Elham Yazdanmehr; Ramin Akbari
Volume 7, Issue 15 , May 2015, , Pages 157-180
Abstract
The present paper seeks to investigate the cognitive abilities of expert EFL teachers. To this aim, the existing literature was examined and ten cognitive themes were derived which were further investigated through interviews conducted with ten academics, teacher trainers and exemplary teachers of the ...
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The present paper seeks to investigate the cognitive abilities of expert EFL teachers. To this aim, the existing literature was examined and ten cognitive themes were derived which were further investigated through interviews conducted with ten academics, teacher trainers and exemplary teachers of the field in the Iranian context. The ten extracted themes were attested by interviewees’ comments. They include: fast pattern recognition, selective attention, holistic perception, superior memory, fast information encoding, anticipation power, perception of teacher’s role, awareness of situation-specific class events, awareness of their knowledge, linking prior and new knowledge. These themes are further explained and discussed along with extracts of the actual interviews. It is recurrently reminded that these cognitive issues are just one aspect of teaching expertise in ELT and the whole idea is part of a model of expertise being constructed which consists of 8 factors only one of which is teacher cognition.
Ramin Akbari; Elham Yazdanmehr
Volume 3, Issue 8 , December 2011, , Pages 29-51
Abstract
The critical role and effect of teacher assessment in ELT has been ratified by researchers among whom are Darling-Hammond (2000); Knox (2002); Bailey (2006); Davison & Cummins (2007); and Blum (2009).Taking this issue into account, this exploratory study seeks to investigate the underlying criteria ...
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The critical role and effect of teacher assessment in ELT has been ratified by researchers among whom are Darling-Hammond (2000); Knox (2002); Bailey (2006); Davison & Cummins (2007); and Blum (2009).Taking this issue into account, this exploratory study seeks to investigate the underlying criteria of both recruiting and assessing in-service EFL teachers in private language institutes of Iran. To this aim, five of the most well-known and expanded language institutes in this country were selected. Their procedures for employing teacher applicants and later on assessing their in-service performance have been obtained, analyzed and discussed in this study. Interviews with the supervisors along with analysis of application forms, observation sheets and other relevant documents illuminated the procedures and criteria of teacher entry and assessment in the target setting. Findings are presented more in depth in the Results and discussion section.
