Mahnaz Sho’leh - Language Department, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza Branch

Characteristics associated with good teaching have always been the interest of researchers, teachers and learners. However, fewer relevant studies have been conducted in the Eastern contexts. Since culture plays a significant role in the way good teaching is viewed, this paper aimed to explore this issue in Iran. The present study was an investigation to compare Iranian students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the characteristics of good English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher in the Iranian context. To do so, a total of 70 participants comprising Iranian teachers and learners took part in the current study. They responded to a 68-item questionnaire employing a 4-point Likert-type response key. In order to determine their views about good teachers’ qualities, descriptive statistics and Chi-Square were utilized. The findings of the study revealed that both teachers and students agreed upon the importance of the characteristics under study. Moreover, participants agreed that awareness of the Western culture(s) plays a relatively important part in English learning.

teacher characteristics, EFL, student perceptions, teacher perceptions