Becoming an Effective EFL Teacher

In educational contexts no learning will take
place without the active involvement of the learner.
While in many fields the role of a teacher may be
supplementary and decorative, in learning a foreign
language, the dominant role of the teacher has long
been recognized. Over the recent years, there has
been some research into desirable qualities of
teachers in general, and of foreign language
teachers (including EFL teachers) in particular.
There has however been little work, of comparative
nature, where the views of learners and teachers of
EFL have been contrasted. This book, accordingly,
fills this gap by contrasting the opinions of EFL
learners and teachers on what makes language
teachers effective. The comparison indicates that
teachers and learners have significantly different
views in some areas. The work will prove fruitful
for both practicing and prospective EFL teachers
in understanding what learners expect of them and
what counts as effective teachers according to their
peers. Learners of EFL will also benefit by
knowing about the attitudes of their mates and their
teachers as to one group s expectations
from the other.

Autorentext

Homa Babai has an MA in TEFL from Urmia University, Iran. Her research interests include teacher effectiveness and intercultural communication. Karim Sadeghi, assistant professor of TESOL, has a PhD from the University of East Anglia, UK. His current research focuses on research evaluation and assessment in ELT.

Klappentext

In educational contexts no learning will take place without the active involvement of the learner. While in many fields the role of a teacher may be supplementary and decorative, in learning a foreign language, the dominant role of the teacher has long been recognized. Over the recent years, there has been some research into desirable qualities of teachers in general, and of foreign language teachers (including EFL teachers) in particular. There has however been little work, of comparative nature, where the views of learners and teachers of EFL have been contrasted. This book, accordingly, fills this gap by contrasting the opinions of EFL learners and teachers on what makes language teachers effective. The comparison indicates that teachers and learners have significantly different views in some areas. The work will prove fruitful for both practicing and prospective EFL teachers in understanding what learners expect of them and what counts as effective teachers according to their peers. Learners of EFL will also benefit byknowing about the attitudes of their mates and their teachers as to one group's expectations from the other.