Investigation of the Iranian English Teachers’ Cultural Identity and the Perception of Language Attrition among EFL Learners in Online Courses

Online teaching programs in the higher education sector has increased dramatically after the emergence of Covid-۱۹, and with it, the issue of attrition has become more recurring worldwide (Boton & Gregory, ۲۰۱۶). On the other hand, cultural identity is believed to have connections with language attrition (Dasgoshadeh & Alizadeh, ۲۰۱۱). In order to explore this relationship and to see if there are ties of any kind, this study explored the effect of Iranian EFL teachers’ cultural identity on the language attrition among EFL learners in online courses. In doing so, a total number of ۷۵ EFL teachers with varying years of teaching experience as well as ۲۸ EFL learners contributed to this study. For instrumentation Labbaf et al., (۲۰۱۹) Cultural identity Model was developed into a Likert-scale questionnaire, along with a speaking test. The result revealed that Iranian EFL teachers totally have not low, yet not high cultural identity. Their cultural identity is below the average and desired level and they are less inclined toward their own cultural identity. Though there was a relationship between teachers' cultural identity and their student language attrition, it was not statistically significant. The results gained from this study provide a range of information and strategies that can be useful to English language teachers and educators regarding online training.

کلیدواژه ها:

Online Education ، Language Attrition ، Cultural Identity ، Higher Education