The differences between Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions and their instructional practices regarding the cooperative learning

Abstract

Nowadays, writing is considered a challenging task in many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) educational contexts. The purpose of the current study is to investigate Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions towards Cooperative Learning (CL) and their instructional practices regarding CL implementation in the Iranian higher educational context. To this aim, through mixed-method, the researchers used stratified random sampling and 30 English language teachers in Islamic Azad University (IAU) of Tehran were selected as the participants of the study. In order to gain general insight of teachers towards CL implementation in university context, they were asked to respond to a CL assessment questionnaire. Furthermore, a sample of six writing classes were observed to investigate CL implementation in the English classes. Finally, in order to gain a better insight regarding teachers’ problems about CL implementation in the university context, especially in writing classes, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 teachers. Results of the quantitative phase show that most of teachers considered CL as an effective strategy for language instruction. Additionally, they considered Promotive Interaction (PI) as their most favorable CL instruction principle. Furthermore, related classes were observed at three stages of writing. Result of the qualitative phase through classroom observation and semi-structured interviews revealed that teachers of IAU preferred to practice cooperative tasks in their writing classes.

Keywords

• cooperative learning
• english language teaching and learning
• teachers’ perceptions
• instructional practices