceived as the most welcome PS followed by P/GW (15.62) and IW
(15.25), but no significant differences were observed.
Teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of PSs
The results revealed a slight difference between the teachers’ and the learners’
perceptions of WCW (17.75 vs 16.37), of IW (14.12 vs 15.25) and of P/GW (18.5 vs
15.62). Further tests of significance showed that both teachers and learners valued
WCW as the most important and IW as the least important type of PS. However,
the difference between their perceptions of P/GW reached significant level
(Sig=0.00<0.05). The teachers regarded P/GW as the most beneficial, whereas
IW and P/GW were the least favoured PSs by the learners.
EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances | 89
Teachers’ performances of PSs
The descriptive statistics of the teachers’ performances showed that WCW (15.12)
was the most frequently performed activity, followed by IW (12.00) and P/GW (6.25).
The significance of the observed differences was checked and supported by a
one-way ANOVA test (Sig=0.00<0.05).
Teachers’ perceptions vs. their performances
Statistics showed differences in the mean of teachers’ perceptions (17.75) and
performances (15.12) of WCW, of IW (14.12 and 12 respectively) and of P/GW
(18.50 and 6.25 respectively). Comparison of means using a paired samples t-test
did not support any significant differences between teachers’ perceptions and
performances of PSs with regard to WCW (t=-1.00, p=.35) and IW (t=1.81, p=.11).
Their perception and performance of P/GW reached significance level (t=18.91,
p=.00); that is, although teachers scored P/GW the highest on the TPQ with a mean
of 18.50 compared to WCW (17.75) and IW (14.12), they made a minimum use of this
participatory structure (6.25) while actually teaching.
Discussion
The findings suggest that the advantages of P/GW are readily perceived by
Iranian English teachers. This orientation can be attributed to various technical
and socio-cultural variables that shape teachers’ methodological preferences,
such as the teachers’ personal experiences as a language learner, the dominant
educational system, availability of facilities and resources (Bercikova, 2007). The
findings are compatible with those of Hawkey (2006) who investigated pre-service
teachers’ preferred activities and reported PW as the most positively perceived PS.
Despite apparent differences in their rating of the three PSs, Iranian English
learners did not show significantly different views towards WCW, IW and P/GW.
These findings are incompatible with the research findings of Green (1993) and
Spratt (1999) who reported a marked tendency by teachers and higher-level
learners towards communicative activities. Learners at lower proficiency levels in
those studies were found to favour more ‘traditional’ activities. Iranian learners’
views might be explained in terms of cognitive and affective factors. They may need
metacognitive awareness raising to enable them to make critical decisions and
assume greater responsibility for their own learning. Emotionally, their views reflect
a reluctance to participate in class activities and a detachment from classroom
procedures, which seems to have its roots in lack of interest and motivation.
With respect to teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of PSs, the results revealed
significant differences only between P/GW activities that were construed as highly
positive and as the least appealing by teachers and learners respectively. Learners’
apparent reluctance towards P/GW may be attributed to their individual styles,
language proficiency levels or belief systems shaped in an educational system
focusing on lower levels of learning such as memorisation and retention of
information transmitted from teacher to learner with a minimal amount of
interaction. Likewise, the socio-cultural background in which Iranian learners have
been brought up values silence on the part of learners and acceptance of teachers’
views. Iranian learners feel nervous negotiating in the classroom and consequently
fail to develop the self-confidence required to express their ideas freely.
90 | EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions versus performances The natural outcome of such a teacher-fronted methodology is learners’ heavy
reliance on teachers as the sole source of valid information and distrust in
themselves and their peers’ capacities.
The results of this study are in line with Nunan (1988) who asked 60 Australian
ESL teachers to rate ten activities according to their usefulness, then compared
the results with those of Willing (1988) who had polled 517 learners for their views
on the usefulness of the same activities. Significant differences were observed
between teachers who had highly rated communicative activities and learners
who had opted for more traditional activities.
Our data analyses revealed a discrepancy between the participant teachers’
positive perception of P/GW and their highly restricted use of pair and group
activities. The findings, however, run counter to those of Bercikova (2007) who
investigated the role of teachers in PW activities in primary school classrooms
and found a match between teachers’ perceptions and actual performances.
Conclusion
The most outstanding characteristic of a learner-centered curriculum is the active
role of learners in the learning process. The choice of what and how to teach
should be made with reference to this crucial principle and attempts made to
engage learners in various stages of teaching. Diverse participatory structures
signify a multifaceted learning process and a balanced use of them can create the
cognitive, emotional and social involvement necessary for meaningful learning.
The findings from the present study reinforce the need to realign learners’ and
teachers’ beliefs before we can expect any methodological reform in English
classrooms. Although beliefs have been described as unconsciously formed
implicit assumptions that are resistant to change (Nespor, 1987), an accountable
progressive system is essential to promote teachers’ performances through
consistent needs-based teacher training courses, gradually altering classroom
procedures to change learners’ beliefs and experiences.
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Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 93
Peer collaboration in
L2 writing: an Iranian
experience
Alireza Memari Hanjani and Li Li
94 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 95
8
Peer collaboration in L2 writing:
an Iranian experience
Alireza Memari Hanjani and Li Li
Introduction
While the value of peer collaboration has been widely acknowledged in composition
courses around the world, many L2 practitioners, including a number of Iranian
English as a foreign language (EFL) instructors, still express concerns about its
efficiency in their contexts where student-centred pedagogies are relatively
neglected concepts. This case study described in this chapter addressed this issue
by integrating two distinct peer collaboration tasks, peer review and collaborative
revision, in an EFL essay writing course and exploring language learners’
perceptions of this new approach. Three types of semi-structured interviews –
individual, pair and group – were conducted with ten individual (five pairs) Iranian
EFL university students after two writing cycles. The participants expressed positive
attitudes towards collaborative tasks though they reported some reservations
regarding the efficacy of the activities. The researchers conclude that in traditional
teacher-centred contexts where learners are overly dependent on their teachers,
EFL writing instructors can incorporate collaborative revision activity into their
composition courses to prepare their students for more participatory forms of
writing pedagogies (for example, peer reviewing) and to address some of the
challenges associated with peer feedback.
Peer collaboration
The significance of peer review has been increasingly acknowledged in English
as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) writing programmes (Hyland and Hyland,
2006). The activity is strongly supported by several theoretical arguments
including process composition pedagogy and socio-cultural learning theory
(Hansen and Liu, 2005). To date, a series of studies have been conducted to elicit
L2 learners’ views concerning peer evaluation activities by interviewing and/or
surveying them. These studies have investigated L2 learners’ reflections on the
value of teacher and peer feedback and the relative appeal of each. In general,
findings have been inconclusive. Some studies have reported learners’ positive
attitudes to pair work (for example, Morra and Romano, 2009; Sengupta, 2000;
Saito and Fujita, 2004), as it helped them understand audience expectations
(Mangelsdorf, 1992), develop their critical thinking skills (Keh, 1990), share the
burden of tasks (Roskams, 1999) and boost collaborative learning (Tsui and Ng,
2000). However, other studies have indicated learners’ preference for traditional
teacher-centred pedagogy and their concerns about collaborative work (for
example, Amores, 1997; Leki, 1991; Nelson and Carson, 1998) since they distrusted
96 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience their peers’ comments (Amores, 1997) and regarded their teachers as the only
valid source of feedback (Leki, 1991). As Carson and Nelson (1994, 1996) and
Nelson and Carson (1998) argue, incorporation of peer evaluation may be counterproductive
in some ESL/EFL educational settings due to its incompatibility with
social norms, the learners’ limited language proficiency and their inability to offer
valid comments. Hence, course designers are advised to consider ‘the student
as an individual, socially, culturally and psychologically’. (Hyde, 1993: 347)
Considering the absence of peer collaboration pedagogy in Iranian EFL
composition courses (Memari Hanjani and Li, 2014a, 2014b) and the reservations
expressed in the literature about the efficacy of peer evaluation integration (for
example, Rollinson, 2005; Tsui and Ng, 2000; Yang et al., 2006), the investigators
designed a student-centred essay writing programme during which L2 learners
engaged in two peer collaboration activities: peer review and collaborative
revision. The study aimed to elicit student reflections and to compare their
attitudes about these two tasks at the end of the course. Peer review or peer
evaluation is an activity used exclusively by student pairs as they exchange,
review and evaluate each other’s essays and provide their partners with written
and oral feedback. Collaborative revision activity, on the other hand, is an activity
during which students jointly revise their drafts using the feedback and comments
provided by their instructor.
Methodology
Context and participants
The study was conducted in four parallel English Academic Essay writing classes
at a medium-sized private university in Iran. The pairs were selected by the
instructor from a pool of 135 students according to two criteria: (1) L2 writing
proficiency, and (2) gender. To assign the focus dyads, all students were required
to compose an out-of-class piece of writing during the first week of the semester
and submit it the following week. The scripts were believed to represent the
participants’ writing abilities in a natural and stress-free condition because they
had one week to organise their thoughts and develop an out-of-class paper. This
allowed us to not only use the data for organising writing dyads, but also to have
a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the students’ writing
skills. The five target pairs remained constant over the study. Of the five dyads,
three were composed of two females and two of a male and female. The age
of the students ranged from 21 to 27 years, with the average age being 23. All
participants shared Persian as their native language and were English language
translation majors. They had studied English for an average of ten years and their
English proficiency level ranged from lower intermediate to upper intermediate
with the majority of them being novice English writers. None of the participants
had experienced learner-centered composition instruction before, although they
all had passed an advanced writing module as a prerequisite to enrol on this
course. The course consisted of 15 90-minute periods of instruction and the
students met once a week. The instructor was a non-native speaker of English
who had been teaching L2 writing at the university for eight years.
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 97
Data collection
The research was conducted within the natural setting of an L2 essay writing
course with no changes to the schedule apart from the integration of peer review
and collaborative revision activities into the course (see Table 1, below). The
language for whole-class instructions and activities was English. However, the
dyads were allowed to discuss their papers either in English or Persian. Apart from
the induction week during which the course objectives, requirements and policies
were discussed and sample papers were assigned, the course was generally
composed of two main parts. The first part (six weeks) focused on writing generics
such as writing processes and the structure of academic essays. The second
part (eight weeks) concentrated on peer collaboration tasks. Consequently, two
identical writing cycles (four weeks each) were designed during which the students
participated in two peer review and two collaborative revision activities, based
respectively on producing three drafts of process and argumentative genres
(see Figure 1, below).
Table 1: Course overview
Essay Writing Module Timetable
Session Content In-class activities Assignments
1 −− Course overview Course induction Sample papers assigned
2 −− Writing stages;
pre-writing
Brainstorming,
outlining, methods
of organisation
Assignments on clustering ideas,
arranging scrambled sentences
in chronological/emphatic order
3 −− Writing stages;
drafting
Essay structure
(Introduction)
Assignments on introductory, body,
and concluding paragraphs and
their contents, e.g. motivator, thesis
statement, main idea, supporting
ideas, thesis re-statement,
summarising, etc.
4 −− Writing stages;
drafting (continue)
Essay structure
(body paragraphs)
5 −− Writing stages;
drafting (continue)
Essay structure
(conclusion)
6 −− Writing stages;
revision
Transition, cohesion,
coherence
Assignments on different types of
transitions and their applications
7 −− Writing stages;
edition
Key grammatical
points; sentence
fragments, run-ons,
parallelism, as well
as punctuation
Tasks drawing students’ attention
to language and mechanics issues
8 −− Process essay Model essays
discussed and
examined
A 250-word essay assigned to
be composed for week ten
9 −− Peer review
training
Using a peer review
sheet, a sample essay
was analysed in terms
of both local and
global issues
N/A
10 −− Peer review
activities
Papers exchanged,
peer evaluation
2nd drafts to be developed and
submitted in three days
11 −− Collaborative
revision
Joint revision Final drafts to be produced and
submitted in three days
98 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Essay Writing Module Timetable
Session Content In-class activities Assignments
12 −− Argumentative
essay
Model essays
discussed and
examined
A 250-word essay assigned to be
composed for week 14
13 −− Peer review
training
Using a peer review
sheet, a sample essay
was analysed in terms
of both local and
global issues
N/A
14 −− Peer reviewing Papers exchanged,
peer evaluation
2nd drafts to be developed and
submitted in three days
15 −− Collaborative
revision
Joint revision Final drafts to be produced and
submitted in three days
As Figure 1 demonstrates, each writing cycle lasted four weeks and consisted of
four distinct phases. Phase one (week 1) mainly focused on genre analysis. During
this session a particular genre (either process or argumentative) was introduced
and model essays from the coursebook were discussed and analysed. Then,
students were assigned a 250-word essay on the same genre and asked to submit
it in week three. Phase two (week 2) involved peer evaluation training. All students
received a copy of a sample student paper written by an anonymous student along
with a peer review sheet and were trained to evaluate the paper in terms of content
and organisation, as well as language and mechanics based on the guidelines
provided by peer review sheets. Phase three (week 3) was then allocated to peer
review activity during which students exchanged, reviewed and evaluated each
other’s essays and provided their peers with written and oral feedback using blank
peer feedback sheets and employing the guidelines provided earlier in Phase two.
Following the peer review session, students were asked to work at home revising
their first drafts based on the comments they had received from their peers and
to hand in their first and second drafts, along with the peer review sheets to their
teacher in three days. The last stage (week 4) of each writing cycle concentrated
on collaborative revision activity during which students were allocated the whole
class time to read jointly through their essays in turn, act on the feedback and
comments provided by the instructor, and produce the final drafts of their essays.
Final drafts were due three days after the collaborative revision activity had taken
place. Final drafts were reviewed by the instructor. However, the students did not
receive any further feedback. While individual interviews were conducted within a
week after the first writing cycle (end of week 4), pair and group interviews took
place at the end of writing cycle 2 before the end of the course (the end of week 8).
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 99
Figure 1: Writing Cycle
Week 1
Phase 1
Genre analysis
Week 2
Phase 2
Peer review
instruction
Week 3
Phase 3
Peer review
Week 4
Phase 4
Collaborative
revision
Data analysis
The interviews were semi-structured with open-ended questions to provide
more flexibility for researchers to ask follow-up questions and participants to
offer more information. All interview sessions were recorded with high-quality
digital recorders and interviews were in the students’ native language (Persian)
so the interviewees could clearly express their ideas. Table 2 shows the time
spent interviewing the participants during each interview session.
Table 2: An overview of the interview data generated during the study
Type of Interview Quantity Amount
Individual Ten interviews of up to 30
minutes at the end of Writing
Cycle 1
Five hours
Pair Five interviews of up to 60
minutes at the end of Writing
Cycle 2
Five hours
Group One interview of two hours at
the end of the term
Two hours
Total 12 hours
Interview data analysis took place at three levels: managing the data, coding it,
and providing descriptive as well as explanatory accounts for each code/sub-code.
First, the ‘raw’ data was transcribed verbatim, and a thematic framework was
constructed with reference to the interview prompts. Then materials with similar
content were located together under relevant main themes. The final stage of data
management involved summarising the original data and inspecting the meaning
and the relevance of the original material to the theme under enquiry. Once all the
meaningful portions of the original data had been extracted, the data was
translated into English for categorisation.
100 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Categorisation involved classification and generation of distinctive meaningful
codes that represented the content. The codes were developed manually and
instances in the data identified by colour highlighting. The same procedure was
followed theme by theme. During the coding process, the recurrence of each code
and sub-code was also recorded and tabulated. Once codes and sub-codes were
generated, representative responses of the interviewees were used to support,
illustrate and clarify the significant codes/sub-codes.
Findings
The findings were generated from the three interviews – individual, pair and
group – with ten EFL participants during the L2 essay writing course in which peer
reviewing and collaborative revision activities were practised. The sub-headings
convey the main themes (overall ideas) of the questions. Each table represents
the original question(s) asked during the interview sessions as well as the codes
and sub-codes that emerged from the interviews. The tables consist of four main
columns: the first shows the general code or sub-code, the second depicts the
number of participants whose responses fell into that special code or sub-code,
the third indicates the interview stage in which that code or sub-code emerged,
and the final column represents the frequency of each comment. While each table
illustrates all response categories, only the most frequent codes/sub-codes will be
discussed and analysed. In response to some questions, a number of interviewees
provided multiple reasons/views at different stages. Hence, while the total number
of participants remains constant (N=10), the number of responses for each category
may be greater. To protect participants’ anonymity, pseudonyms are employed.
Peer review
Participants were asked to express their feelings about peer review activity.
The most common responses were general descriptions such as ‘helpful’, ‘useful’,
‘perfect’ and ‘excellent’ or a combination of all four. However, they did express
some reservations (Table 3).
Table 3: Students’ reflections on peer reviewing
What is your viewpoint about peer review activity? In other words, do you like it or not?
Why? Why not?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Unable to provide valid feedback 7 ✓ ✓ 15
Improve essay writing quality
−− Internalise the lessons better
5
1
✓
✓
✓ 5
1
Express and share ideas 4 ✓ 6
Self-monitoring 4 ✓ ✓ 5
Time constraints 2 ✓ ✓ 5
Generate new ideas 4 ✓ 4
Multiple perspectives 3 ✓ 3
Retrieve knowledge 2 ✓ 2
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 101
What is your viewpoint about peer review activity? In other words, do you like it or not?
Why? Why not?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Evaluate the feedback before incorporation 1 ✓ 1
Frustrating 1 ✓ 1
As Table 3 reveals, a large number of students (seven) stressed that their limited
English, language proficiency and lack of skills needed for peer reviewing made the
activity less productive. Tina, for example, confessed openly about how she felt:
My low level of proficiency didn’t let me detect errors and provide my partner
with valid feedback. Therefore, I wasn’t that much help.
However, half the cases (five) acknowledged the activity helped them improve the
overall quality of their writing. They believed that the task enhanced their limited
knowledge base and improved their lexis and grammar. Roya provided such a view:
The activity was useful because another person’s thoughts helped me improve
the quality of my paper and writing performance.
Maryam expressed an interesting comment about the efficiency of the activity.
According to her, through peer reviewing, students discussed their ideas and
exchanged knowledge, and main points were internalised in their minds:
As the points are learnt through discussion, I think I will never forget them.
Four participants considered it a technique through which they had an opportunity
not only to share, but also express their ideas about their peers’ drafts in a friendly
atmosphere. For example, Mahdi said that:
One advantage of this activity is that students learn how to articulate their
opinions about a paper they read.
A further four students said that reading their peers’ papers was very useful
because it allowed them to compare their own writing with that of their peers
and avoid making the same errors as their peers. As Fariba noted:
Reviewing my peer’s paper helped me concentrate more on my own paper and
get familiar with mistakes I may make and try to avoid them in my own essay.
Four reflections focused on the effectiveness of peer review activity in generating
new ideas. As Nasrin claimed:
This activity was very useful and illuminating. My peer helped me develop
new ideas.
Finally, three interviewees indicated that receiving feedback from a person other
than their instructor was a pleasant experience. As noted by Mahdi:
We normally get feedback from our instructor. It was an opportunity to receive
our peer’s comments and also express our opinion about his/her writing.
102 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Peer feedback incorporation
The participants’ reactions to the feedback they received from their peers during
peer review activity was another important issue the interviewers probed. Table 4
condenses the information extracted from the interviews.
Table 4: Students’ reflections on peer feedback
What use did you make of your peer’s comments? Did you use them in your revision?
If so, what use were they? If no use, why?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Critical and selective towards received
feedback
7 ✓ ✓ 19
Global feedback incorporation 5 ✓ ✓ 8
Local feedback incorporation 3 ✓ ✓ 5
Invalid and misleading advice 3 ✓ 4
Vague and general comments 3 ✓ ✓ 4
Peers’ disproportionate benefit 2 ✓ 3
Surface- and textual-level changes 2 ✓ ✓ 3
Defensive towards peer’s feedback 2 ✓ 3
Subjective and biased comments 1 ✓ 2
Audience awareness 1 ✓ 1
Based on this table, although most students (seven) claimed they made an effort
to adopt their peers’ suggestions in their revisions, they acknowledged they did
not take up peer advice without careful consideration. Indeed, they expressed
several reasons for their non-incorporation behaviour, including doubt about their
peers’ ability to judge their texts, double-checking the received comments against
other sources such as textbooks, instructors and classmates, and being confident
about the accuracy of their own choice. The following accounts give a flavour of
students’ attitudes:
I was not convinced about feedback quality and validity she [her partner] gave
me, so I didn’t incorporate it in my drafts unless I double-checked with a
dictionary or other reference books. I didn’t trust her comments. (Afrouz)
I always checked the main points before writing them down. When my
partner gave feedback which I found inconsistent with what I already knew,
I couldn’t trust it. I double checked it against other resources like a dictionary.
If I wasn’t convinced about the validity of her advice, I didn’t incorporate it into
my writing. (Mina)
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 103
Nevertheless, half the students (five) maintained that they generally made use of
their peers’ comments focusing on global issues (content and organisation). They
believed such feedback helped them improve the content of their texts from one
draft to the next. For example, Azam noted that:
I had no sense of audience in my writing but my partner helped me understand
that myself as a writer and herself as a reviewer did not necessarily share the
same background information. Hence, I used her ideas on content to present
all the necessary details in my paper.
Another group of participants (three) argued that they used their peers’ feedback
just to fix their local errors (language and mechanics) and ignored their partners’
advice on global language issues. For example, Fariba asserted that:
My partner’s comments helped me improve the quality of the grammar and
sentence structure of my paper.
However, a few learners (three) maintained their peers’ suggestions were invalid
and at times misleading. Using the invalid advice in their texts changed accurate
structures to inaccurate ones. For example, Afrouz stressed that:
My peer’s feedback sometimes misled me. In some cases what I had written
in my first draft was correct but when I changed it in my consequent draft
according to my partner’s suggestion, it was inaccurate.
Some learners (three) complained about the ambiguity, sketchiness and lack of
explicitness in the feedback provided by their partners. They stressed that, had
they understood the feedback, they would have incorporated it. This issue was
voiced by Fariba:
My peer’s comments were general and vague. She didn’t give specific comments
so I couldn’t make use of them, especially those which addressed the content
and organisation of my essay.
Nasrin shared a similar idea:
I didn’t incorporate many of my peer’s comments in the first essay. They seemed
ambiguous and I couldn’t understand them. But I used them in my second essay
when I realised her advice was much clearer and meaningful.
Reviewing partners’ papers
We also aimed to explore the respondents’ perceptions of reviewing their classmates’
papers. Students were specifically asked if they felt reviewing their partners’ papers
had any advantage. Table 5 summarises the interviewees’ responses.
104 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Table 5: Students’ views on reviewing their peers’ papers
Did you benefit from reading your peer’s paper and giving him/her feedback? If so, what
were the benefits? If not, why not?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Improve language and mechanics 8 ✓ ✓ 17
Useless peer feedback 5 ✓ ✓ 9
Improve content 1 ✓ 2
As demonstrated by Table 5, a significant number of respondents (eight) felt that
reading and analysing their partners’ texts exposed them to different writing styles
and grammatical constructions. They added that the activity helped them notice
the grammatical errors their partners had made in their papers and were thus
more careful to avoid repeating the same errors in their own texts:
I normally use simple language in my writing. My partner, however, uses
compound and complex constructions in his papers. I like this style of writing
and would like to learn to use such nice and error-free structures in my own
texts. (Tina)
However, half the participants (five) maintained that they learnt nothing from
their classmates. A few (two) even claimed their level of English language was
higher than their peers and reviewing their peers’ papers was not insightful.
This is reflected in Afrouze’s response, as she argued:
I did not learn any particular lesson from my classmate. I think my English is
better than hers, at least in grammar.
Collaborative revision
Students were also invited to comment on their experience of collaborative
revision activity. Specifically, they were asked if they felt the activity was of any
use. Overall, all cases reported that they found collaborative revision activity
beneficial. Table 6 presents a summary of the respondents’ attitudes.
Table 6: Students’ reflections on collaborative revision
What is your viewpoint about collaborative revision? In other words, do you like it or not?
Why? Why not?
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Pooling of ideas and knowledge
−− Supportive
10
5
✓
✓
✓
✓
15
5
Limited knowledge base 3 ✓ ✓ 3
Complement to peer reviewing task 2 ✓ 3
Lengthy process 2 ✓ ✓ 3
Access to immediate reference 1 ✓ 1
Providing double opportunity for students 1 ✓ 1
Novel, interesting activity 1 ✓ 1
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 105
All participating students reported that mutual sharing of ideas and knowledge
contributed towards a more accurate and richer text. The comments below give
a flavour of how these students reacted to the activity.
It was an appropriate method since all our problematic areas were first spotted
and then with the help of our partners we could easily fix them. Two heads
worked collaboratively and two people shared their knowledge to understand
and fix the errors. (Maryam)
I think sharing ideas and trying to solve problems collaboratively and removing
them from our papers is better than working alone. (Roya)
Half the students found this activity helpful, as it helped create a supportive
environment for improving their papers. As Azam put it:
Sometimes I myself didn’t get the instructor’s feedback and the reason behind it,
but with the help and support I received from my peer I could understand what
the source of problem was and how I could improve it.
A number of students (three) claimed that, because of their lack of knowledge
and skills to provide useful suggestions, they found great difficulty improving
the quality of their texts and did not consider collaborative revision as effective.
As Tina noted:
Sometimes neither my partner nor I were able to correct the error. Our low level
of language proficiency didn’t enable us to improve some of the problematic
areas in our papers.
Instructor’s comments
The quality of the instructor’s feedback and his comments were also discussed in
the interviews. Although the majority of the interviewees (eight) acknowledged the
clarity, accuracy and comprehensiveness of his advice, both on local and global
issues, a few (two) expressed different ideas. Table 7 shows a synopsis of students’
reflections.
Table 7: Students’ reflections on their instructor’s comments
Did you find your instructor’s feedback useful? Why or why not? What problems, if any, did
you have in understanding/applying it? Elaborate on your answer.
Category No. of
students
Interview
stage
Frequency
1 2 3
Clear and easy to follow 10 ✓ 12
Comprehensive, relevant and accurate 8 ✓ ✓ 12
Confusing feedback and inattentive instructor 2 ✓ 2
Instructor’s appropriate behaviour 1 ✓ 1
106 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience During the first individual interview stage all students were happy with the
instructor’s feedback, stating that they found it simple and straightforward:
The comments were clear and easy to follow. I had no particular problem in
understanding them. (Azam)
In addition, a significant majority of the students (eight) felt that the comments
were not only clear and simple, but also comprehensive, relevant and precise.
Indeed, they maintained that the papers were carefully reviewed and commented
on, and nothing was left unnoticed. As Fariba put it:
The papers were carefully reviewed and comments and feedback were precise.
I knew some parts of my essay needed revision even though my partner hadn’t
noticed them in her review. But when I received my instructor’s feedback,
I noticed that the problematic area had been spotted by him and was
commented on precisely.
Discussion
In general, the findings of three interviewing rounds indicate that participants
benefited from the collaborative activities and found the techniques novel
and attractive, helping them generate new ideas, build on their knowledge and
co-construct negotiated higher quality texts. However, the participants’ limited
language proficiency and their inability to identify and offer valid alternatives
was one of the major challenges in peer review activity. This is evident in their
responses, as they distrusted the validity of peer feedback and were selective
and critical in incorporating the feedback into their subsequent drafts, revealing
their scepticism about the quality of the advice provided by their partners. The
learners also argued that identifying the mistakes, as well as justifying the comments,
was impeded by their low level of writing proficiency. As these students were
themselves in the early stages of developing English academic essay composition,
they felt vulnerable and struggled to evaluate their partners’ papers. They were
also heavily teacher dependent, as their papers, normally composed in isolation,
had previously been evaluated solely by their tutors. Being required to undertake
peer evaluation for the first time made them feel psychologically unprepared.
Students showed a more positive reaction to collaborative revision activity
than peer review tasks and they felt the instructor’s responses were more
comprehensive, relevant and accurate. That these learners preferred their
instructor’s comments over those of their peers may not only reflect the low quality
of peers’ comments during peer reviewing, but also the unfamiliarity of students
with learner-centred writing pedagogy. All students came from a teacher-centred,
examination-dominant educational system and had no experience of participating
in student-fronted activities.
Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience | 107
Reflections and conclusion
The purpose of this research was to report L2 learners’ perceptions of engaging in
peer collaboration activities during an essay writing course. Students expressed
positive attitudes towards the activities, calling them novel and interesting. They
believed collaborative tasks encouraged them to formulate and pool their ideas
and knowledge, make decisions in a co-operative manner, learn from each other
and extend mutual support, improve the quality of their papers and their essay
writing, and revise skills by sharing each other’s expertise They also raised their
awareness of writing rules and conventions, repaired their ineffective writing
strategies and developed their critical reading and self-monitoring skills by reading
other students’ drafts, reflecting on their own problems and seeking out solutions
for themselves. On the other hand, they did express some reservations regarding
the efficiency of the activities, especially peer reviewing. They found their poor
writing skills an obstacle in providing valid feedback. They doubted their peers’
feedback and incorporated it selectively, complaining about lack of clarity and
specificity. Students showed more favourable attitudes towards collaborative
revision than peer review.
Participants’ scepticism about the accuracy of peer comments may originate from
their socio-cultural and educational backgrounds. Peer evaluation generally
originates from those countries where it is compatible with existing social and
cultural norms. Its application without any adjustments to centralised countries
with hierarchical socio-cultural and educational backgrounds may create problems.
Traditionally, in such contexts, individual work is more valued and teamwork is
generally unsuccessful, as group members are unaware of the mechanisms of
collaborative work and may have different expectations concerning group work.
Peer review is an important part of a shift from a whole-class, teacher-dominant
instructional model towards more participatory forms of pedagogy. In a traditional
teacher-centred environment, only the teacher is entitled to respond to student
writing. Within this tradition, a particular status is ascribed to teachers and they are
seen as the only sources of authority with the expertise and the right to critique
the students’ performance. Students value and appreciate teachers’ feedback,
incorporate suggestions unreflectively and rely passively on teachers’ comments.
It is not surprising then that students are reluctant to accept their peers’ responses
to their writing, distrust the evaluations made by their partners, challenge them,
and ultimately ignore them when rewriting their subsequent drafts. There has been
much discussion about the relationship between culture and peer evaluation in the
literature. As several studies have explored, cultural issues may generate concerns
regarding the efficiency of peer evaluation incorporation in L2 composition classes
(for example, Allaei and Connor, 1990; Connor and Asenavage, 1994; Nelson and
Carson, 1998; Nelson and Murphy, 1992, 1993). Shifting attitudes requires time and
energy from the teacher’s side, as students need to be convinced and mentally
prepared to understand the beneficial aspects of peer reviewing and to trust the
validity of their classmates’ comments as a useful tool to help them improve their
writing performance. Training can play an influential role in reducing this feeling of
distrust among peers (Hu, 2005; McGroarty and Zhu, 1997; Min, 2006).
108 | Peer collaboration in L2 writing: an Iranian experience Collaborative revision, during which pairs jointly read, discuss and revise each
other’s drafts using their teacher’s feedback, can be seen as an advantageous
activity, and can address most of the concerns regarding the efficacy of the
incorporation of peer evaluation in L2 contexts. Like peer review, this activity
derives from a socio-cultural theory of learning and process-based writing
instruction. However, there is a key difference. Whereas in peer evaluation students
critique each other’s texts, the teacher is still the main source of feedback in any
collaborative revision activity. The challenges associated with the validity and
specificity of peer feedback, distrust of peer comments, lack of experience in
evaluation and poor writing skills can be overcome to a great extent, even though
teachers’ feedback load is not reduced. Collaborative revision can be viewed as
an interim stage on a continuum from sole teacher feedback/evaluation to sole
peer feedback/evaluation in EFL writing classrooms. Collaborative revision could
therefore be an ideal option to help and prepare both teachers and students
to move from a traditional, teacher-centred, product-based, exam-dominated
pedagogy to a more student-centred, process-based approach to writing in which
collaboration and group work is central. During such a transition, the teacher
comments on students’ written texts and students respond to feedback, working
and interacting together as well as pooling their knowledge and strengths in
a supportive and friendly atmosphere. Students learn evaluation techniques,
become familiar with feedback strategies, understand what to check and gradually
develop the required skills of peer evaluation. However, we should also warn that
collaborative revision techniques might not yield their presumed benefits without
careful group/pair work organisation, detailed planning and training, and adequate
modelling and practice.
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Migrant literature
and teaching English
as an international
language in Iran
Samaneh Zandian
112 | Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran
Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran | 113
9
Migrant literature and teaching
English as an international
language in Iran
Samaneh Zandian
Introduction
In this chapter English language education in Iran is briefly described, the concept
of English as an international language (EIL) is explained, the importance of culture
in EIL is discussed and the role of literature in language teaching from the aspect of
cultural awareness is analysed. I then mention the advantages of including migrant
literature in English language classes in Iran and focus on Iranian migrant literature,
providing pedagogical examples of ‘authentic’ texts to illustrate my argument.
Finally, I point out important factors in the selection of literary materials in order
to develop intercultural competence in language learning classrooms.
English language teaching in Iran
English is regarded as a foreign language in Iran, and is taught for three to four
hours a week as a required course from Grade 7 (approximately age 13).
Although the language is a compulsory subject in the Iranian national curriculum,
it can be argued that it has been neglected within the Iranian educational system
(Dahmardeh, 2009). In private schools, English is introduced at primary or even
pre-primary level, and receives considerable attention. In some cases, the quality
of the English programmes offered in each school influences the number of
students who enrol in that school (Aliakbari, 2004). The majority of the books
used in private schools and language institutes are mostly pirated American ELT
textbooks. Private language institutes are popular in Iran, and despite the lack of
attention to English in the national educational curriculum, ‘English seems to have
found its way smoothly right to the heart of Iranian society, proving itself to be a
necessity, rather than a mere school subject’. (ibid.)
The close relationship between language and culture has made interpreting the
state of ELT in Iran a controversial topic. Analyses of the role and impact of ELT
range from English linguistic imperialism and cultural invasion to cultural neutrality.
On the one hand, English is negatively addressed as a tool to represent and
introduce Western culture to Iranian students; on the other hand, studies show
that English taught as a school subject is nothing but a representation of Persian
or Islamic ideology (Rashidi and Najafi, 2010). Many statements in English textbooks
published under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and used nationally in
114 | Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran Iran either convey Islamic traditions (e.g. you can break your fast as soon as the
sun sets; the 15th of Sha’ban is a religious celebration) or have no reference to a
target group (Aliakbari, 2004).
English is used around the world and has become the global lingua franca that
is not only used to communicate with native speakers but as an international
language universally used (Jenkins, 2009). However, most people in Iran still
associate English with America or Britain; what Wallace (2003) and Phillipson
(2009) explain as the language of power, which belongs to the ‘others’.
Regarding the cultural aspect of current ELT materials used in public schools,
studies argue that textbooks in Iran do not aim to familiarise students with cultural
matters of other countries (Aliakbari, 2004; Khajavi and Abbasian, 2011; SAIC,
2007). Aliakbari (2004) believes materials are superficial and do not provide
sufficient content to broaden students’ worldview, or develop their cultural
understanding and intercultural competence. Khajavi and Abbasian (2011)
investigated English language materials taught at Iranian public schools to explore
to what extent these materials are appropriate in terms of developing national
identity and globalisation issues. Activities and passages relating to national
identity and international issues constitute less than seven per cent of the ELT
textbook content, which is unacceptable for educating students in this age of
globalisation (ibid., 2011). In this regard, Aliakbari (2004: 13) points out that a
‘shallow presentation of culture can reinforce inaccurate stereotypes,’ which
can be problematic in the multicultural world of English.
English as an international language
As the century proceeds there is a greater use of English in international contexts.
According to Smith (1976), one of the characteristics of an international language
is that it is ‘de-nationalised’; in other words, it belongs to any country which uses it.
People should be tolerant of the English used by others. Tolerance can be gained
by exposure to varieties of English. Unfortunately, the high prestige given to the
‘standard’ variety of English as the ideal of ‘native-speaker proficiency’ has made
‘non-standard’ varieties invisible (Corbett, 2000). This is common in Iran. Teachers
have a major role in developing tolerance toward varieties of English among learners:
The advantages of considering language variety from a cultural perspective in
second-language education are: (a) language variation can be viewed positively,
rather than as a simple barrier to communication, and (b) we can promote the
intercultural goals of ethnographic observation. (Corbett, 2000: 160)
The role of culture in teaching EIL
Since culture is embedded in language, it is impossible to teach a language
without teaching cultural content. One of the goals of teaching culture in language
education is establishing a ‘sphere of interculturality’ (Kramsch 1993: 205). Learning
a culture, which is beyond the simple transfer of information between cultures,
requires that the learners observe their own culture through the eyes of another.
Kramsch (1993) uses the term ‘third place’ for the stage of being able to move
between the source and target cultures.
Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran | 115
As an international language, English is no longer exclusively related to the culture
of the regions where it is used as a first language, and so an important issue is to
raise awareness about other cultures and not to expect learners to accept the
beliefs and values of a particular culture (Mackay, 2002). According to Byram
(1997), one of the goals of learning English is enabling learners to explain and
discuss their own culture in another language. Previously students needed to
accept and consequently adopt the standards and culture of a country whose
primary language was English in order to use it effectively (Smith, 1976). Many
Iranian students still make the same assumption, and believe that learners should
behave in accordance with target culture conventions. Such attitudes raise
concerns among certain groups in society, particularly those who think of English
as the language of imperialism and see it as a threat of cultural invasion. Such
expectations are far from the goals of learning English as an international language,
and achieving biculturalism is difficult if not impossible in a context such as Iran
where English is taught as a foreign language.
The role of literature in English language teaching
The study of literature may enhance both national and international communication
between English speakers and learners (Spack, 1987). The primary purpose of
literary texts is not just to convey information, but also to involve the reader in
direct experience. One of the important values of teaching literature in the English
language classroom is ‘to provide the occasion for genuine exploration of the
cultural assumptions of the target culture’ (Gajdusek 1988: 232). It is of special
value in creating cultural awareness. Texts from international target cultures can
represent the variety of contexts in which English is acquired and learned as an
international language, and can provide samples of the lexical, phonological and
grammatical variation of English in context. Learners have the opportunity to
compare their own culture with another, which may result in a better understanding
of both cultures.
Migrant literature in language teaching
Where learners share a similar culture (despite the existing intracultural differences
in all societies), teachers can provide texts from writers who retell their experiences
of living in multicultural environments in order to recreate a similar context for
learners. Exploration of literary texts by writers originally sharing the same culture
as the learners but who now live in an English-speaking country and write in English
would be an excellent exercise in cultural relativity. ‘Authentic’ English literary texts
created by migrant writers can be used in classrooms to illustrate a target culture
through the wider cross-cultural perspectives of a migrant speaker. Such materials
can highlight the similarities and differences between cultures in a more tangible
way for English language learners.
Although some writers believe in the universality of literature (Spack, 1987),
the existence of culture-specific elements can be seen as a hindrance to the
understanding of a text (MacDonald, 2000). However, exposure to migrant
literature written by writers sharing the same cultural background as the reader
may facilitate the extension of the reader’s schemata to reveal values and beliefs
in a target culture. Migrant literature may therefore be suitable for enhancing
116 | Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran intercultural understanding in ELT. Through such materials we might be able to
develop understanding of cultural differences, which may also help in establishing
interculturality.
If we wish to develop learners’ intercultural communicative competence, and
increase cross-cultural awareness of English as an international language, extracts
from migrant literature would be an excellent choice. Working with texts created by
migrant writers draws learners’ attention to the socio-cultural nature of this genre
and can develop students’ critical reading skills.
Funny in Farsi, a memoir by the Iranian migrant writer Firoozeh Dumas, is a good
example of migrant literature that has been used as a classroom tool, particularly
with reluctant English language learners and ESL readers in the United States.
It was selected as a School Library Journal Adult Book for High School students
(Cooper, n.d.), and the Persian translation became a bestseller in Iran in 2005.
It has also been used in a required foreign language course with students from
different non-English majors at Southern Chinese University in order to build their
intercultural awareness (Personal communication Chastain, 2014). Chapters are
short, which makes them ideal for language activities, and can assist the students
to improve their comprehension (Milstead, n.d.: 138) by providing them with
a specific framework to understand the text. In the following section sample
activities are provided with the aim of enhancing secondary-level students’ cultural
awareness in Iranian English language classrooms. The activities can be designed
and modified according to teachers’ and students’ preferences and needs.
Sample activities
Gajdusek (1988: 233) pointed out four methodology steps with any literary text.
In all four steps cultural issues can be discussed, particularly in the final step.
1. Pre-reading activities: essential background information and vocabulary
2. Factual in-class work: who, where, when and what (happens)
3. Analysis: aspects of structure, theme and style
4. Extending activities: in-class activities that extend the ideas or situations
encountered in the text; written response
Example 1
Farid, the older of my two brothers, had been sent to Philadelphia the year
before to attend high school. Like most Iranian youths, he had always dreamed
of attending college abroad and, despite my mother’s tears, had left us to live
with my uncle … (Dumas 2003: 3).
Listen: (The girl speaks with a Persian accent)
Answer the questions in pairs:
■■ Why did Farid dream of going abroad?
■■ Would you like to live abroad? Why?
Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran | 117
Example 2
The following Monday, my father drove my mother and me to school. He had
decided that it would be a good idea for my mother to attend school with me
for a few weeks. I could not understand why two people not speaking English
would be better than one ... (Dumas 2003: 4).
Writing:
■■ Write the rest of the story in two paragraphs. What will happen in
Firoozeh’s first day of school in the USA?
Example 3
After spending an entire day in America, surrounded by Americans, I realized that
my father’s description of America had been correct. The bathrooms were clean
and the people were very, very kind. (Dumas 2003: 7)
■■ How would do you describe America? Why?
Example 4
We wondered how my father had managed to spend several years attending
school in America, yet remain so utterly befuddled by Americans. We soon
discovered that his college years had been spent mainly in the library, where
he had managed to avoid contact with all Americans except his engineering
professors. (Dumas 2003: 9)
Group discussion:
■■ Although Firoozeh’s father studied in America, he was unable to
communicate properly with Americans. Talk in groups about the
possible reasons.
Example 5
My father’s only other regular contact in college had been his roommate, a
Pakistani who spent his days preparing curry. Since neither spoke English, but
both liked curries, they got along splendidly. The person who had assigned them
together had probably hoped they would either learn English or invent a common
language for the occasion. Neither happened. (Dumas 2003: 9)
Group discussion:
■■ If you were studying in America and could choose the nationality of your
roommate, which one would you prefer? Why?
−− Iranian
−− American
−− European
−− Middle Eastern
−− East Asian
118 | Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran Teachers can also go beyond the text, introduce the students to the author’s
website (http://firoozehdumas.com/educator-guide) and encourage them to
read about the author. Students can also read on the website a part of the
conversation between Khaled Hosseini, a famous Afghan-born American
novelist, and Firoozeh Dumas.
The selection of materials and task design
The language objective in an intercultural approach to language learning is to
develop learners’ productive (speaking and writing) and receptive (listening and
reading) skills in the target language, while the intercultural aims are to develop
learners’ ‘socio-cultural competence’ (Byram, 2003), train students to recognise
the cultural differences and realise the different perspectives that may cause
clashes of cultural expectation. In order to develop language learners’ intercultural
competence, course materials can blend intercultural communication and
language learning (Byram et al., 1994, cited in Corbett, 2000). Including migrant
literature as part of the course materials is one possible way to bring together the
language learning and intercultural communication objectives in the English
language classroom.
Before choosing a piece of literary text to work with in the classroom, teachers
should have a specific goal that helps them create and structure activities for a
given piece (Gajdusek, 1988). Selected texts should be contemporary, realistic, not
too long, interesting, and with a comprehensible background (MacDonald, 2000).
Since the main purpose of the study of the text is to enhance learners’ intercultural
understanding, extracts should be culturally significant. They should illustrate
aspects of culture clash, particularly between an outsider and the target culture
(ibid.). English teachers can invite students to bring materials into the classroom to
supplement texts provided for the course. In this way, language learners become
motivated and eager to participate in activities. Among the materials provided by
students, teachers can select those which are both culturally and linguistically
suitable for class activities and put them into text sets to enhance intertextuality.
Supplementing ‘authentic’ listening materials can also train learners to recognise
the cultural associations of different accents (Corbett, 2000). The learners’ age
level is another factor that should be considered. Because of the cognitive skills
required for recognising the markers of the self and other’s identity, an appropriate
age level would be above 15 years (ibid.). During in-class activities the teacher
should be more of a facilitator, and guide students in different sequences of the
activities, supporting or challenging their ideas.
Conclusion
For the following reasons I suggest the inclusion of migrant literature in teaching EIL:
■■ It may promote learners’ respect for cultural differences.
■■ It can help learners use English for cross-cultural encounters.
■■ It can enhance learners’ respect for their own cultural framework and
increase their self-esteem.
■■ It can present ideas of multiculturalism, helpful in classes where students
come from similar cultural backgrounds.
Migrant literature and teaching English as an international language in Iran | 119
■■ It conveys a realistic image of migrant life.
■■ In may help learners attain the ‘third place’.
■■ In contexts where teachers are non-native speakers, texts written by
other non-natives may seem more authentic and create more realistic
models for learners.
For the particular context of Iran, I recommend the use of Iranian migrant literature,
as well as other migrant literatures, in English classrooms. Finally, it should be
mentioned that moving toward teaching English as an international language
in Iran requires fundamental changes, from the development of appropriate
language proficiency to training teachers and adaptation of materials.
References
Aliakbari, M (2004) The place of culture in Iranian ELT textbooks at high school level.
Paper presented at 9th Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics Conference.
August 2004, Namseoul University, Korea.
Byram, M (1997) Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M (2003) ‘Cultural studies and foreign language teaching’, in Bassnett, S
(ed) Studying British Cultures: An introduction (Second Edition). London: Routledge.
Cooper, J (n.d.) Teachers’ Guide. Available online at www.randomhouse.com/
acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780812968378&view=tg
Corbett, J (2000) ‘Teaching culture through language variety’, in McBride, N
and Seago, K (eds) Target Culture – Target Language?. London: CILT publications.
Dahmardeh, M (2009) English Language Teaching in Iran and Communicative
Language Teaching. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Warwick, UK.
Dumas, F (2003) Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America.
New York: Random House.
Firoozeh Dumas. Available online at http://firoozehdumas.com
Gajdusek, L (1988) Toward wider use of literature in ESL: why and how?
TESOL Quarterly 22/2: 227 – 257.
Jenkins, J (2009) World Englishes: A Resource Book for Students (Second edition).
London: Routledge.
Khajavi, Y and Abbasian, R (2011) English language teaching, national identity and
globalization in Iran: the case of public schools. International Journal of Humanities
and Social Science 1/10: 182 –186.
Kramsch, C (1993) Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
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MacDonald, M (2000) ‘Strangers in a strange land: fiction, culture, language’,
in McBride, N and Seago, K (eds) Target Culture – Target Language? London:
CILT publications.
Mackay, L (1982) Literature in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly 16/4: 529 – 536.
Mackay, L (2002) Teaching English as an International Language. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Milstead, PT (n.d.) ‘Coming of age in a multicultural community’, in Rodriguez, N (ed)
The New Houston: New Immigrants, New Ethnicities, and New Inter-Group Relations in
America’s Fourth Largest City. Available online at www.uh.edu/honors/Programs-
Minors/honors-and-the-schools/houston-teachers-institute/curriculum-units/
seminar-pages/2004/new-houston-04.php
Phillipson, R (2009) Linguistic Imperialism Continued. London: Routledge.
Rashidi, N and Najafi, R (2010) The representation of culture in Iran language
institute advanced-level textbooks. Journal of Language Teaching and Research
1/5: 624 – 631.
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content and context. Virginia: SAIC.
Smith, LE (1976) English as an international auxiliary language. RELC Journal
7/2: 38 – 42.
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Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 121
Candles lighting up the
journey of learning:
teachers of English
in Iran
Martin Cortazzi, Lixian Jin, Shiva Kaivanpanah
and Majid Nemati
122 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 123
10
Candles lighting up the
journey of learning: teachers
of English in Iran
Martin Cortazzi, Lixian Jin, Shiva Kaivanpanah and Majid Nemati
Introduction
The topics of a ‘good teacher’ and of what learning English is like for learners
are important in English language teaching (ELT) since ideas of teaching and
learning are central to language classrooms. Ideas about teaching and learning
vary enormously around the world, so students can have quite different
expectations of teachers. Moreover, engagement with learning English, compared
to other subjects and disciplines, often exposes students to different methods
or cultural ways of learning. The topics of good teachers and how learners think
about learning English are therefore central to developing more learner- or
learning-centred approaches. Any proposed developments of ELT need to relate
to these learners’ ideas since in many ways they mediate classroom change.
This is particularly important in countries such as Iran where there is enormous
interest in learning English and most learning takes place in classrooms.
Researching Iranian students’ perceptions of good teachers is important in
order to make explicit what are usually implicit notions and make them available
for discussion between students and their teachers in Iran or, in fact, elsewhere.
A centuries-old tradition of serious encouragement for learning and respect for
teachers in Iran meets a modern education system that includes English as a
foreign language (EFL) as an international element.
This study uses metaphor analysis. This is an innovative research method which we
have been developing for some years. Culturally, metaphors resonate throughout
Iranian civilisation: the Persian language is noted for wide uses of idioms and rich
metaphors, while Persian poetry has many mystical or spiritual themes often
expressed in metaphors. This poetry (e.g. works of Rumi or Hafiz) has been widely
translated and is much appreciated in the West, especially in the UK, Germany
and the USA.
This study investigates perceptions of good teachers largely from students’
viewpoints in an effort to derive models of their beliefs. In reporting the results,
we preserve the students’ voices as much as possible and take care to give
representative quotes to build up, as far as we can here, a representative picture
124 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran of teachers. This picture, we suggest, gives insights for ELT both inside and outside
Iran: while EFL teachers and students in Iran undoubtedly learn from the wider ELT
world, in this case, the wider world may gain thought-provoking insights from Iran.
Good teachers of English in Iran
Teachers of English in Iran might be seen as bridges between local, national and
international tendencies. There is currently a thirst for English. This is evident in
the growth of private language institutes that teach English: students see the role
of the language in global communication and are well aware that skills in English
are useful for study and employment, and for personal and cultural development.
However, English has had ups and downs in the national scene over recent years
and this has meant that English teachers have been variously viewed in official
circles at different times, negatively or positively relating to the outside world
(Borjian, 2013). This article only looks at Iranian students’ views of English
teachers in Iran.
In general, it does not seem hard to draw up a list of the qualities of a good
English teacher. A list is likely to include: having requisite knowledge and skill in
English and pedagogy, demonstrating the ability to sustain learners’ motivation
and engage them productively in interaction, being able to introduce students into
ways of thinking and cultural practices and helping them to reflect upon their own
practices, plus some personal or professional characteristics, such as patience.
However, as we would expect, there are contextual and cultural features which may
be different: for example, in Iran the teacher is expected to be of a good character,
open-minded, and friendly, flexible and caring towards learners, and these qualities
are seen as part of teacher efficacy. While the gender of the teacher or student
does not significantly affect general perceptions of good teachers, there are
different orientations towards different aspects of teachers’ roles from gender
perspectives, which may reflect nuances of tensions between tradition and
modernity (Nemati and Kaivanpanah, 2013).
Metaphor analysis
Metaphor analysis can be applied to research in ELT when students’ or teachers’
conceptions of learning and teaching are investigated by collecting their
metaphors and analysing them to seek underlying patterns. Given a sufficient
number of examples as data, these patterns represent students’ thinking and
beliefs. This innovative approach has some advantages over using more traditional
questionnaires and interviews. When students are asked to give their own metaphors
this elicitation task often seems refreshing and creative. This cognitive and affective
engagement may yield different levels of insights from participants. Further, given
the international character of ELT, metaphor analysis lends itself to cross-cultural
research into learning; for example, to compare metaphors of learning in Japan,
China, Malaysia, Lebanon or Tunisia (Cortazzi and Jin, 1999; Berendt, 2008).
We investigate the concepts of teachers and learning shown through students’
metaphors to reveal their perceptions. By looking at networks of these underlying
concepts we propose features of cognitive models, continuing our metaphor
analyses in China and elsewhere (Cortazzi et al., 2009; Jin and Cortazzi, 2011).
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 125
The approach used here draws on the research in cognitive linguistics of Lakoff
and others (e.g. Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; Lakoff, 1993). Metaphors are conceptual
and there are systematic correspondences or ‘mappings’ between the language
expressions of metaphors and underlying concepts. These underlying concepts
cluster into belief systems. By examining students’ metaphors for learning, we
find that many give expressions such as ‘learning is a journey’: the student is a
‘traveller’, learning is seen as ‘movement’ towards a ‘destination’ along different
‘paths’ with a teacher who is a ‘guide’. The detailed characterisations of each of
these elements of a journey give a good idea of students’ perceptions of learning,
in a way that teachers and students can readily understand. We examine students’
perceptions of their English teachers and their learning in their own words to see
how the journey of learning is described and to see the characteristics or qualities
of their teachers.
Simply collecting metaphors is not enough in itself, though, because as researchers
we do not always know what the metaphors imply. We need the participants’ own
explanations because we want to get insiders’ views of ELT in Iran. For example,
groups of British and Chinese students said: ‘My teacher is an old cow’. But these
show opposite ideas. For the British, this is a gender-based insult (the teacher is
said to be unpleasant, stupid or ugly), while for the Chinese this is a compliment
and high praise (the teacher is regarded as tireless, productive, self-sacrificing,
suffering in silence). Even within a cultural community, what seems to be the same
metaphor may have different meanings, so we need to ask participants for their
reasons – these are the implications (or ‘entailments’) of the metaphor. Six Iranian
students said, ‘Learning English is a ship on the ocean’ but in entailments one
stressed improved communication (‘going through open water [seas] to better
communication’), another emphasised enjoyment (‘a very pleasant voyage’), while
others focused on the power of the language (‘you will reach the shore by the
greatness of the ship’s power’) and culture (‘reaching and exploring different lands
of cultures and traditions’) or a destination of wisdom (‘it takes you from ignorance
to wisdom’).
For these reasons, and according to metaphor theory, we examine both students’
metaphors and the entailments which they give. We ask them to give their own
metaphor to complete ‘A good teacher is …’ and then to give their own reasons
‘… because…’ We obtained 650 metaphors for learning and 785 metaphors
for teachers from 393 university students of English in two universities (179
undergraduates; 214 postgraduates; 105 male and 288 female students). The
gender balance reflects enrolment in English, TEFL, literature and translation
programmes. There is probably some gender influence on the results but most
kinds of metaphors were given by both male and female participants and it needs
further investigation to explore the gender angle in detail. Students all spoke
Persian as their first language and they completed the metaphor tasks in English.
This demonstrates students’ creative ability in English but, based on our research
in China (Cortazzi et al., 2011), we anticipate that had the metaphors been given in
Persian many would have been longer and more elaborate. In addition, 21 students
wrote mini-essays in English on their Journeys of Learning and 12 language
teachers working in language institutes wrote mini-essays about their work there.
To maintain a distinction between metaphor and entailments, we present direct
126 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran quotes from participants’ metaphors in italics, as given, and entailments are in
normal font: these give the words of students, edited for conciseness, but preserve
participants’ voices (see Figures 1–5).
Since participants are asked a completely open-ended creative question, an
unimaginably large range of responses is possible. If we find common metaphors,
this is interesting; if we find common patterns of entailments, this is important; if
we find networks of patterns of different metaphors and entailments, this shows
a remarkable social trend in students’ beliefs about EFL teachers. All these
conditions are fulfilled below.
Journeys of learning
Students’ mini-essays provide broad characterisations of learning, framed in
metaphors. Learning is ‘an epic journey … a journey without maps … an adventure
journey … very joyful, very interesting … a lifelong process not yet finished …’ Many
students stress how they must ‘try hard’ to reach a destination but they ‘know’ they
will ‘arrive happily’. The destination is to progress towards a level of proficiency in
English: ‘when you pass your exams and get your grades’ or ‘when I can proudly
claim I have acquired adequate knowledge through the language learning process
… to communicate with people of other countries and cultures’. Yet for some this is
‘a dream that cannot possibly come true’ even if they were ‘earlier obsessed with
this finishing point’ because ‘there is no end to this journey.’ Teachers are usually
‘guides who help us … who care for us … support us on our journey’; ‘well-seasoned
in the nature of the journey’, ‘delightful … helpful … compassionate … strongly
disciplined.’ Teachers help, ‘like a mother’. They made students ‘comfortable about
the process and nature’ of the journey’ and ‘kindly and gently started to raise our
consciousness toward the non-mechanical parts of the journey’. For some, the
journey is more than simply a cognitive or skill-learning process: it ‘put me on the
path of self-discovery … and on my journey I have experienced a metamorphosis
which has had a profound effect on my English knowledge and personal self.’
Here we see a tone of excitement; recognition of how learning English is a longterm
process to reach goals that are associated both with language and people,
and with the learner’s personal self; and warmth towards teachers as guides. The
teachers’ mini-essays show how teaching and learning are intertwined: ‘I try to
teach and help others but I need myself to be helped by others … through teaching
the whole complexity and burden of this journey became manageable … through
teaching I can learn more and more.’ Difficulties are seen in aesthetic terms: ‘by
teaching, I take the difficulties of this journey as the beauty of this undertaking.’
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 127
Metaphors for teachers
Importantly, these mini-essays confirm what students say more elaborately in
freely elicited metaphors (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Metaphors for journeys of learning English (N=66 students in Iran) with
characteristics from metaphor entailments
Metaphors for journeys of learning Characteristics of learning English
Learning English is: the most precious and
longest journey … a never-ending path to
knowledge … a beautiful journey of discovery …
The journey is long, full of wrong turnings,
yet delightful …
You can explore other people’s cultures
and beliefs …
It takes you to mysterious unknown worlds
… seeking a phoenix: you are looking for a
mythical or mystical creature of majesty …
It’s a journey down a dark tunnel, which ends
in a beautiful landscape … a passage from dark
to light …
It’s moving towards a distant picture, the
nearer you get, the clearer it will be …
It’s a bumpy road in a mountainous area … it
must be traversed step by step … the more you
tread upon it, the more you desire to go further
… there are many ups and downs in gaining
knowledge, but when you reach the top, the
taste is sweet ...
Learning English is difficult but if you work
hard you will be successful …
It has lots of ups and downs …
It seems endless … mysterious, but entertaining,
enjoyable …
The more you make progress, the more you
want to continue …
You achieve success gradually … you may only
value the success later…. You can realise your
dreams, so it ends beautifully …
You need to mobilise your inner resources …
to explore, discover, increase your knowledge
in all fields …
You advance in learning by observing,
comparing, judging …
You develop your knowledge about life …
you examine and find out about how to live …
The students’ journey of learning is presented as ‘most beautiful … most precious’,
an endless ‘adventurous voyage of discovery’ ‘to unexplored lands’ because ‘it
leads to success’ and ‘leads us to different areas of the city of language.’ The path
is difficult, ‘it is an uneven way of living, with lots of ups and downs, but it is the best
way’ and ‘by learning things you can step through the darkness and light up your
way.’ The end point and process of learning cannot really be envisaged in advance
since ‘the more you explore, the more you find’ and ‘until we travel along this way
we do not understand the effect’. Teachers ‘lead you to somewhere you weren’t
even aware of’.
128 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran Figure 2: Metaphors for the teacher as a guide (N=94 students)
Metaphors for the teacher as a guide,
leader, prophet, angel
Characteristics of teachers
A teacher is a good guide … a reliable leader …
a prophet, a messenger of love, an angel with
a candle … a rescuing angel of another world …
They indicate the correct way of learning …
and do not allow us to go off the beaten track …
They show us new things and explain them
… show the beauties of a place and give
knowledge of it … reveal the unknown world
of reality …
They lead us to the right way and help us to
find out the way of life … we need this help …
They guide us through the way towards
prosperity … and bring humane messages …
They devote themselves to others … sacrifice
to give us knowledge … show the straight way …
rescue humans from the chains of ignorance …
Teachers give information, knowledge, advice,
guidance, inspiration …
They make plans, organise and
monitor learning …
They indicate how to learn …
They show students how to solve problems ...
They explain, lead, show the way … help
students reach their aims …
They show students moral truth and an example
of moral behaviour …
They show love, care, patience, kindness,
trustworthiness, humanity, devotion and
self-sacrifice …
Teachers are ‘guides’ but they are also ‘leaders’, ‘prophets’ and ‘angels’. The
entailments for these metaphors overlap significantly, showing how closely the
underlying concepts are related. As ‘guides to happiness’, ‘teachers guide people
to be educated and lead them from darkness to light’; ‘they show you the way for
learning new things’, ‘conduct us towards the door of science’ since ‘without a
guide we can’t understand the map’. These ‘leaders of our hearts’ ‘can help us to
solve problems and lead us to fortune’. Perhaps surprisingly, 24 students viewed
the good teacher as ‘a prophet’: they ‘show us the correct way of living in order to
reach salvation’. ‘With their beautiful example they lead you and make you go
higher and higher’, ‘they only deliver the message and it is up to you to understand
it and apply it’. ‘They sacrifice to give us knowledge’; ‘they bring you to a paradise, if
you love them, and yet they can make your life like hell, if you hate them’. As ‘angels’
they are ‘a sign from heaven: they will raise you up there’; they ‘guide learners to
happiness’, ‘towards softness and peacefulness of knowledge.’
The closeness and warmth which many students feel for teachers is even more
evident in metaphors of ‘parents’ and ‘friends’. Here (see Figure 3) the entailments
include a considerable range of humane qualities.
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 129
Figure 3: Metaphors for the teacher as a parent or friend (N=80 students)
Metaphors for the teacher as a parent,
friend
Characteristics of teachers
A teacher is a second mother … a father of
kindness ... an older, knowledgeable friend …
sometimes tough but has a kind heart …
They care for students’ future life … work hard
in order to make us educated … can inspire
knowledge in others …
They guide us and solve all our problems …
They help us so that we can learn with interest
… they work hard; they help us and love their
country … they tolerate us in every situation
patiently …
They care about the students more than
themselves …
They can have a great influence on us
Teachers dedicate their time, energy and effort
to help students …
They deliver knowledge and ideas …
They facilitate learning ... they are motivators,
benefactors, donors …
They like students to communicate … like them to
be happy … like students’ improvement and help
them to achieve what they wish to achieve …
They guide students towards success …
Teachers make students ready for life …
Teachers show patience, kindness, tolerance,
care, sympathy, selflessness, warmth, love …
Clearly language teachers do more than teach English, in these students’ views.
As ‘kindly parents’ and ‘good friends’, teachers are caring, show concern and
provide guidance. Further, they are seen to have moral qualities which they share
with learners: ‘they help us in education and direct our positive manners and
moralities’; ‘they share their knowledge, morality and whatever they believe is
worth having’. Their ‘behaviour has an impact on others – you may see your teacher
more than your family.’ Sometimes, though, this seems overdone or patronising:
‘they treat us like children; they do everything for their students, like children.’
A striking metaphor, given by 84 students, is the teacher as ‘a candle’ (see Figure
4). The central meaning is that teachers give ‘light’, ‘warmth’, ‘knowledge’ and
‘enlightenment’ but they sacrifice themselves in the process, thus showing
devotion. ‘They burn while they brighten our minds with the light of their own
knowledge’; ‘They burn to give light to others but slowly melt away themselves’;
‘They melt to improve us and help us learn the way of living and thinking’; and
‘Their life disappears in drops of wax as they give light to others’. This candle
metaphor is clearly important in Iran, where it is well known. We notice it in
Lebanon and Malaysia and, interestingly, in China but not in the UK. The theme
of teacher devotion and sacrifice is immediately recognised, however, by teachers
outside these contexts when they see the metaphors because it resonates among
experienced practitioners. This theme appears unrecognised by policy makers and
seems rarely discussed in ELT.
130 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran Figure 4: Metaphors for the teacher as a candle (N=86 students)
Metaphors for the teacher as a candle Characteristics of teachers
A teacher is a burning candle, a shining candle …
Teachers burn for students …
The candle burns and gives light to students …
It burns to enlighten the environment …
Teachers lead us from darkness to light …
They brighten our lives … give lessons of light …
They give us brightness and heart …
They enlighten our path in life … show us the
way in the dark … devote their life to teach us …
The candle is sacrificing itself for us …
Teachers give knowledge …
They enlighten our minds … enlighten our
ways of thinking … our wellbeing …
They enlighten our development … our lives …
and ways of living …
They enlighten the environment …
Teachers show warmth, affection, devotion
and love …
Teachers sacrifice themselves …
Students learn with the guidance,
encouragement, help and sacrifice of teachers …
Teachers ‘burn’ so students learn …
The candle metaphor is one of a set of metaphors of light: the teacher is light, the
sun, the moon, a star, a lantern or beacon.
Figure 5: Metaphors for the teacher as light (N=111 students)
Metaphors for the teacher as light, the sun,
the moon, or a star
Characteristics of teachers
A teacher is a shining light … an endless source
of light … the light in our eyes ... the sunrise …
the sun after a rainy day … moonlight on a dark
night … a shining star …
They can show you the way through the
darkness … show us the road in the night …
They give us light for guidance … and safety …
lighting the dark side of our thought …
They show us the right path … light our
learning way … brighten and lighten up our
way to knowledge … give us a clear sight of
the people’s ways …
Teachers help us to choose the way of light ...
They guide students through the valley of death
… their lights take us to paradise …
Teachers are a main source of knowledge …
They give, show and add: knowledge, guidance,
warmth, beauty, incentives and energy … they
enlighten students’ minds … and thinking …
They are merciful and generous in their
teaching and happy to share knowledge …
They resolve uncertainties … give students
hope and help in the struggle to learn …
They guide and make learning easier …
They show students good ways of learning …
and of living to become a good person …
They teach about people and cultures …
and give students a wide vision …
A teacher may be the ‘sun’: ‘they brighten up our knowledge world’ and ‘light up
our entire life’ and ‘they make us believe that our struggle and oblivion will come
to an end’.
These metaphors stress the teacher’s guidance but the needed effort from
students (acknowledged in the ‘journey’ metaphors) entails some independence:
the teacher is ‘a beacon, he shows you the way but you should pass it alone’ and
the teacher is ‘a dim light: they just show us a general picture whose subtitles we
students must notice’. There is a strong affective tone: ‘the teacher is the most
beautiful sunset: they make the evening wonderful, they need us and we feel good
when they are there.’ Like the candle metaphor, there is an element of sacrifice:
‘the teacher is a sun: they make everything look beautiful and warm up everything
but they can burn in the long run’. For some students there is ambiguity between
positive and negative characteristics: ‘the teacher is a sunrise: if they want they
can be awful and destructive or beautiful.’
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 131
The gender of the teacher evokes nuances of difference which need further research:
the male teacher as father and the female teacher as mother are both kind, helpful
and caring in giving guidance; however, mothers are described as warm, loving,
selfless and tough. Still, the relative absence of such comments for fathers (male
teachers) does not necessarily mean they do not have such characteristics.
EFL teachers are not always seen positively. Twenty-six students gave negative
ideas. A few students were ‘puzzled’, ‘perplexed’ or ‘mystified’ when the class pace
seemed too fast or teachers did not make learning easier. Some teachers seem
‘dictatorial’ or ‘over-dominant’; they ‘kill motivation’ and ‘control thinking’ rather
than broadening students’ thinking. Some negative responses showed humour: a
teacher is … ‘a seducer: they encourage us to venture upon new ways and acquaint
us with new worlds’; an ‘extraterrestrial creature: the things they say are alien to
the students’; ‘an undertaker: he arranges funerals at the end of the term’ and ‘a
jellyfish in the knowledge sea: they look amazing but if you get too close you may
end up being paralysed.’
Metaphor networks
A careful reading of the entailments in the right-hand columns of Figures 2–5 shows
how these students give an extraordinarily broad range of characterisations of
their teachers. This is a rich and on the whole remarkably positive picture and, for
their English teachers, here is a rewarding recognition of teachers as practitioners.
But how are we to make sense of these complex listings? One way is to identify
salient items of entailments that relate to more than one metaphor – and to look for
the range of entailments that each major metaphor involves. This process enables
us to construct metaphor networks, first used for applied metaphor research by
Cortazzi et al. (2009). The networks here are based on the present data analysis.
Figure 6: A metaphor network for teachers as ‘light’
…TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS entailed in metaphors…
Teachers demonstrate these for students and enable
students to grow and learn:
knowledge
showing the right path
sacrifice devotion
LIGHT SUN MOON STAR CANDLE FIRE LANTERN
METAPHORS FOR TEACHERS
enlightenment
guidance
warmth
132 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran Figure 6 shows one of these metaphor networks for teachers as ‘light’: from this, the
knowledge and guidance from teachers visibly emerge as prime characteristics.
The teachers’ enlightenment of students, teachers’ warmth, sacrifice and devotion,
and the ability to show students the right path are major characteristics.
Figure 7: A metaphor network for teachers as people with different roles
…TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS entailed in metaphors…
Teachers demonstrate these for students and enable
students to grow and learn:
knowledge help guidance kindness
MOTHER FATHER FRIEND GARDENER GUIDE LEADER PROPHET ANGEL
METAPHORS FOR TEACHERS
growth care warmth
Figure 7 shows a further network of the teacher represented as different kinds
of people. Obviously, the teacher is him/herself a person, but these metaphors
often compare teachers’ roles with family and friends or with a variety of different
occupations. The entailments shown in this network demonstrate again the
centrality of knowledge and guidance from teachers as prime characteristics,
clearly linked with kindness and care as major characteristics, with some
prominence given to teachers’ warmth and help and to fostering student
growth. The way these networks are complementary is a striking demonstration
of student beliefs.
The analysis of the candle metaphor (Figure 4) drew attention to the view that
teachers sacrifice so that students learn. In fact, the entailment of ‘sacrifice’
appears in some learners’ metaphors for the teacher as: light, the sun, fire, a
mother, rain, and a mountain. While these are not the main metaphoric meaning
in each case except the candle, they are systematic images of sacrifice and
therefore in several networks (for example, Figure 6). One student saw the teacher
as ‘a moth which flies round the light for learners until his or her wings are burned’.
This is an image of love for the flame and of sacrifice, well known in Persian poems,
where the ‘light’ is ‘a candle’. The candle image is clearly deeply emblematic for
students’ conceptions of teachers.
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 133
The entailments that ‘teachers show us the right path’; ‘show the right way’; ‘they
guide students to the way of right’; or ‘guide us on the straight path’ (Figure 6)
clearly relate to the teachers’ roles in guidance. Notably, this has strong religious
or spiritual overtones of correctness, uprightness, right living and morality. This is
obvious in such phrases as the teacher is ‘a leader who guides us and shows us a
way of reaching God’. The particular phrasing of ‘the straight path’ and ‘right path’
appears in entailments of the teacher as: a light, a star, a lantern, a father, a guide,
a leader, a path, a road, a signpost, and, of course, ‘a prophet’. In an Islamic
perspective, this phrasing cannot be read without thinking of the opening chapter
of the Qu’rán, recited in daily prayer, where the English versions of the Arabic
scripture are generally ‘Guide us to the straight path’, ‘Guide us in the right way’
or ‘Show us the straight way’. Since this phrasing is so widespread in this data, it
gives evidence of a spiritual or religious perspective to students’ conceptions
of teachers.
On the basis of these analyses, we tentatively propose a model of the ideal EFL
teacher (Figure 8). This shows different dimensions that have emerged from
these students’ words with the prime and major characteristics evident in the
metaphor entailments (Figures 6 and 7). The model is holistic in the sense that it
demonstrates how EFL teachers teach English as their major professional role but
clearly, in this vision, they do much more along several dimensions. The model
reflects a large proportion of the 393 students’ voices.
Figure 8: A metaphor analysis model of the ideal EFL teacher in Iran (N=393 students)
Gives help;
develops
learners’
knowledge
and growth
Shows
moral truth,
sacrifice and
devotion;
shows the
straight path
Shows care, kindness and beauty
Gives knowledge and guidance
Opens doors to people and
cultures in the world
Helps students to develop good
communication in English
The ideal teacher
of English
COGNITIVE
AFFECTIVE
AESTHETIC
MORAL
SPIRITUAL
FIVE DIMENSIONS OF A HOLISTIC MODEL OF THE IDEAL TEACHER
134 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran Reflection
These students’ metaphors are written in English: the quality of expression is a
credit to their teachers. The metaphors demonstrate not only competence for a
task – which to them is unfamiliar and was unexpected – but also illustrate creative
responses that are thoughtful and sometimes humorous. Some show EFL teachers
in a negative view but the vast majority are positive, showing respect, warmth
and gratitude for teachers’ professionalism. The metaphors give a strong sense
of high regard for teachers’ roles in students’ English-learning journeys, which the
learners know is a difficult and long-term enterprise. Students clearly value the
opportunities to advance on this path because of the international and local roles
that English provides for students’ likely futures, besides the clearly expressed
desire for self-development and growth.
Metaphors and metaphor networks such as those presented here are important
material to focus discussions of learning and teaching with students and for staff
development, in Iran or, in fact, anywhere. In particular, a given metaphor allows
creative extension and personal interpretation. For example, the ‘teacher is light’
can be extended, via quantum physics, to consider different views of light as
‘waves of light’, ‘bursts of energy’, or ‘streams of particles with uncertain and
unpredictable paths before they reach an identifiable target point’. Similarly,
metaphors can be adjusted to explore implications: the teacher as ‘an energysaving
light bulb’, ‘a chandelier’ or ‘a light show’. Asking students to compose their
own metaphors for learning, with reasoned entailments, has proved fruitful for
classroom discussions in English and for teacher workshops. The tentative ideal
model (Figure 8), provisional as it is, could be a focus for productive reflection
with EFL trainee teachers.
Conclusions
These metaphors from Iran give insights into teachers and learning that are
seldom featured in ELT research and discussions of practice. English teachers are
seen here as skilled professionals. Of course, this is in cognitive terms (they share
knowledge and guidance to develop students’ skills in English). But more broadly
we see their work in affective terms (showing care and kindness), aesthetic terms
(showing beauty) and with moral and spiritual dimensions (they show a moral
example, show students the straight path and the right way). They reveal teachers’
devotion and self-sacrifice (as candles, teachers burn so that students learn).
An implication is that good EFL teachers embody all of these dimensions,
simultaneously. Here are aspects, perhaps idealised, which are clearly significant
for language learners in Iran and surely highly suggestive in the ELT world beyond:
they indicate how we might consider ELT in more holistic terms. An Arabic saying,
familiar in Iran, suggests ‘a metaphor is a bridge to reality’ (Schimmel, 1975: 292):
these metaphors enable us to see a different reality of teachers and of how they
help learners make their journey of learning. We can cross this bridge and see
teachers as candles lighting up the journey of learning – and much more.
Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran | 135
References
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Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
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Cortazzi, M and Jin, L (1999) ‘Bridges to Learning: metaphors of teaching, learning
and language’, in Cameron, L and Low, G (eds) Researching and applying metaphor.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cortazzi, M, Jin, L and Wang, Z (2009) ‘Cultivators, cows and computers:
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(eds) Internationalizing the university, the Chinese context. Houndmills:
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Jin, L and Cortazzi, M (2011) ‘More than a journey: “learning” in the metaphors of
Chinese students and teachers’, in Jin, L and Cortazzi, M (eds) Researching Chinese
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136 | Candles lighting up the journey of learning: teachers of English in Iran
MA TEFL programmes
in Iran: change in a
globalised era
Parvaneh Tavakoli and Mostafa Hasrati
138 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 139
11
MA TEFL programmes in Iran:
change in a globalised era
Parvaneh Tavakoli and Mostafa Hasrati
Introduction
This chapter is a modest attempt to investigate how MA Teaching English as a
Foreign Language (TEFL) programmes in Iran are changing in a globalised world.
Our previous research in this area (Hasrati and Tavakoli, 2015; Tavakoli and Hasrati,
in preparation) has shown how MAs in English language teaching programmes are
developing in Anglophone countries, but little or no research
has been conducted to study changes in MA TEFL programmes in Iran. In what
follows, we will first introduce MA TEFL programmes in Iran, before presenting
and discussing different definitions of globalisation. We will then explain how we
collected the data for this study and report our findings, making comparisons with
the other contexts when appropriate. We will conclude by elaborating on possible
extensions of this study in similar contexts.
MA programmes in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Iran are among
the most popular postgraduate programmes in the country. This popularity can be
defined in light of the international value of English as a lingua franca and Iranians’
in-depth understanding of the importance of teaching and learning English in the
current times. The number of students in these programmes has exponentially
increased in the past two decades from around 50 in 1994, when one of the authors
had just started their MA TEFL studies, to more than 1,200 in 2014 in public
universities, as indicated by the Postgraduate Admission Guideline published by
the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (2014). A similar pattern of
growth for such programmes is also witnessed in the private sector. In line with
what is happening in other countries, this trend can be observed in other
postgraduate programmes, indicating a ‘massification’ (Tight, 2004; Morely et al.,
2002) in higher education (HE) in Iran. We argue that although the ‘massification’ in
Iranian HE is potentially influenced by the challenges associated with globalisation
and the responses to those challenges, it has characteristics that are specific to
the local context of HE in Iran. In the next section, we will provide an overview of
globalisation theories by drawing on the relevant literature in this area.
Defining globalisation
While there is common consent among scholars that globalisation is a complex
and multifaceted concept, there is little agreement about which definition is most
encompassing. One of the most cited definitions of globalisation was proposed
by Giddens (1990: 64): ‘the intensification of worldwide social relations which link
140 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring
many miles away and vice versa.’ This definition, however, does not capture the
multifaceted and dynamic nature of globalisation. Other scholars have broken
down globalisation into its various aspects. Porter and Vidovich (2000) argue
that globalisation comprises economic, cultural and political aspects. Beck
(2012: 135) argues that: ‘While we commonly attribute a singular, unitary status
to globalisation, mostly the economic, it is complex, multidimensional, and fluid,
leading us to consider globalisation/s in its plurality’. Holtman (2005: 14) suggests
that globalisation should be considered in all its dimensions including economic,
technological and cultural aspects. We would like to highlight the inevitability of the
need to reformulate these definitions. Given its dynamic and interactive nature, any
synchronic and static definition of globalisation would seem limited and insufficient
to capture the evolving nature of globalisation, particularly its interaction with a
range of other factors, including the characteristics and needs of the local contexts.
Our reading of the literature suggests that the economic aspect of globalisation
is the leading factor in this process, creating a context for a ‘commercial turn’
(Hasrati and Tavakoli, 2015) in HE. This is characterised by redefining the role
of universities, from social institutions in which academics pursue and produce
knowledge to centres that train professionals ‘to join labour markets’ (Mazzarol
and Soutar, 2012: 720) and to act as ‘major agents of economic growth’ (Tarar,
2006: 5,080). This ‘commercial turn’ is rooted in neoliberalist ideas that ‘call for an
opening of national borders for the purpose of increased commodity and capital
exchange [and privatising] virtually every process or service that can possibly be
turned over to private capital.’ (Torres and Rhoads, 2006: 8)
We assume that neoliberalist ideas and globalisation may take on new shapes in
the HE of different countries as they interact with differing local and contextual
factors. In Western, mostly Anglophone, countries several provisions have been
made to establish offshore university campuses in developing countries (Wilkins
and Huisman, 2012), a process referred to as multinationalisation (Altbach, 2004: 6).
In addition, a great majority of Anglophone universities have expanded their
programmes to attract more overseas students, not only as a source of income
but to promote an international academic and research environment. Although
based on a different rationale, similar initiatives have been adopted in the Iranian
context. For instance, HE in Iran has expanded in the past two decades to
accommodate a larger number of students at home, which we assume is partly
due to a policy to keep students at home. In addition, similar to the establishment
of offshore campuses of Anglophone universities, some Iranian universities have
opened new campuses that admit fee-paying students without having to take the
National University Entrance Examination. The Kish Island Campus of the University
of Tehran was one of the first such universities in Iran. Nevertheless, it seems that
this trend has been affected by wider political issues. For instance, the few offshore
campuses of Iranian universities established in the 2000s in a number of foreign
countries (for example, Azad University Oxford Branch) were forced to close or
minimise activity when the new waves of US-led sanctions (Resolution 1803 in
March 2008) came into effect.
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 141
Iranian context
The rapid growth in the number of universities and colleges in Iran in the 1980s
and 1990s, although strongly motivated by the Islamic Revolution and the desire
to spread knowledge among the nation, should to some extent be attributed to
globalisation processes that foresaw education as an essential requirement for
the economic growth of the nation. The growth in HE since the 1980s around the
world has been associated with a number of key shifts in HE policy and strategy
setting, including privatisation of education, introduction of tuition fees as a source
of revenue in certain institutions, preoccupation with an efficiency model of
education, and the reduction of education products to the concept of commodities
(Hayes and Wynyard, 2002; Manicas, 2007). While a careful examination of the
recent history of HE in Iran is an undeniably interesting and a necessary research
focus, it goes beyond the scope of the current chapter. Our analysis of the existing
evidence suggests that the Iranian context of HE shares many of the abovementioned
shifts with its global counterparts.
To provide a brief history of the first MA TEFL programmes in Iran, it is necessary
to look at the earliest formal teaching qualifications that were available to English
language teachers in Iran. While teacher training universities and colleges had been
offering general teaching qualifications for a number of years, it was the Teachers’
Training University in Tehran that first offered a course entitled ‘Teaching English as
a Foreign Language’ in the 1960s. This was an intensive one-year programme with
an embedded practicum component, which upon successful completion allowed
graduates to teach at high schools. The course entry requirements included having
a BA in English language and/or literature and passing the entrance exam 2. The
graduates from this course then received a one-month summer course training
from the British Council in Iran to enhance their teaching methodology knowledge
and skills. In 1973, the University of Tehran was the first university to offer an MA in
TEFL in Iran. The course was designed for teachers who were planning to move to
HE or seeking promotion in their existing jobs. The candidates, fewer than ten in
the first intakes, were selected through a university entrance exam, which included
a test of vocabulary, language use and reading comprehension, as well as an oral
interview. The programme was a two-year course (four semesters in total) that
included modules on linguistics, phonology, education, vocabulary building,
methodology and French (as a foreign language). It also included a practicum that
required students to teach and/or observe English classes at state high schools.
The course was predominantly taught by Iranian linguists and applied linguists.
Interestingly, the first graduates of this course became outstanding scholars and
leading academics in TEFL and/or applied linguistics in Iran in the decades to come.
After the Islamic Revolution, the Supreme Cultural Revolution made efforts to
develop the existing MA programmes to be comparable to their global counterparts.
The MA in TEFL was not an exception. The course structure and credit system offered
on these MAs in 2014 still follow, to a great extent, the model established in 1973.
2
In the absence of any published research on the history of MA TEFL programmes in Iran, we are referring to our
personal communication with some of the founders of such programmes.
142 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era Methodology
The data reported in this chapter is part of a larger-scale project on the MA TEFL
in Iran, coming from 23 completed questionnaires and two interviews collected in
September and October 2014 from academic members of staff teaching MA TEFL
in different universities in Iran. The questionnaire data was initially collected
through convenience sampling, but it then turned into a snowball sampling when
some of the participants distributed the questionnaire among their colleagues.
Although we sent the questionnaire to more than 30 participants from 18 different
universities we received a low response rate of 35 per cent. With the effects of
snowball sampling, it is difficult to say how many universities are represented in
this data. To respect the participants’ privacy and anonymity, we did not ask for
any personal information, including the name or type of the institutions they
worked at. The interviews were conducted over the phone with two very
experienced professors who had been identified as key founders of MA TEFL
programmes in Iran.
The questionnaire, which is a modification from our previous research (Hasrati
and Tavakoli, 2015; Tavakoli and Hasrati, in preparation), consisted of both
quantitative Likert-scale questions and qualitative open-ended questions. In this
article, we will draw only on qualitative data collected in the study, as it would
provide a more in-depth insight into our colleagues’ understanding of globalisation
and of their views about how globalisation has impacted MA TEFL programmes
in Iran.
We put the following four open-ended questions to the participants:
1. In your opinion, do you think MA TEFL programmes are changing or
have changed over the past 10–15 years? If yes, how?
2. What do you think are the causes of these changes, if any?
3. How do you define globalisation?
4. How has globalisation affected TEFL programmes in Iran?
These questions generated a range of various responses, which we then
categorised based on open thematic coding (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Charmaz,
2000, 2005). This means that we assigned a code to each section of the responses
based on their content. For instance, a recurring theme in the responses was
reference to turning MA dissertations into publications, which we categorised as
‘publishing issues’. In further analysis of the data, we developed sub-categories.
For instance, replies earlier categorised as ‘publishing issues’ were further
sub-categorised into themes including ‘push from supervisors on MA students
to publish’ and ‘credentialing incentives for supervisors to publish’.
In total, we identified nine core categories in the qualitative data in the procedure
outlined above, indicating a range of assumptions about changes in TEFL
programmes in the country. In what follows, we will describe these changes as
perceived by the participants. We will refer to the participants by a capital P
followed by a number (for example, P.23).
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 143
Results
In this section, we will pull together the nine core categories under three headings:
■■ Changes from below
■■ Quality or quantity: which to promote in HE?
■■ Publish or perish
We would like to emphasise that we align ourselves with a constructivist qualitative
paradigm (Charmaz, 2000, 2005; Schwandt, 2000), which argues that realities are
constructed as a result of the interaction between the researcher and data. In
other words, we do not claim that our findings reflect objective realities, but they
are our interpretations of the data we have collected.
Changes from below
In order to maintain standards and assure quality, the Ministry of Science,
Research and Technology (MSRT) has assigned special committees to discuss and
set curricula for all programmes offered in universities across the country, called
the Supreme Council of Curriculum Planning (SCCP) 3. The MA TEFL programmes
offered in public and private universities are no exception, and a curriculum
has been in force that has not changed greatly in the past three decades. This
curriculum includes the title of various courses and their contents that should
be delivered in MA TEFL programmes, but no specific textbooks are suggested.
The curriculum includes mandatory and optional courses, and universities can
choose from optional courses based on the expertise of their academic staff.
The curriculum includes 28 unit credits, each comprising 17 hours of instruction,
and the writing of a dissertation worth four unit credits.
Though change has not come from the MSRT to revise this curriculum, the younger
generation of academic staff joining TEFL departments have been implementing
changes such as introducing new approaches, tasks and projects. For instance,
the formal curriculum for the course entitled ‘Research Methods in Teaching
Foreign Languages’ specifically recommends the scientific method and quantitative
analysis as the methodological techniques to be covered in the course, as stated
in the curriculum approved by the SCCP. However, some staff, often the younger
generation of academics, have been introducing new perspectives (for example,
qualitative methodology) as an equally legitimate approach to enquiry:
The books and papers we introduce as part of the course requirements are
quite new, not because of the TEFL programmes, but due to the teachers’
self-devised MA programme. Once I taught quantitative research paradigms,
and now I am teaching the qualitative and mixed method paradigms in response
to the Western tendencies and currents coming into Iran. All the tendencies are
not native born. They are Western. (P.16)
3
In Iran the Council is known as ‘Showraye Alie Barnameh Rizi’.
144 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era As the above quotation indicated, these changes are not often in response to
local issues, but they may reflect the ‘winds ... blowing in the intellectual zeitgeist’
(Berkenkotter and Huckin, 1995: 3) of Western countries. Although this seems to
indicate a one-way direction of change from centre to periphery (Canagarajah,
1996, 2002), other qualitative data in our study suggests that some participants
were tailoring these changes to fit their local context. For instance, the global drive
for production of knowledge has led to institutional policies forcing academics to
produce more publications, which in turn has resulted in a redefinition of the MA
dissertation as a piece of research with publishable outcomes. We will further
discuss this in the section entitled Publish or Perish.
Quantity or quality: which to promote in HE?
Another important change is a sharp increase in the number of students in MA
TEFL programmes. As mentioned before, admission into these programmes has
significantly hiked in the past 25 years from around 50 in 1990 to more than
1,200 in 2014 in public universities. This expansion, we argue, is triggered by
two factors. The first is the general international trend in expansion of HE, a
process we referred to above as ‘massification of higher education’ (Tight, 2004).
This process is most probably caused by the privatisation of HE and budget cuts
that have led universities across the globe to rely on students as a major source of
revenue (Hasrati and Tavakoli, 2015). The other factor seems to be the increasing
possibility for Iranian students to go to foreign countries to pursue a higher degree,
a direct consequence of globalisation. While this is not the most pragmatic choice
for the majority of the students, the MSRT has made provisions for Iranian students
to be admitted to equivalent programmes offered in Iranian universities, a process
that has led to an increase in intakes.
The participants’ views were divided on the quality of these programmes, with
some suggesting that quality has improved while others claim it seems to be
lagging behind the increase in admissions to some departments. For instance,
some participants suggested that the need for student-generated revenues has
resulted in universities lowering admission requirements:
Things have definitely changed a lot over the past years since there is now
a lot of MA admissions in Iran under different names like PARDISE POOLI and
SHABANE 4 in state universities, which has resulted in Azad University getting
into a competition with state universities to admit as many students as possible
at any cost without considering their qualifications. The final corollary of
this competition is that you can see too many unqualified students studying
at MA. (P.15)
From the limited data and documents available to us, it is difficult to draw any
certain conclusions about the process of massification of HE in Iran. However, we
assume that the rapid growth of recruitment on such programmes might have been
associated with a less strict quality control process and a limited infrastructure
4
These are two examples of private or fee-paying higher education institutions in Iran. Admissions to such
programmes are easier as the payment of high tuition fees makes them less competitive.
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 145
capacity for accommodating this growth. Our data suggests that the insensitivity
to quality control is seen by the participants in the light of two outcomes: a) an
increase in plagiarism in dissertation writing, and b) a push for an expedited
graduation process:
The motto is finish the job on time no matter what the content is. I have heard
that those who cannot finish the job soon, they lose points on their thesis. That’s
why the students are in a hurry to finish the job as soon as possible. As far as I
remember, writing a thesis was not a big deal. Reports say that it is worse than
what it was years ago. (P.11)
Publish or perish
An important change in MA TEFL programmes has been a redefinition of the role
of MA TEFL dissertations. While the MA dissertation is often regarded as a first
practice in conducting a small-scale study and improving academic writing, it
seems that most MA TEFL departments aim for MA dissertations with publishable
outcomes:
There is less focus on learning and more focus on the outcome, which usually
gets defined in terms of scores and the number of publications. Publishing has
become such a priority for illegitimate reasons that it is mostly considered a
necessary evil or a tool for promotion rather than a means of contribution to
knowledge and personal and social development. (P.13)
The reasons for such expectations have been extensively outlined elsewhere
(Hasrati, 2013), but we need to mention that the MSRT has set guidelines for
credentialing and enumeration for publication by university professors. These
guidelines suggest that universities provide financial incentives to university
professors for publication. In addition, the points-based system for credentialing
asserts publications as a requirement for promotion. These factors have created
a culture in which MA dissertations are not merely regarded as learning practices
but as professional enterprises that should lead to publications bearing the names
of the dissertation supervisor and the student as joint authors. Many departments
have agreed on a benchmark for the inclusion of published papers in the overall
assessment of the dissertation, e.g. capping the top mark if a publication is not
emerging from the dissertation. This means that an MA dissertation’s maximum
score would be, for instance, 18/20, but if the student has published a paper,
usually jointly with the supervisor, the maximum mark would be awarded. This
is different from most Western educational cultures where there is no formal
pressure or bureaucratic requirements on MA or even PhD students to publish
their work until after graduation. It is also in sharp contrast with results from our
previous research in the UK, where publishing results of MA dissertations was
ranked as the least important aspect of writing an MA dissertation (Hasrati and
Tavakoli, 2015).
146 | MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era Evaluation, reflection and conclusion
In this chapter we have identified and elaborated on three key aspects of change
in MA TEFL programmes in Iran. This list, however, is by no means exhaustive
and should best be regarded as a sample of changes in these programmes.
Such changes should not be regarded as isolated and independent of each other.
On the contrary, we argue that we can only fully appreciate the complexity of the
changes in these programmes by looking at interaction among them.
The creation and possibility of rapid, easy connections has enabled academics to
access recent publications and programmes across the globe, which in turn has
made it possible to incorporate new approaches and theories in these programmes
in the absence of curricular changes at the ministerial level. In addition, increased
mobility has led to more conference participation by university professors who can
keep abreast with new developments in applied linguistics and language teaching.
A corollary has been to reduce the gap between some Iranian TEFL departments
and their Anglophone counterparts. These, as argued before, are most notably
personal variations and changes that are being implemented from below.
Rapid interconnections and mobility have also enabled Iranian students to continue
their studies in Anglophone countries and more recently in Malaysia and India 5.
This has led to new policies to increase admission to postgraduate programmes
in general and MA TEFL programmes in particular to encourage students to stay
in the country. In addition, Iranian students in foreign countries can also transfer
to Iranian universities (MSRT Student Services, 2014). This may be a strategy to
channel money spent in other countries into the Iranian HE system.
Similarly, new global technologies have made it possible for fee-based journals
to reach academics, most notably in developing countries including Iran with a
context of credentialing and material incentives for publication, tempting them
into speedy publications. This has affected Iranian MA programmes in general
and MA TEFL programmes in particular by redefining the role and purpose of
writing a Masters dissertation.
It is clear that the three changes in MA TEFL programmes reported in this chapter
(i.e. changes from below; quality or quantity; and publish or perish) interact in
complex ways, forming a constellation of global and local phenomena, an area
that merits further investigation. The changes we have identified in this chapter
will most probably be common to other MA programmes in Iran and even in other
developing countries, but more research is needed to investigate this topic and to
compare results from studies in similar contexts.
5
This statement is based on our local knowledge of the Iranian context.
MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era | 147
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Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 149
Feedback type
preferred by Iranian
EFL teachers in postobservation
meetings
Sasan Baleghizadeh
150 | Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings
Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 151
12
Feedback type preferred by
Iranian EFL teachers in postobservation
meetings
Sasan Baleghizadeh
Introduction
Teacher supervision is an important issue in English language teaching (ELT)
because novice teachers need a mentor to help them with problems they are
likely to encounter (for example, classroom and behaviour management).
Mentoring teachers through classroom observation is both a rewarding and
challenging experience: rewarding in the sense that it involves helping younger
colleagues grow professionally and be better teachers; challenging in that it
sometimes requires delivering negative feedback.
Classroom observation often has two goals: teacher evaluation and teacher
development (Sheal, 1989). Traditionally, teachers are observed for evaluative
purposes to ensure uniform practices, check for standard classroom procedures
and prescribe needed changes (Bailey, 2006; Goldsberry, 1988). Classroom
observation, however, can be undertaken for teacher development not focusing
on strengths and weaknesses, but promoting reflective practice, providing
opportunities for teachers to explore new teaching possibilities, and helping
teachers acquire knowledge about teaching and developing their own teaching
theory (Gebhard, 1990: 1).
Almost all teachers like to be told what they need to do to become effective
teachers, yet they feel nervous in the presence of an observer using a checklist
to judge their performance as satisfactory or unsatisfactory during a postobservation
meeting. According to Williams (1989), most teachers do not favour
this form of observation because it is potentially threatening, prescriptive and
strictly observer centered. This traditional form of observation is known as the
directive or supervisory approach (Freeman, 1982), the primary goal of which is
to evaluate the teacher’s mastery of a prescribed methodology. ‘Good’ teaching
is defined in terms of a teacher’s adherence to a pre-planned set of classroom
procedures. The directive approach is also characterised by an unequal power
relationship between teacher and supervisor. The teacher is expected to follow
supervisors’ advice because they know what ‘good’ teaching means.
152 | Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings Apart from these two main shortcomings, namely prescriptiveness and
authoritativeness, the directive approach enjoys the advantage of clarity.
Teachers know what they are expected to do in class and supervisors know
areas on which to concentrate and comment. Additionally, this approach has
been proven useful for novice teachers in contexts where teachers need to
be given clear direction (Copeland, 1982).
The post-observation meeting
The observation cycle consists of three distinct phases: the pre-observation
meeting, where supervisors establish rapport with teachers and assure them
that they are there to offer help; the observation period, during which supervisors
carefully capture classroom events, making field notes or using checklists; and
the post-observation meeting, where supervisors indicate teachers’ strengths
and weaknesses. The post-observation meeting is a critical phase since it requires
supervisors to comment on and, at times, challenge teachers’ planning or teaching
behaviour. Supervisors need to be adequately trained and prepared for this phase.
They need to know how to praise, and how to deliver criticism, in a face-saving
manner and with evidence. They need to create an anxiety-free atmosphere and
know how to give effective advice.
According to Wallace and Woolger (1991: 322), a typical post-observation meeting
should include the following stages:
Stage 1: Establishing the facts: What happened? At this stage, supervisors and
teachers review the lesson, agreeing on the facts of what happened (i.e. the main
stages of the lesson) and critical incidents during the lesson. The main question at
this stage could be sub-divided into: a) What did the teacher do? and b) What did
the students do?
Stage 2: Objectives and achievements. At this stage, supervisors guide teachers
to talk about what was learned in the class. Again, the main question could be
sub-divided into: a) What was achieved? and b) What did the students learn?
Stage 3: Generating alternatives: What else could have been done? Here,
there is discussion of alternative strategies for a similar future lesson. This should
not be seen as criticism, but as an essential step towards ongoing professional
development.
Stage 4: Self-evaluation: What have you learned? This last question is of
importance in that teachers have to articulate what they have learned from the
observed teaching experience. The way they answer this question is significant
too, as an indicator of their powers of self-evaluation and self-improvement.
An effective post-observation meeting has a number of features. It should occur
immediately after the lesson when both teachers and supervisors have a fresh
memory of the lesson, and it should be data based. As Salas and Mercado (2010)
rightly argue, an effective supervisory dialogue is one that is based on empirical
data such as hand-written notes or recorded observations (either audio or video).
Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 153
Telling a teacher that ‘I did not observe enough corrective feedback,’ or ‘You did not
seem to correct your students sufficiently,’ does not work. Instead, by referring to
the number of opportunities in which the teacher could have applied corrective
feedback strategies and comparing them to the actual number of attempts during
the lesson, both supervisor and teacher can arrive at a more mutual and objective
understanding. The third important feature of an effective post-observation
meeting is that it should be goal directed. Both teachers and supervisors should
set clear future goals to improve problematic areas. A post-observation meeting
that does not result in improved action is nothing but empty words.
An effective post-observation meeting is one that takes both cognitive and
affective factors into consideration. The cognitive dimension refers to the new
information load conveyed to the teacher during the post-observation meeting,
while the affective dimension refers to positive support and face-saving strategies.
Some supervisors spend time commenting in detail on the lesson’s weak points and
give a full description of possible alternative courses of action, making the postobservation
meeting cognitively rich. Other supervisors are more conservative
in delivering criticism and dwell on positive points without commenting on those
aspects the teacher could have handled better, thereby making the meeting more
affectively supportive.
The following model, adapted from Bailey (2006), shows how these two factors
interact to form the following quadrant:
Figure 1: Interaction of cognitive and affective factors
Cognitively informative
Affectively
supportive
1 2
Affectively
unsupportive
3 4
Cognitively uninformative
The above model offers four options. The most favourable situation is both
cognitively informative and affectively supportive (Cell 1). Not surprisingly,
Cell 4 is the least favourable condition, which no observed teacher would ever
wish to experience. My experience of interviewing teachers shows that the majority
of feedback sessions fall into the two broad categories represented by Cells 2
and 3 in the above quadrant. The purpose of the study reported in this chapter
is an investigation of Iranian EFL teachers’ preference for either of these two
feedback types.
154 | Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings The study
The participants were 200 Iranian EFL teachers, both female (N=112) and male
(N=88) with an average age of 27. The selected sample included 100 novice
teachers (below two years of teaching experience) and 100 experienced teachers
(with an average of five years’ teaching experience). Some of the participants were
MA students of TEFL (N=69) who were taking a Teaching Practice course in which I
introduced the elements of an effective post-observation meeting. The rest were
BA students (N=131) majoring in English Language and Literature who attended
workshops I ran on principles of classroom observation, where I introduced the
feedback types represented in Figure 1. The participants were EFL teachers at
several well-known English language schools in Tehran, Iran. Table 1 shows the
number of the participants based on their gender and teaching experience.
Table 1: Distribution of the participants based on gender and teaching experience
Experience
Gender Novice Experienced Total
Female 58 54 112
Male 42 46 88
Total 100 100 200
All participants were asked to reflect on the four options – particularly Cells 2
and 3 – and send their comments and specific preference to me through an email
attachment no more than two days after they were introduced to the Cells in Figure 1.
The data was collected over a period of three years. The results revealed that there
was no significant difference between male and female teachers regarding their
preference for Cells 2 and 3. Table 2 shows that 49 per cent of both male and
female teacher groups preferred cognitively informative but affectively unsupportive
feedback, and likewise 51 per cent of the participants from both groups preferred
affectively supportive yet cognitively uninformative feedback.
Table 2: Frequency and percentage of teachers’ preferences
Teachers
Feedback type Female Male Novice Experienced
Cognitively informative/
affectively unsupportive
55 (49%) 43 (49%) 67 (67 %) 39 (39%)
Affectively supportive/
cognitively uninformative
57 (51%) 45 (51%) 33 (33%) 61 (61%)
However, regarding teaching experience, there was a significant difference
between novice and experienced teachers. While the majority of the novice
teachers (67 per cent) preferred supervisory feedback that was cognitively
informative, even if it was affectively unsupportive, most experienced teachers
(61 per cent) preferred the opposite type of feedback, namely one that is
affectively supportive yet cognitively uninformative.
Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 155
Evaluation
Before data analysis I had assumed the results would emerge in another direction.
My hypothesis was that novice teachers would welcome more affectively supportive
feedback, which would boost their confidence at the beginning of their career. The
results revealed that most of them favoured more cognitive-oriented feedback.
Even more surprising is the experienced teachers’ preference for more affectiveoriented
feedback despite the fact that they should supposedly be more confident
in receiving criticism.
The comments made by participating teachers were informative. Below, I cite a
number of extracts that show how both novice and experienced teachers think
and feel about the feedback they receive in post-observation meetings (all names
are pseudonyms).
Although the majority of novice teachers (67 per cent) were in favour of Cell 2,
namely feedback that is cognitively informative but affectively unsupportive, there
were some who preferred emotional support from the supervisor because they
thought they would leave the job in its absence. A female novice teacher comments:
Actually, I am in favour of Cell 3, which is affectively supportive. While the
main concern for a teacher is to learn something new and grow professionally,
affective support is much more important to me, because I am kind of fragile
and unfortunately every negative feedback in my career would break me easily
and causes me to quit teaching! (Aida, novice teacher, age 24)
This is a typical example of how a novice teacher, while admitting the need for
professional growth, expresses her preference for affective support because
she thinks negative criticism would completely demotivate her.
Similarly, another novice teacher notes that:
I would prefer cognitively uninformative and affectively supportive feedback
from the supervisor because I have a very low self-esteem. If somebody
criticises me that will not be of any help to me for improvement; I would give
up on that issue and call myself an incompetent teacher thereafter. I need to
be praised in order to continue. (Hamid, novice male teacher, age 25)
As mentioned before, despite these two comments from novice teachers, the
majority of them opted for Cell 2, which is feedback intended to add something to
their knowledge and hence is more cognitively oriented in nature. As one of these
teachers comments:
I prefer the second cell. It is really important for me that the observer gives
feedback on my various ways of teaching. The matter of being emotionally
supported is not the case for me. I had such an experience. An observer came
to my class and said my way of teaching was not appropriate for that level. He
criticised me harshly, yet provided me with a new alternative. Although at first his
way of criticising shook my confidence, shortly after that I thought of applying
156 | Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings his suggestion and it really worked. So I really expect an observer to offer his/
her suggestions for improvement, no matter whether it is affectively supportive
or not. (Parisa, novice female teacher, age 25)
Parisa admits that harsh criticism might hurt, yet could prove useful provided it is
accompanied by information helpful to the teacher (in this case, ‘a new alternative’).
Another female teacher makes a similar comment:
I prefer cognitively informative and affectively unsupportive comments of a
supervisor. For me, the most important thing is to improve the quality of my
teaching, so I do not care about those affectively unsupportive comments even
if they may be offensive. If I find my supervisor’s comment informative, I will try
to overlook and forget the annoying part of it. I believe it is better to be aware
of my problems in teaching and their solutions rather than remain unaware but
happy. (Maryam, novice teacher, age 23)
As for the experienced teachers, the majority of them (61 per cent) preferred
feedback that was affectively supportive with little cognitive load. Two typical
comments are as follows:
I do think affectively supportive condition that considers the emotional status
of a teacher will be the most efficacious. As a result, the third option is the
safest for me as an experienced teacher because I have almost enough
information related to my profession. However, I think that for novice teachers,
cognitively informative feedback will be more useful. (Ramin, experienced
male teacher, age 28)
Another experienced male teacher put it as follows:
Experienced teachers have gone through years of experiences and have got
fixed in their techniques and methods, so they do believe what they are doing
is based on long experiences and is absolutely correct. Therefore, it is hard
to add new information to them, so Cell 3 is better for these teachers.
(Sheida, experienced female teacher, age 29)
The majority of experienced teachers both implicitly and explicitly pointed out that
when teachers gain competence and confidence after several years of teaching, it
is hard to change their attitudes towards certain practices, particularly when they
become a fixed part of their cognition or belief systems. It might be possible to
change teachers’ peripheral beliefs after some time, but changing their core beliefs
seems extremely difficult (Phipps and Borg, 2009). Supervisors should therefore
exercise caution when delivering feedback to experienced teachers, because
many have developed and established their own style and philosophy of teaching,
which they hold to be true. The post-observation meeting for experienced teachers
is likely to foster tension if supervisors do not provide any affectively supportive
feedback. As a senior experienced teacher told me:
What I need from a younger supervisor is nothing but respecting what I’m
doing in my classes.
Feedback type preferred by Iranian EFL teachers in post-observation meetings | 157
Comments of this sort mean that the long-held beliefs of senior teachers
are the red lines that supervisors should approach tactfully.
Conclusion
This study was an attempt to explore Iranian EFL teachers’ attitudes towards
the type of feedback they would prefer to receive in post-observation meetings
following the four-cell grid proposed earlier. The results showed that while there
was no difference between male and female teachers’ attitudes, there was a
significant difference between novice and experienced teachers in that novice
teachers were mainly in favour of cognitively informative feedback whereas
experienced teachers mostly favoured the affectively supportive type. Novice
teachers may be more motivated to learn new things to improve their practice,
even at the cost of receiving negative feedback. Experienced teachers may be
more concerned about ‘face’ and hence prefer supervisors’ approval. The
implication is that the approach to observing novice and experienced teachers’
classes should be different. The directive approach, though traditional, appears
to work with novice teachers, particularly in settings where there is a prescribed
methodology. However, this approach may not work with experienced teachers
who believe in what they have been doing for some years. A better approach to
adopt for these teachers would be the non-directive approach, which is more
humanistic in nature and affectively supportive. Supervisors who advise teachers
through this approach do not prescribe what is best to do and nor do they make
judgmental comments, but they may ‘try to rectify the erroneous beliefs of the
teacher’. (Baleghizadeh, 2010: 10) This, however, requires expertise on the part of
supervisors to convince experienced teachers to change their beliefs at the same
time as saving their ‘face’. Such supervision is recommended only if sufficiently
trained supervisors are available.
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L2 teacher observation feedback. English Teaching Forum 48/4: 18 – 23.
Sheal, P (1989) Classroom observation: Training the observers. ELT Journal
43/2: 92 – 103.
Wallace, M and Woolger, D (1991) Improving the ELT supervisory dialogue:
the Sri Lankan experience. ELT Journal 45/4: 320 –327.
Williams, M (1989) A developmental view of classroom observations.
ELT Journal 43/2: 85 –91.
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 159
Effecting
methodological
change through
a trainer-training
project: a tale of
insider-outsider
collaboration
Sue Leather and Khalil Motallebzadeh
160 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 161
13
Effecting methodological change
through a trainer-training project:
a tale of insider-outsider
collaboration
Sue Leather and Khalil Motallebzadeh
Introduction
In Iran there is a need to train teachers of English in the oral-communicative
approach, to keep pace with both Iranian students’ desire to speak English and
with the needs of Iranian society as a whole.
In this chapter we reflect on the Iran Trainer Training Project (ITTP), for Iranian
ELT professionals, which aims to address this need. We explain how we have gone
about introducing practical, interactive training methods to Iranian Master Trainers
in an attempt to introduce a cascade of practice-focused methodology to teacher
trainers and teachers. We make reference to our own collaboration as ‘insider’ and
‘outsider’ on the project, and the benefits of these two perspectives in developing
an effective intervention.
Context
Understanding the context of teaching and learning, as Wedell and Malderez (2013)
have pointed out, is important before initiating any educational change. Indeed,
they call it ‘the starting point for change’ (p. 228). It is for this reason that we start
with a brief overview of the current context of ELT in Iran.
English is the foreign language most widely taught in Iran. All students have to
take English in secondary schools and universities. There are also many private
language institutions teaching English across the country. Despite this popularity,
as Talebinezhad and SadeghiBeniss (2005) argue, few public schools and
universities have been successful in meeting Iranian students’ ever-increasing
desire to learn English communicatively (cited in Aghagolzadeh and Davari, 2014).
This has resulted in, as Riazi (2005) says, a high number of private schools and
language institutions offering English language at different levels in their curriculum.
Looking back on recent history, as Farhady et al. (2010) and Tollefson (1991) note,
the Islamic Revolution (1979) had a great impact on ELT in Iran. Tollefson believes
that the end of English domination was associated with the changing structure of
power in Iranian society. Beeman (1986) claims that after the Revolution, English
162 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project was mostly associated with Western subjugation of the Iranian people. It seems
that after the Islamic Revolution, English was, to a great extent, restricted to areas
such as diplomacy and science (Farhady et al., 2010).
In the past two decades there has been a rapid growth in science and technology
in the Iranian context. This has meant that the role of foreign languages, especially
English, is now a key factor in educational development. Meanwhile, the anxiety
over the spread of Western values in Iran through ELT has attracted many
Iranian authors to consider ELT as the silent hegemony of the West and call for
a movement towards localisation (Akbari, 2003; Davari, 2011; Pishghadam and
Naji, 2011). For example, Pishghadam and Zabihi (2012: 67) claim that the ‘West
has made every effort to ensure that the English language in its pure British and
American forms, along with their specific ideological, cultural, and attitudinal views,
are kept as uncontaminated as possible by other localities’. Failing to support
their claims with empirical data, they also accuse Iranian ELT professionals as
responsible for the marginalisation of Iran by showing positive attitudes towards
American culture (ibid.).
Objectives of teaching foreign languages in Iran
Teaching English as a foreign language has been approved as part of the
educational curriculum by the Iranian government. It is also reiterated by the
Fundamental Reform Document of Education (FRDE), ratified by the Iran Supreme
Council of Cultural Revolution in December 2011 (Ministry of Education, 2011). The
document sets out various operational objectives and corresponding strategies for
Iranian individuals to achieve. Teaching foreign languages is seen as a strategy to
achieve the objectives: ‘provision of foreign language education within the optional
(core-elective) section of the curriculum framework by observing the principle of
stabilisation and enforcement of the Islamic–Iranian identity.’ (strategy 1–5)
Status of English Language teaching in Iran
According to a report released by the Statistical Center of Iran (2014), there
were more than 12 million Iranian students studying at various levels in 2012.
Out of this number, more than five million are at the junior and senior high schools.
Based on the same report, more than four million students enrolled at both state
and non-governmental universities for the same period. To meet these students’
needs for English language at secondary and tertiary levels, two main models
of TEFL are employed by public schools, universities and private institutions:
traditional grammar and the reading-based method, and the oral-communicative
approach or communicative language teaching (CLT). The former is mostly
practised at public schools and universities while the latter is the core
methodology in private language institutions.
Although the principal objectives of teaching English at senior high schools
are helping students learn new words, reading comprehension, structures,
pronunciation and practising short conversation, as clearly stated in the secondgrade
book English II, most teachers practise reading, grammar and vocabulary
(Hosseinikhah et al., 2014). The new educational system in Iran has started a shift
from traditional to communicative methods in junior high schools. Kheirabadi and
Alavi Moghaddam (2014: 231) call this reform ‘the revolutionary process’. They, as
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 163
the main authors of the new textbook series English for Schools (Prospect 1 & 2),
have tried to blend communicative language teaching with local topics and culture
to enrich the learners’ cultural attachment and local identity. They add that the
objective of the new series, based on Common European Framework of Reference
(CEFR) themes and functions, is to help learners achieve B1 level. This series is
welcomed by Iranian EFL teachers, although no official report has been released.
During the past two years several workshops and seminars have been held by the
Ministry of Education to orient and empower teachers to use CLT.
English is mainly used as a vehicle to improve reading ability at universities. English
for Specific Purposes (ESP) is practised by English departments at universities
across Iran. Farhady et al. (2010) argue that a three-hour ESP course is taught
at universities through the translation method to enable students to read and
understand professional materials in English. This indicates that oral communication
is a neglected skill at tertiary level.
At private language institutes the core methodology follows CLT approaches.
Textbooks such as American File, Top Notch and New Interchange Series are
used. For most Iranian learners and teachers, the focus on oral skills in CLT in
such private institutions is considered advantageous and effective (Razmjoo and
Riazi, 2006). These institutions provide both their novice and experienced teachers
with obligatory training courses, which include theoretical and practical issues in
CLT. However, in a study examining the current teacher training programmes at
private schools in Iran, Motallebzadeh (2012: 90) argues that the ‘major principles
underlying such programmes are based on the EFL teachers’ and teacher trainers’
preferences.’ He concludes that teacher training programmes follow a trainercentered
mode and have little room for students’ or trainees’ needs. He also
maintains that such programmes emphasise the development of good EFL
teachers rather than good EFL learners.
Our brief overview, then, shows a complex and shifting context, in which oral
communication is of increasing importance.
Current models of teacher training/education
According to Wallace (1991), there are three popular models of teacher training
or education: the Craft Model, the Applied Science Model and the Reflective
Model. In the traditional Craft Model, trainees work closely with experienced or
master teachers and learn from them by observation, instruction and practice.
This model, as Christodoulou (2010) claims, lacks reflection on progress and
professional development. The Applied Science Model focuses on knowledge and
skill transferred from trainer to trainees and gives rise to the metaphor of teacher
educator as transmitter of knowledge (Swan 1993: 242). The Reflective Model helps
trainees add experience to their process of self-development. This model looks at
the teacher educator as ‘catalyst, collaborator and facilitator’. (ibid.)
Recently, Kumaravadivelu (2012) has proposed the Modular Model, consisting
of five modules: knowing, analysing, recognising, doing and seeing (KARDS).
According to this model, local contextual factors should determine both the goal
and content of teacher education programmes. He argues that local practitioners
should ‘take up the challenge, build a suitable model, and change the current ways
164 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project of doing language teacher education’. (p. 129) He sees sustained conversation
and constructive criticism carried out in a collaborative spirit as the principal
components of professional development.
Analysing teacher training programmes in Iran, the Craft and Applied Science
models are the most prominent (Motallebzadeh, 2012). The type of training
courses currently offered in universities, teacher training centres and language
institutes emphasise ELT knowledge transmission and shaping EFL teachers
through imitation of a master trainer (ibid.). Due to the rapid changes brought
about by new technology and new textbooks in public schools, teacher training
programmes in both public and private sectors require a shift from the Craft
model to more Reflective and Modular modes.
The ITTP project
Project aims, activities and structure
The ITTP project began in late 2011, so, at the time of writing, the project is just
over three years old. The aims of the project are to train cohorts of teacher trainers
to deal with the changing context of ELT in Iran, and deliver effective teachertraining
courses. The ultimate aim is to enable public sector teachers to teach
students to communicate in English.
The project has a number of strands. It is a cascade-training project, involving
the training of a number of cohorts of Iranian Master Trainers (MTs) and of Iranian
teacher trainers (TTs). The first cohort of MTs is now involved in training the next
cohort, with the support of international consultants. MTs are trained for 55 hours
face to face. Once trained, the MTs then select and train their own cohorts of
teacher trainers in Iran. These teacher trainers are then assessed, both by MTs and
by international consultants, using a set of criteria specifically devised for the ITTP
project. Once teacher trainers pass the assessment, they are able to deliver their
own teacher-training courses to teachers in Iran. The teacher-training course they
deliver has been written by a group of ten Iranian materials writers who have been
trained as part of the project.
In addition, there is online support for MTs and TTs via a VLE (virtual learning
environment). The platform is used to deliver continuous professional development
(CPD) to participants, in the form of professional development topics. These topics
are sometimes chosen by the international consultants and sometimes by the
trainers. Each topic runs for two or three weeks. They are usually training topics
such as How to design and plan an in-service training course, or How to evaluate
an in-service training course. The discussions are facilitated by the Iranian MTs
with some support from the consultants. The participants (all teacher trainers) take
part in the discussions and tasks on a voluntary basis and are assessed through
participation. At the time of writing, over 100 trainers from all over the country
are signed up for the VLE.
To sum up this description, the project structure is multi-layered. These layers
overlap. There are MTs, materials writers and teacher trainers. The MTs train
teachers to become teacher trainers. The teacher trainers deliver the workshops
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 165
designed by the materials writers. Some materials writers are also teacher trainers
or MTs. All are supported online by structured continuing professional development
discussions. See Figure 1, below.
Figure 1: The ITTP project
Materials
writers
Master trainers
Online support
Online support Online support
Teacher
trainers
Project strategies
In the ‘Context’ section above, we mentioned that the practice of ELT in Iran falls
into two main categories: the traditional grammar and reading-based method, and
the oral-communicative approach, sometimes known as communicative language
teaching (CLT).
In strategising the ITTP project, we were mindful of the need not only to fully
understand the context, but also to find a methodological way forward that
did not totally sideline the knowledge and skills of the Iranian context. Holliday
(1994), writing about international projects such as ITTP, explores the BANA–TESEP
dichotomy. BANA is ‘that which is oriented towards the private sector in Britain,
North America and Australasia’. TESEP is an acronym that comes from Tertiary,
Secondary, Primary, as ‘state education in the rest of the world’. (Holliday 1994:
12–13) Holliday argues convincingly that methodologies created in BANA contexts
do not readily transfer to TESEP contexts, and that there is a power differential
between the two, with TESEP becoming second class as it is forced to make
unsuitable adaptations. The widespread attempt to introduce the communicative
approach in TESEP contexts is one example of this. His discussion of ‘tissuerejection,’
where project innovations do not ‘take’ because of deep-seated cultural
and contextual differences, is a familiar scenario.
166 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project The international consultants’ background in BANA, with CLT as their main frame
of reference, clearly gives them a certain cultural perspective on teaching
and learning, and on the roles of teachers. It predisposes them towards what
Holliday (1994: 53–54) calls the ‘learning group ideal’, the ‘notion of the optimum
interactional parameters within which classroom language learning can take
place’. From their cultural perspective, the ‘learning group’ is the best way to
achieve what Holliday calls ‘process-oriented, task-based, inductive, collaborative
communicative … methodology.’
Whereas the BANA context tends to start from practice, and holds process in high
regard, in the Iranian context, theory and content have a high status. One danger,
then, particularly in training situations, is what Maingay (1997: 120) has called
‘a lack of awareness of underlying assumptions’. For this reason, it has been our
intention in ITTP to create sustained conversation and collaboration between the
‘insiders’, or Iranian trainers, and the ‘outsiders’, the international consultants.
It is our belief that a ‘learning conversation’ (Argyris 1992: 53) between insiders
and outsiders can create a positive and fruitful atmosphere for a teacher training
or education model to support development. This insider-outsider dialogue and
collaboration is the lynchpin of our overall project strategy.
With all this in mind, we have put some strategies into place in the ITTP project
to try to avoid the imposition of one set of methodological assumptions, deriving
from a specific context, on to a totally different context. We now outline some of
these strategies.
Overall
We have had to work within the limitations of a classical cascade project, since
the ‘outsiders’, or international consultants, in this project have not had access to
participants within Iran itself. Within these limitations, we have tried to find ways
of co-creating project outputs as much as possible.
Training and methodology
1. We have included theory in the MT training courses, often in the form of
short pieces of input or readings.
2. We have included sessions that attempt to raise awareness of participants’
understandings of content and process.
3. We have included daily reflection in the training courses as a way of observing
how participants are processing the methodology they are experiencing.
4. Micro-training and preparation for micro-training makes up to 50 per cent
of training courses. This is another way of observing how participants are
processing methodological input.
5. From the very first level of the cascade, Iranian MTs have worked alongside
international trainers. This has enabled better transference, as Iranian trainers
have been able to communicate needs, interpret, and localise the ideas and
methodologies of the international trainers/consultants.
Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project | 167
6. Supervision has decreased over time, so that we are now at the point
where Iranian MTs are in charge of Master Training courses, with minimal
‘outside’ input.
7. Though working from a timetable drawn up in advance, we have often
changed the timetable as we go through the courses, as both ‘sides’
perceive emerging needs.
Materials development
1. Materials development was led by Iranian trainers/materials developers and
supported by the international consultants. The resulting course is something
which Iranian trainers are comfortable delivering.
Assessment
1. Assessment of teacher trainers is always done by a team of Iranian and
international assessors co-operatively.
2. Teacher trainers are assessed by practical examination and by feedback
from the MTs who have trained them in-country.
Online support
1. MTs facilitate most of the discussions on the VLE.
2. The discussions are mainly about applying ideas, methods and techniques
within the specific, individual Iranian contexts of the participants.
Reflection
ITTP, as a context-sensitive project, is revealing how successful a blended model
of trainer and teacher development can be in the Iranian context. The project has
benefited from various features of the Applied Science Model, the Reflective Model
and the Modular Model. Moving from feeding to leading and showing to throwing
(McGrath, 1997) is one the major highlights of the training model.
In addition, the collaborative role of insiders and outsiders has significantly
affected the success of the project by developing learning or dialogic conversation
between Iranian Master Trainers and the international consultants. The VLE, as the
main platform for online communication among trainers and consultants, has been
shown to be an effective mode for CPD.
Meanwhile, the focus on loop input throughout the whole project is a strength.
Loop input, coined by Woodward (1986) is a ‘specific type of experiential teacher
training process that involves an alignment of the process and content of learning’.
(Woodward 2003: 301) Through successive training courses, Iranian trainers have
become more aware of process and its relationship to content, and of the process
options involved in training sessions. This has also encouraged reflection on the
balance between content and process among teacher trainers at all levels of
the cascade.
168 | Effecting methodological change through a trainer-training project Conclusion
The ITTP project is still in progress, but we have already seen significant successes
in the way that Master Trainers and teacher trainers are engaged and empowered
through the project. Twelve Master Trainers are running their own face-to-face
courses in-country. The number of courses being run varies, but on average the
teacher trainers deliver courses to 30–50 teachers a year. The average length of
their course is five days (c. 30 hours), but some have run longer part-time versions
to suit their participants’ schedules.
MTs are also providing online CPD for groups of teacher trainers through the VLE.
At this time there are some 100 participants logged on to the VLE. Ninety-two
Iranian teacher trainers have passed the assessment process and are able to
deliver the teacher training course in Iran. Two Iranian Master Trainers from the
initial Master Training cohort of 12 are about to deliver the next 55-hour face-toface
Master Training. Capacity building is happening in a real and measurable way.
We have been able to assess the impact of the training undertaken by MTs incountry
by the performance of teacher trainers at assessments. We can then
give feedback to Master Trainers in order to modify training on an ongoing basis.
Impacts on teachers have not yet been meaningfully assessed, and clearly this
will be of paramount importance in the final assessment of the success of ITTP.
As the final users of the project are the teachers and their target students, it seems
necessary to design a quasi-experimental or a correlational research project.
We hope that there are a number of strategies and outcomes in this project that will
aid sustainability. Surely the most important achievement so far is the development
of a large group of professionals who have become engaged in the project and
have shown a willingness to contribute to ELT in their home context.
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Contributors | 171
Contributors
Ferdows Aghagolzadeh, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Tarbiat Modares
University, Iran
Shahrzad Ardavani, Teacher of English, Tehran, Iran
Sasan Baleghizadeh, Associate Professor of TEFL, Department of English
Language and Literature, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Martin Cortazzi, Visiting Professor of Applied Linguistics, Centre for Applied
Linguistics, University of Warwick, UK
Hossein Davari, Assistant Professor of English, Damghan University, Iran
Philip Durrant, Lecturer in Language Education, Graduate School of Education,
University of Exeter, UK
Farinaz Fartash, MA graduate, Department of English, Tabriz Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
Elham Foroozandeh, Assistant Professor of ELT and Literature, Department of
English, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Forouzani, Assistant Professor of ELT and Literature, Department of
English, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran
Mostafa Hasrati, Lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics, University of Bath, UK
Julia Hüttner, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, University of
Southampton, UK
Lixian Jin, Professor of Linguistics and Intercultural Learning, Director, Centre
for Intercultural Research in Communication and Learning (CIRCL), De Montfort
University, UK
Shiva Kaivanpanah, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Foreign
Languages and Literatures, University of Tehran, Iran
Sepideh Khodakarami, MA graduate, English Language Education, Alzahra
University, Tehran, Iran
Sue Leather, Director, Sue Leather Associates, ELT Consultancy and Training,
Vancouver, Canada
Li Li, Senior Lecturer and Director, MEd in TESOL, Graduate School of Education,
University of Exeter, UK
Golnar Mazdayasna, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Yazd University, Iran
Alireza Memari Hanjani, Lecturer, Department of English, Eslamshahr Islamic Azad
University, Iran
172 | Contributors
Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini, Assistant Professor, Department of English
Language and Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
Mona Mohabbatsafa, Postgraduate Researcher, School of Education,
University of Southampton, UK
Gholam Ali Molaei, High School Teacher of English, Yazd, Iran
Khalil Motallebzadeh, Associate Professor, Islamic Azad University,
Torbat-e-Heydarieh and Mashhad Branches, Iran
Majid Nemati, Associate Professor, Head, English Language and Literature
Department, University of Tehran, Iran
Zohreh Seifoori, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Tabriz Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
Parvaneh Tavakoli, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, University of Reading, UK
Samaneh Zandian, Postgraduate Researcher, Centre for Applied Linguistics,
University of Warwick, UK

ISBN 978-0-86355-769-9
© British Council 2015 / E555
The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation
for cultural relations and educational opportunities.
The British Council’s objective in producing this publication is to provide an informed
overview of the current situation in English language teaching in the Islamic Republic
of Iran from the viewpoint of local practitioners and researchers for the enrichment
of ELT professionals worldwide. The volume, highlighting the themes of Innovations,
Trends and Challenges, consists of 13 chapters, covering language policy, syllabus
and materials design, methodology, and teacher and trainer training, with examples
drawn from the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education, and from public
and private sectors. The linkage between topics, levels and sectors provides a
fascinating mosaic of ELT developments in Iran.
The editor of this publication, Professor Chris Kennedy, has had a long and varied
career in ELT and Applied Linguistics as teacher, trainer, manager, researcher
and consultant in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. His research interests
include language policy, innovation, project evaluation and investigation of linguistic
landscapes. He is a Past President of IATEFL and was for many years Chair of the
British Council’s English Language Advisory Committee. He is an Honorary Research
Fellow at the University of Birmingham, and an Honorary Fellow at the University
of Warwick, UK.