جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « teacher evaluation » در نشریات گروه « ادبیات و زبان ها »

Delivering supervisory feedback to teachers is considered a challenge in teacher education and evaluation. This study analyzed the rhetorical features and effectiveness of the academic commentary that observers write at the end of observation forms. The study aimed to explore the qualitative section of an observation form that is filled out by observers during classroom observation and obtain an understanding of macro and micro features, and how they are perceived by observers and observees through a questionnaire. For this purpose and on account of the Swalesian approach (2004), we gleaned 200 commentaries written by different observers across the country, examined the recurring rhetorical patterns of structure, and subsequently developed a questionnaire to elicit the effectiveness of these features in academic commentaries. The result revealed that as a review genre the extracted framework enjoyed a rhetorical structure generically representative of a common practice in characterizing academic commentary in the Iranian context, and in terms of effectiveness, although there were discrepancies, the majority of observers and observees were found to have shared concepts of how to establish rapport, present evaluation, and finalize the academic commentary.

Teacher Evaluation (TE) is a critical and controversial process in the teaching profession and formal education system. Effective TE requires both sound policy implementation and efficient processes, affecting the efficiency of the education system. To present a framework for research and highlight the constructs of TE, this study developed and validated a teacher evaluation questionnaire. To this end, seven TE components were identified after undertaking a comprehensive review of the literature and conducting interviews with domain experts on TE. Then a draft version of the TE questionnaire, consisting of 105 items, was pilot tested with 330 teacher evaluators, who were working for various English language institutes in Iran. The results, using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), led to a 90-item questionnaire with strong estimates of reliability and validity. The results also demonstrated that the questionnaire consisted of a six-factor structure of perception, method, system, content, purpose, and outcome of TE. The subsequent Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of the data from another 360 Iranian teacher evaluators, selected through convenience sampling, indicated that the six-factor structure of the questionnaire was statistically supported, meaning that the questionnaire’s detected constructs were not the result of random variance in the participants’ responses. The results of the study have presented a framework for research and highlighted the principles of teacher evaluation.

Advancements in theory and practice of Teacher Evaluation maintain that effective teaching is the most important factor in realization of success or failure of an education system. Therefore, any attempt to explore the dynamic and complex nature of teacher's performance is considered critical. In the same vein, this paper is an attempt to introduce a Framework of Reference for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (FRTEFL) at the threshold of I.R. of Iran; a local model aligned with global perspectives. To this end, adapting a qualitative meta-synthesis approach, all possible dimensions of teacher's performance criteria reflected in 17 High-stake resources were explored; scrutinizing the twofold mapping of both curriculum and evaluation standards. For the application of meta-synthesis, grounded coding and thematic analysis was carried out by two research assistants also fifteen teacher training experts participated in validation analysis. The output of meta-synthesis resulted in emergence of overall 6293 Grounded Codes, 1655 Themes, and 218 Super-themes. Based on the results, the framework contains 8 Domains, 35 Key Areas, along with their validation measures: Planning and Preparation for General Pedagogy, Planning and Preparation for Language Pedagogy, Planning and Design for Learning, Management of Learning Environment, Effective Instruction, Organizational Responsibilityand Professionalism, Socio-cultural Capital and Social Agency, and Spirituality, Morality and Theism. The proposed framework is believed to represent a localized framework of teacher's practice in the context of an Islamic Education System, provide considerable implications for enhancement of teacher's professional development, and to be a major step in validation of local and large-scale Teacher Evaluation programs.

Teacher evaluation and certification is a proper approach taken to assess teacher knowledge base and to guarantee that teacher candidates are qualified and have met particular teaching standards. To this end, teacher-education university (i.e., Farhangian University) of Iran recently adopted a teacher evaluation and certification policy, nationally called ASLAH, which mandates all teacher candidates to earn a teaching certification by passing a comprehensive exam. The purpose of the present mixed-method study was to describe the development and validation of ‘a written assessment framework’, as one of the requirements of ASLAH project, that would measure English teacher candidates’ professional knowledge and competency to teach English. The data were collected through a series of interviews with teacher educators and subject-matter experts (N=15), questionnaire surveys that involved 320 English language teachers, and test performance of 62 English teacher candidates. First, the study dealt with the development of the hypothesized framework that included items assessing teacher Content-Knowledge (CK) competency by virtue of nine domain-specific courses recommended by experts’ qualitative and quantitative data. The items were empirically determined for content specification and validity, item difficulty and item discrimination. An initial piloting of the newly developed tool to teacher candidates showed tests as valid and reliable instruments for measuring teachers’ CK competency. Perceived ‘fairness’, ‘consequences’, and ‘quality of the results’ of the present certification policy and practice were also explored from the eyes of all participants. The results showed that they were not negative about the possible test consequences and fairness. However they did not appear to be strongly positive about the practicality of teacher evaluation and certification project in the present context of teacher-education university. Policy recommendations and implications of the findings were discussed.

Performance assessment is exceedingly considered a key concept in teacher education programs worldwide. Accordingly, in Iran, a national assessment system was proposed by Farhangian University to assess the professional competencies of its ELT graduates. The concerns regarding the validity and authenticity of traditional measures of teacher's competencies have motivated us to devise a localized performance assessment scheme. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a performance assessment scheme to be used as a benchmark for assessing the professional competencies of ELT graduates of this university. To this end, three assessment tasks and rating scales were developed, piloted, and administered. Next, Haertel's participatory approach was employed to set passing standards for the assessment tasks as well as the whole assessment scheme. Analysis of the data revealed inter-rater and intra-rater reliability coefficients of 0.85 and 0.89. The validity of the assessment scheme was also confirmed by expert's judgments made, to a large extent, on the correspondence between the target domain and test domain skills. Based on the results, the proposed assessment scheme is rendered more efficient and reliable in comparison to traditional tests with regard to the following dimensions: a) higher degrees of reliability and validity of the assessment scheme aimed at the improvement of licensure and program development; b) stronger evidence for inter-/intra- rater reliability and consistency of scoring; and c) an optimized and systematic procedure for setting passing standards based on the consensus of expert's judgments. It is believed that further development of the proposed assessment scheme unlocks its potential to be used as a large-scale teacher assessment model for Farhangian University.