Toward Designing a Model of Professional Skills for Iranian EFL Teachers

Recently, with the growing interest in teachers’ professionalism, lots of scholars have focused on different aspects of professionalism in teaching. One of the main aspects of teachers’ professionalism, which is related to structural theory and competence-oriented perspective, is teachers’ professional skills which is considered as a dimension of effective teaching. This study aimed at developing a model of professional skills for Iranian EFL teachers. To this end, a qualitative design was used. For the purpose of data collection, individual and focus group interviews were conducted. The participants of the study consisted of 25 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers who were teaching English at secondary level of high schools in Bandar Abbas, Iran. They were selected through purposive sampling because those teachers with more than ten years of teaching experience at secondary level of high schools were recruited in the study. To collect the data, first, the interviews were conducted. Then, the elicited responses were transcribed and codified according to Strauss and Corbin’s (1998) systematic steps of open, axial and selective coding. The findings revealed three major themes (interpersonal skills, principle skills, pedagogical skills), nine categories and twenty-seven subcategories. As an implication of the findings, EFL teachers are recommended to consider professional skills while teaching to improve their teaching as well as their students’ learning.