Abstract-There has been heated debate over the issue of learner autonomy in the arena of language education for the last three decades. To this effect, the present study intends to examine Iranian teacher's perception of learner autonomy and its desirability and feasibility in Iranian context. The beliefs and reported practices regarding learner autonomy of 123 teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) were studied via questionnaires (Borg & Al-Busaidi, 2012). The results showed that the majority of teachers had an acceptable level of understanding of learner autonomy, but in their view, no notable amount of interest in desirability and feasibility of learner autonomy was seen. In addition, the findings implied neglected aspects of practicality of learner autonomy among EFL teachers and consequently lack of impetus to make its practice desirable. Finally, this study concludes with highlighting the role of autonomy in teacher education programs and some implications are proposed.
Foreign language teaching enjoyment (FLTE) has recently been introduced as a broad positive emotion experienced by foreign language (FL) teachers, despite obstacles embedded in FL teaching. However, identifying its psychological outcomes - and the cultural specificity of these outcomes - has received scant research attention across different contexts. The present cross-cultural study aims to investigate whether teachers’ FLTE can predict and influence engagement and well-being in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context of Iran and China. A series of structural equation models (SEM) indicated that EFL teachers’ FLTE affected their work engagement and well-being in both Iranian and Chinese samples, with structural invariance tests confirming the group-level differences between Iranian and Chinese EFL teachers in the light of FLTE outcomes. The study provides insight into the positive outcomes of positive emotions in FL teaching as framed by the lens of Positive Psychology. In addition, a rare non-Western cross-cultural comparison contributes to the ongoing discussions in literature regarding the influence of cultural contexts on the experience and outcome manifestation of positive emotions.
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