عنوان

EFL lecturers' perceptions of teacher effectiveness and teacher evaluation in Iranian universities

Number

TLets621466

Title Proper

EFL lecturers' perceptions of teacher effectiveness and teacher evaluation in Iranian universities

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Mazandarani, Omid

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Troudi, Salah; Robinson, Wendy

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of Exeter

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2014

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Thesis (Ph.D.)

Text preceding or following the note

2014

Text of Note

Teacher effectiveness research (TER), as a multifaceted phenomenon, is a seminal part of most educational agendas upon which a successful teacher appraisal system tends to be contingent. Whereas there is a wealth of research on teacher effectiveness in mainstream (general) education, there is a dearth of studies on it in second/foreign language education, thereby sowing seeds of doubts apropos of the extent to which findings in mainstream education can be applied to L2 education. A paucity of cutting-edge research in the Middle-eastern context is another missing piece of the jigsaw testifying to a need for further research on teacher effectiveness. Taking such lacunae into consideration, this study endeavours to inquire into EFL teacher effectiveness in the Iranian higher education context as its main objective. With this end in view, a number of research questions are formulated whereby the main constructs are identified. This study is aimed at investigating lecturers' understanding of teacher effectiveness and its pertinent appraisal model, and more specifically, delving into their perceptions of teacher appraisal in Iran. Measures of evaluation, opportunities of which lecturers can avail themselves to improve their effectiveness, and lecturers' ideal appraisal system are other areas which are examined in this research. In this study, a mixed methods exploratory sequential design is adopted to address the proposed research questions. Close-ended and open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interview are the instruments utilised for data collection. The collected quantitative and qualitative data are analysed with the help of SPSS and NVivo, respectively. The analysis of both sets of data culminated in the emergence of six major themes, i.e. lecturers' understanding of teacher effectiveness and the qualities of an effective teacher, measures of evaluation, opportunities and strategies conducive to improving teacher effectiveness, the Iranian appraisal system, non-teacher-controlled factors impacting on teacher effectiveness, as well as lecturers' perceptions of an ideal appraisal system. Following a myriad of ideas garnered through data analysis, a differentiated appraisal model informed by lecturers' voices is proposed. Based on the findings which provided evidence for some imperfections in the nexus between policy and implementation, this study concludes that there is still some room for improvement in teacher appraisal in 3 Iran. Important amongst others are better alignment between teacher appraisal and teachers' professional development needs, transparency of the appraisal, and use of all types and forms of teacher evaluation. The study brings to the fore further implications, conclusions and suggestions for future research which are presented in the final chapter of this thesis.

Mazandarani, Omid

Troudi, Salah; Robinson, Wendy

University of Exeter

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y