Iranian EFL teachers’ major personality types and teaching attitudes

2015 IJRSP – Volume 4 Issue 2

Author/s:

Ghorbani, Saeed*
English Department, Imam Reza International University, Iran (Saeed.ghorbani90@gmail.com)

Akbari, Omid
English Department, Imam Reza International University, Iran (omidakbari@imamreza.ac.ir)

Ghonsooly, Behzad
Department of English Language and Literature, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran (ghonsooly@um.ac.ir)

Abstract:

Research on teachers’ characteristics has been underway for over a century. In continuation of these studies, the present research study strived to explore Iranian EFL teachers’ major personality and attitude. Discovering the major personality types and teaching attitudes among Iranian EFL teachers, therefore, was the primary purpose of this study. Reviewing the related literature and becoming informed about other researchers’ findings in this area, personality types and teaching attitudes of Iranian EFL teachers were measured by using Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Foreign Language Teacher Beliefs Questionnaire. For this purpose, 79 English teachers teaching in 24 foreign language institutes in Mashhad, Iran’s northeast were chosen as the participants of this study. Distributing the two instruments among EFL teachers and analyzing the obtained data by means of SPSS software revealed that that ISTP and ISTJ are the most frequent personality types among Iranian EFL teachers and classroom management got the highest score among three subareas of teaching attitude scale. Study’s implications, applications, and suggestions for further research were all presented at the end.

Keywords: personality type; teaching attitude; EFL; teacher; Iran

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrsp.2015.1036

*Corresponding Author