Abstract:
This study investigates English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ needs and desires with regard to the in-service training courses (ITCs) programs in Marand, East Azerbaijan province, Iran. 21 EFL teachers at both junior (N=10) and senior high schools (N=11) participated in this study. The data concerning the participants’ mentioned needs and desires were gathered by means of a structured interview. The data on ITCs programs, i.e. methodology/pedagogical skills, language improvement, and linguistics, were collected through the ITCs programs list which has been archived in the Office of Human Resources in Marand’s Department of Education from March 20, 2000 to March 20, 2015. The results of the study indicated that methodology/ pedagogical skills were the most required component for participants, with the other two components, i.e. language improvement and linguistics, lying respectively in the second and third ranks. In terms of the participants’ desire as to the ITCs programs, language improvement was found to be their most desired component, with the other two components, i.e. methodology and linguistics, being respectively the second and third favourites of the participants. Checking the ITCs programs against the participants’ needs and desires revealed that the ITCs programs offered to them were somewhat in parallel with their needs, but not with their desires.
Machine summary:
com Abstract This study investigates English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ needs and desires with regard to the in-service training courses (ITCs) programs in Marand, East Azerbaijan province, Iran.
The reason why language teachers’ needs and desires should be prioritized in planning ITCs programs is that it is language teachers, rather than language teacher educators or ITCs planners, who 101 The Journal of Applied Linguistics and Discourse Analysis Vol. 2, Issue 2, Apr.
Specifically speaking, 57/15 percent of the participants ranked the methodology component as the most needed one to be included in ITCs programs, with 23/81 percent and 19/04 percent of the participants ranking language improvement and linguistics as respectively the second and third most required components.
99-106 In the following, the content of the ITCs programs (see Table 1) which were offered to both junior and senior high school English teachers will be checked against their needs (see Table 2) and desires (see Table 3).
To be specific, 71/42 percent of the junior high school teachers’ ITCs programs were allocated to methodology, the component which is mostly required by the teachers (60% of them), but of no interest to them (0% of them).
With regard to the senior high school teachers, the volume of methodology component (75/60%) in their ITCs programs has been consistent with their both need (54/54%) and desire (45/46%).
Specifically speaking, language improvement, though the topmost favourite component of the senior high school teachers (54/54%) and their second most required component (27/27%), was not included in the teachers’ ITCs programs.