Reconsideration of Language Assessment is a MUST for Democratic Testing in the Educational System of Iran

Safari, Parvin

doi:10.1007/s10780-016-9276-8

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The educational system of Iran is based on the banking model of education (Safari, 2016) in which the format of language classrooms and school systems is primarily lecture-based or based on the “sage on the stage” model of language teaching and learning. This type of instruction involves information delivery from an authoritative figure to passive and silent students who, according to Izadinia and Abednia (2010), rarely show any tendency to participate in classroom activities.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although a reform has recently occurred in the language program of the ministry and communicatively based textbooks have been introduced into schools, teaching is still based on the banking model of education in which students are silent and passive and are accustomed to listening meekly to their teachers through the process of schooling (Izadinia and Abednia, 2010). It is also highlighted by Safari (2016) that teacher-fronted pedagogy is in conflict with liberation, equality, social justice, and democracy.…”

Section: Elt Education In Iranmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Proletarianization of English Language Teaching: Iranian EFL teachers and their alternative role as transformative intellectuals

Safari

2016

Policy Futures in Education

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In the field of English Language Teaching (ELT), attention has been shifted toward the alternative role of teachers as transformative intellectuals whereby transformation in teaching occurs from control and technical operations to criticism and intellectual reflection. This role enables teachers to focus on marginalized students’ lived experiences and worlds to transform them into active and critical citizens who are emancipated to develop their voices and question the status quo. Through critically examining the learning milieu that maintains injustice and inequality, students struggle to connect it to sociopolitical conditions in wider society, and eventually transform it to meet the desired ideologies and thinking. This paper attempts to scrutinize teachers’ role as transformative intellectuals and their challenges through the transformation process. Thus, the researcher used purposive sampling to select 26 teachers in four private language institutes of Tehran, Shiraz, and Yazd, Iran to adopt the role of transformative intellectuals based on theoretical principles and concepts of critical pedagogy. Semi-structured interview and an online focus group were used to collect data. Data analysis disclosed transformations and benefits as well as the challenges resulting from teachers becoming transformative intellectuals. The fruitful findings of this study are insightful, since this study is an example to show how language teachers can create transformation in the EFL context, change their fossilized role, and empower oppressed students within the institutionalized and oppressive system of schooling.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Elt Education In Iranmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proletarianization of English Language Teaching: Iranian EFL teachers and their alternative role as transformative intellectuals

Safari

2016

Policy Futures in Education

Self Cite

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“…Teachers believe that they can influence language policy making and be involved in the process of educational reform through the dialogic groups constructed with the cooperation of the communities of ELT teachers, language policy makers, and planners (see online supplement: Participant #22). The dialogic groups are based on the dialogic learning and shared knowledge in which all members are positioned toward each other (Safari, 2016b). For Flecha (2000), dialogic knowledge recasts educational settings into learning communities in which important relationships are shaped, leading to the creation of cognitive growth and greater educational and social equity.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teachers’ engagement within educational policies and decisions improves classroom practice: The case of Iranian ELT school teachers

Tohidian

Nodooshan

2020

Improving Schools

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Teachers and students are the main stakeholders of educational policies in the states; hence, the higher order policies, rules, and regulations must be in alignment with their rights, values, ideologies, needs, competencies, and peculiarities of each region and district. In such a case, the classroom practice will be improved and more promising outputs will be obtained. Iranian previous language programs failed to enhance students’ communicative competence and linguistic needs to survive at the international level; hence, an educational reform occurred to change the language curricula and English textbooks. A total of 86 Iranian English language teaching (ELT) teachers were selected through snowball sampling to find their role in the recent REFORM in Iranian ELT curricula and policies. Analysis of oral interviews and online focus groups data was conducted through Strauss and Corbin’s constant comparative method and illuminated the status quo of reform and policies, the marginalization of teachers as the sole implementers in language classrooms, and suggestions for teachers’ involvement in educational policies. These findings stress that a change within higher education policy makers’ attitude toward engagement of teachers within educational policy and decision-makings improves the classroom outputs.

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“…According to Farhady et al ( 2010 ), the programs of higher education in Iran implement a positivistic and transmission-oriented approach. As a result of following the mentioned approach in the Iranian EFL context, Safari ( 2016 ) considers learners as the mere receivers of knowledge from instructors conveying a vast amount of information. Therefore, integration of TEIs including WML, VEBL, and POL in the Iranian context requires a paradigm shift from transmission-oriented approach to technology constructivist approach, which is in turn accompanied with a change in the learners’ role.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of web-mediated, blended, and purely online learning on EFL learners’ writing achievement in the Iranian context: A comparative study

Dousti

Amirian

2022

Educ Inf Technol

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Reconsideration of Language Assessment is a MUST for Democratic Testing in the Educational System of Iran

Cited by 14 publications

References 37 publications

Proletarianization of English Language Teaching: Iranian EFL teachers and their alternative role as transformative intellectuals

Proletarianization of English Language Teaching: Iranian EFL teachers and their alternative role as transformative intellectuals

Teachers’ engagement within educational policies and decisions improves classroom practice: The case of Iranian ELT school teachers

The effect of web-mediated, blended, and purely online learning on EFL learners’ writing achievement in the Iranian context: A comparative study

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