Contributions of KARDS to Iranian EFL University Teachers’ Professional Identity

Hassani, Vahid; Khatib, Mohammad; Yazdani Moghaddam, Massood

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ Department of English, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

² Department of English, Allameh Tabatabai' University, Tehran, Iran

³ Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Garmsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran

Abstract

This paper deals with the contributions of a language teacher education model by Kumaravadivelu (2012) known as KARDS (knowing, analyzing, recognizing, doing, and seeing) to Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) university teachers’ professional identity reconstruction. The researchers used purposive sampling to select participants. A KARDS questionnaire designed, constructed, and validated by the researchers was used to group twenty teachers into a more KARDS-oriented group and a less-KARDS oriented group. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the questionnaire was both reliable and valid. Pre-course interview, post-course interview, teacher educator’s and teachers’ reflective journals, and class discussions were used to collect data. After the pre-course interview, there was a treatment during which teachers were familiarized with KARDS. Then, Grounded Theory was used to analyze the data. Findings indicated that there were two big shifts from “uncertainty of practice to certainty of practice” and “the use of fewer macro-strategies to the use of more macro-strategies” in teachers’ professional identities in both groups. The changes were similar and/or the same in nature but not in quantity, and they should be emphasized and included in teacher education programs. The findings may drive teacher education programs, teacher educators, and teachers to welcome and embrace uncertainty and confusion in classrooms. Suggestions to reduce “uncertainty of practice” by teacher education programs and teacher educators are presented in this paper.

Keywords

References

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Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning

Contributions of KARDS to Iranian EFL University Teachers’ Professional Identity

References

References

Volume 11, Issue 23 - Serial Number 23
June 2019
Pages 127-156

Contributions of KARDS to Iranian EFL University Teachers’ Professional Identity

References

References

Volume 11, Issue 23 - Serial Number 23June 2019Pages 127-156

Volume 11, Issue 23 - Serial Number 23
June 2019
Pages 127-156