An expert EFL teacher’s class management

The present research sought to investigate how expert EFL teachers manage their class and keep its discipline. To this aim, the existing prior ELT (English Language Teaching) research on exemplary teachers’ practices were reviewed and the typical class management strategies used were extracted. Moreover, 20 ELT specialists including teacher educators, university professors of applied linguistics, mentor teachers and language institute supervisors were selected through purposive snowball and convenience sampling methods, and were interviewed. Since they were directly dealing with teachers as trainers, supervisors, and mentors, they were considered as qualified informants. There were finally 4 themes and 3 sub-themes extracted from the qualitative content analysis of the interviews, which were presented in this paper along with sample extracts of the actual interview content. The themes included: expert teachers’ identification power, use of external control, use of preventive management strategies and monitoring student behavior. The 3 sub-themes of the second theme were: clarification of expectations, use of body language and establishing rules and routines. Knowledge of these themes and sub-themes can shed light on a key behavioral aspect of expert English language teachers in class. These strategies, if followed properly, can set good examples for novice teachers and those who have problem managing their classes.