Second Language Teaching and Educational Accountability in Iran

The intent of this paper is to make second language teachers familiar with the concepts and constructs of accountability. The extent to which second language teachers have effectively discharged their responsibility covers the notion of accountability. In fact, accountability is an umbrella term referring to the demand by a community for school officials and teachers to prove that money invested in education has contributed to measurable learning. Therefore, test scores can be used to evaluate the teachers and school officials to represent answerability of staff to others for the quality of their work. In other words, without accountability in second language teaching, language learners pass several language courses with high grades without being able to use the language meaningfully and purposefully. In education reform, accountability, which is holding teachers accountable for their degree of success in teaching, is a controversial issue and has become the hue and cry of economy-minded social reformers. Accordingly, the present article tries to provide a review on accountability in the second language teaching. Thus, this review sheds light on different aspects of accountability and its implications in reforming second language teaching in Iran.