Cross-examining e-mentoring vs. face-to-face mentoring: The performance and attitudes of the Iranian EFL teachers in focus

Abstract

This survey study aimed to examine the efficiency of a mentoring software used for e-mentoring Iranian EFL teachers by investigating (1) if the application of the mentoring software vs. traditional mentoring made any difference in the instructors' methodology of teaching writing and (2) the attitudes of the users towards the application of the mentoring software. In so doing, traditional mentoring and software mentoring were used for mentoring three groups of Iranian EFL teachers (N=30) teaching writing to three groups of learners. The teachers for Group 1 were mentored through traditional mentoring, the teachers for Group 2 were mentored through e-mentoring software and the teachers for Group 3 -the control group- received no mentoring treatment at all. The results of the observation checklists demonstrated that the mentoring style of the teachers in Group 2 had better instructors' methodology of teaching writing on average (G1: 18.16, G2: 57.8, G3: 14.13) and the results of the survey on the opinions of the users towards the application of the mentoring software through a close-ended questionnaire (the total average of mean score: 3.355) showed positive attitudes. The study concluded that the outcome of the application of the mentoring software was effective and helped EFL teachers match the mentoring process of the teachers in Group 2 by better results in comparison to traditional mentoring.