English Teacher Education Programs and Professionalism: The case of Iranian Novice/Experienced Teachers

A key issue in language teacher education is what teachers need to learn in language teacher programs and how this learning impacts their language teaching practices. The seeds for teacher professionalism are planted and nourished during teacher education programs to develop independently after graduation from pre-service teacher educations. The purpose of this study was to investigate English teacher education programs and their effects on novice/experienced English language teachers' professionalism in Iran. The researchers used purposeful sampling to select 150 participants from five Farhangian University Branches in Iran (2016-2017). For this purpose, a computerized questionnaire was constructed and validated. A one-way ANOVA indicated that out of the four dimensions of professionalism-- professional development, reflection, responsibility, and ethics-- only two-- professional development and reflection-- were statistically significant for both novice and experienced teachers. The programs had a positive impact on teachers' professional development and reflection. The study has implications for teacher educators, developers of instructional materials, and syllabus designers in the context of Iran.