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Continuing Professional Development Strategies: A Model for the Iranian EFL Teachers’ Success:

Continuing Professional Development Strategies: A Model for the Iranian EFL Teachers’ Success: Throughout the past decade, evaluating teachers’ success has become a crucial issue due to the increased motivation on teacher accountability. In view of that the purpose of the present study is to determine EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ success in the Iranian institutional context based on students’ perspectives. More specifically, the present study surveyed any significant correlation between teachers’ practices of continuing professional development (CPD) strategies and teachers’ success. For this purpose, a CPD model was suggested and verified using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), to examine CPD factors contributing to EFL teachers’ success. A total of 316 English-major institutional teachers in Iran completed the CPD questionnaire. Besides, about 30% of their students, 828 students, are asked to fill in teachers’ success questionnaire, which intended to check students’ opinions on how successful they measured their teachers in teaching. Findings specified that practice of CPD strategies had a strong direct predicting power on EFL teachers’ success. It was illustrated that “updating” construct strongly affects both “collaborating” and “reflecting.” Moreover, “reflecting” moderately influence “collaborating” and “collaborating” intensely affects “decision making.” The results, specifically, highlight the fact that one to be a successful teacher in the field of EFL should be a good decision maker in the field too. Keywords EFL teachers’ success, teachers’ professional development, CPD model, students’ perspectives, PLS-SEM, structural equation modeling (SEM) Introduction Measures of teachers’ success have become a key research professional development to advance their instructional and policy issue as a result of the increased focus on teacher capability and that of the schools’ (Miles, Odden, Fermanich, accountability during the past decade (Kane & Cantrell, & Archibald, 2004). Accordingly, “If teachers feel better 2010). Moreover, growing concerns about the variability in about themselves, they will feel better about their learners; the quality of teaching and knowledge expansion led so their learners feel better about their teachers” (Bolitho, researchers to study for more rigorous measures of teachers’ 2016). success (Duta & Rafaila, 2014). Besides, providing an effi- Teachers’ success in the second or foreign language is the cient means of supporting and retaining teachers is crucial to theme that describes different constructs relating to whatever creating a quality learning environment for learners and a makes a teacher move toward improvement, which could be helpful work atmosphere for teachers (C. Smith, Hofer, considered as an individual difference variable that has been Gillespie, Solomon, & Rowe, 2003). Moreover, policy mak- recently studied by many researchers (Guskey, 2002; Malik ers gradually focused on enlightening the educational system Omar, 2016; Seyf, 2008). Accordingly, during the past through the application of school accountability measures that focused on teacher qualifications (Lau, 2004). Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e-Heydarieh Branch, Iran Thus, one of the pedagogical expectations in the educa- Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Iran tional setting is that teachers, to be successful, should be Corresponding Author: highly qualified. Research displayed the influence that effec- Mona Tabatabaee Yazdi, Department of English, Islamic Azad University, tive and qualified teachers had on learners’ learning (Berry, Torbat-e-Heydarieh Branch, No. 5 Jami Str., Sajad Blvd., Mashhad, Hoke, & Hirsh, 2004; Besharati & Mazdayasna, 2017; Lau, Khorasan Razavi 9186914347, Iran. 2004). Therefore, teachers need intense, high-quality Email: Tabatabaee.mona@gmail.com Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open decade, an increasing number of studies critically examined least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the traditional views of second/foreign language teacher edu- Amzat (2017) reported that providing motivations for teach- cation and discussed the need for a reconceptualization of the ing and learning by a principal had a strong effect on teach- field (Freeman & Johnson, 1998; Freeman & Richards, 1996; ers’ awareness of their students’ background, hobbies, Richards & Nunan, 1990; Schulz, 2000). The field has interest, and so on. pointed the need to create criteria for the content of language Some empirical studies investigated the paths that link teacher education with the aim of developing new possibili- CPD, teachers’ knowledge, and teaching practice (Banilower, ties and effective teacher educational models (Guntermann, Heck, & Weiss, 2007; Garet, Porter, Desimore, Birman, & 1993), which has been one of the most important concern of Yoon, 2001; Heck, Banilower, Weiss, & Rosenberg, 2008). educators, teachers, and trainers. Using path analysis (Garet et al., 2001) showed that main To this aim, teachers are supposed to be knowledgeable features of the Professional Development Program such as enough to effectively assist their learners in achieving their goals, content focus, and active learning had a significant relation- and to help the school run efficiently, which required schools’ ship with teachers’ knowledge and skills. Using a structural and policy makers’ constant support to continuing learning, con- equation model (Banilower et al., 2007; Heck et al., 2008) sistent with teacher continuing professional development (CPD). also found that teachers’ approaches in standards-based There has been a growing harmony in the literature concern- teaching are significant in the relationship between CPD and ing the features of effective professional development for teach- investigative teaching practice. ers. In a simple term, CPD can be defined as ongoing learning Moreover, in a study of investigating the relationship programs and approaches through which teachers advance their between teachers’ knowledge of subject matter (mathemat- teaching skills to ensure them to remain competent (Speck & ics) and their pedagogical content knowledge and their learn- Knipe, 2005). It is also referred to a “results-driven, standards- ing needs within a CPD program using SmartPLS, Tajudin, based” package that is “embedded in the teachers’ daily work” Chinnappan, and Saad (2017) stated that the results of path (Sparks & Bransford, cited in Jackson & Davis, 2000, p. 110). analysis showed the direct effect of subject matter on CPD, CPD concerns with the concept of “reflective practice” which mediating by pedagogical content knowledge. centers around the notion of reflection on what a teacher is per- To sum up, professional development of teachers is shown forming, as a critical part of one’s improvement process (Diaz- in the relevant literature in various ways. However, almost Maggioli, 2004). Moreover, Diaz-Maggioli (2004) stated that always main point of such studies is the understanding that CPD programs provide teachers with the time and materials to professional development is about teachers learning, learn- reflect together on teaching methods, and help them to share ing how to learn, and transforming their knowledge into their teaching experiences, and as a result, teaching will be practice for the benefit of their students’ growth (Avalos, effectively happened and developments take place. 2011). Therefore, as few models in EFL settings using PLS- It is also defined by Lambert (2003) as “learning opportu- SEM has addressed a blended model of CPD and teachers’ nities that can be found in collegial conversations, coaching success, the purpose of the present study is validation of a episodes, shared decision-making groups, reflective jour- practical model for EFL teachers’ success in accordance with nals, parent forums, or other such occasions” (p.22). CPD programs to provide a guide for teachers’ success, and A need for classroom instruction and learning-based prac- administrators who wish to conduct and implement teacher tice seems to be crucial in nonnative English or foreign lan- professional development programs. The model has four guage setting, which consequently, make it a pressing concern constructs for CPD and their variables together with the to improve the quality of teachers through professional devel- seven constructs for teachers’ success and their variables opment. Accordingly, as Riazi (2005) states, different private proposed; which form the basis for the theoretical framework and language institutions provide their learners with different for the current study together with the hypothesized model. levels of English teaching, however, not many of these lan- Gathering data based on teachers CPD programs provides guage schools have been successful in meeting teachers and valuable information for future needed educational packages students’ needs to learn English communicatively which help in reforming curriculum for major development. (Talebinezhad & SadeghiBeniss, 2005). In this regard, Leather Consequently, the study addressed the following research and Motallebzadeh (2015) in a study investigating the current question: teacher training programs at private schools in Iran, claims that the “major principles underlying such programs are based Research Question 1: What is a proper CPD model for on the EFL teachers’ and teacher trainers’ preferences,” and Iranian English language teachers? such curriculums highlight the improvement of good EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers. He also maintains that teacher training programs have little room for students’ or Proposed Model trainees’ needs and follow a trainer centered mode. Very recently, in a study of the effect of instructional lead- To examine any significant relationship between the desig- ership practice on teachers’ reflective practices using partial nated variables (i.e., Teachers’ success and CPD), a structural Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 3 Figure 1. CPD and teachers’ success model. Note. CPD = continuing professional development. model is suggested. For model specification, the researchers Literature in the area of teacher decision making has asserted hypothesized a path from “updating” construct to “reflecting” that educated teachers make fairly different decisions from the construct of CPD, which is in accordance with Gong (2008) way inexperienced teachers do (Breen, Hird, Milton, Oliver, & and Jiang (2016) who stated that teachers’ knowledge and Thwaite, 2001; Nunan, 1992). Rosenholtz (1989), and Louis their ongoing experiences, directly affect on decision and (1998) stated that teachers’ professional development is facili- reflection that they make in a diverse educational setting. tated by the level of collaboration and teachers’ decision making Learning new skills and knowledge can help teachers to be which is in accordance with Farkas, Johnson, Foleno, Duffett, reflective teachers in their teaching practice. Accordingly, and Foley (2000) and T. Smith and Rowley (2005). In view of Mok (1994) considered teachers’ ways of understanding and that “collaborating” construct was connected to “decision mak- how they progressed through reflective practice. The results ing.” Moreover, research showed that teachers know they displayed that teachers’ reflections and their ways of knowing should work collaboratively (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, were shaped by several factors, such as theory, practice, back- & Stiles, 1998; National Commission on Teaching and ground knowledge, and interactions. America’s Future, 1996; Wenger, 2001) and know that “com- Teachers’ sense of collaboration is one of the important munities of practice,” which involve working closely with skills that can be motivated by experiencing new knowledge groups of people who share a concern or need can lead them to and technology. In this regard, learning is described as a better teaching (Wenger, 1998, 2001; Wenger, McDermott, & social collaboration (Dooly & Sadler, 2013; Tanghe & Pask, Snyder, 2002). 2016). Moreover, it is stated that teachers and students suc- Finally, the researcher theorizes a path from “decision mak- cess that greatly depend on needs are not something which ing” to “teachers’ success,” according to Sarafidou and changes as fashions come and go; rather, it is continuing and Chatziioannidis (2013) who asserted that more participation of an acceptable process of building collaboration (Darling- teachers in decisions, regarding teacher issues, was connected to Hammond & Ball, 1997; Elmore, 2002). In addition, learn- teachers’ insights of better leadership in schools, and act as the ing processes, design, collaboration, and research are among strongest predictor of both teachers’ sense of success and job the standards which are effective for the development satisfaction. In addition, Seyf (2008) indicates being a success- (DuFour & Eaker, 1998; Stein, 1998). Therefore, another ful teacher requires having the ability to decide how to manage path from “updating” construct to “collaborating” construct the class and having the necessary knowledge on manipulating is nominated by the researchers. the appropriate teaching methodologies. Moreover, Ghaith and Besides, McKay (2005) declared that reflective teaching Shaaban (1999) stated that how successfully the teachers behave supports teachers in dealing with different educational set- and the methodologies they use in their teaching depend highly tings and helps them to collaborate with each other and on their ideology, their vision and mission. assess their knowledge to discover solutions that work well The postulated model is presented in Figure 1. Circles in their teaching environment. represented latent variables, while the rectangles are 4 SAGE Open Table 1. Demographic Profile of Respondents (Teachers). In case of teachers, purposeful sampling was used, that is, just EFL institutional teachers were selected. Also student Category Frequency % participants who fill out the “teachers’ success” questionnaire Gender were selected randomly from among each teacher’s class. Male 125 36.6 Data from the interviews and written comments were Female 191 60.4 meant to support the study’s data, to pursue in-depth infor- Age mation around a topic, and to allow respondents to elaborate 21-30 116 0.37 more reflectively on professional development programs and 31-40 162 0.51 needs in general. +40 38 0.12 Educational status AA 13 4 Participants and Setting BA 103 33 A total number of 316 Iranian EFL teachers participated in MA 159 50 this study, including 125 males (39.6%) and 191 females PhD 41 13 (60.4%). Of these teachers, 17% stated that their participa- Language teaching experience (years) ≤5 125 40 tion in CPD programs was compulsory, 35% voluntarily, and 6-10 129 41 48% both, depends on the situation. All the participants had +10 62 19 university education (associated degree [AA] 4%, bachelor City 33%, master 50%, or PhD degree 13%). The most participa- Mashhad 138 0.44 tion of teachers was from Mashhad by 44% participation, Tehran 97 0.31 31% were living in Tehran, and the other 25% were from Others 81 0.25 other cities such as Bandar Abas, Yazd, and Esfahan. Field of study Moreover, Table 1 represents other demographic information TEFL 155 49 of the teachers. English translation 63 20 Furthermore, about 30% of each EFL teacher’s students English literature 65 21 were randomly and voluntarily asked to fill out the “teach- Others 33 10 er’s success” questionnaire. A total number of 828 Iranian Level of language teaching students studied English in different language institutions of Beginner 24 7 Iran participated in this study to provide us with their per- Intermediate 97 31 spectives on their teachers’ success. They were 375 males Upper-intermediate 97 31 (45%) and 453 females (55%) and from different age groups Advance 98 31 ranged below 20 to above 40, the mean age was 19 (SD = Note. TEFL = teaching English as a foreign language. 0.9; Table 2). Instrumentation indicators of the hypothesized model. It means that, for example, latent variable “decision making” has three indica- CPD Questionnaire tors (survey item numbers = 12, 13, 16). In this study, a CPD model concerning four main constructs was proposed by the researchers, which accordingly the Method researcher-made CPD questionnaire was designed to find out the extent of teachers’ experience and knowledge about Study Design CPD. The validity of the questionnaire was checked by sev- The purpose of this study was to examine teacher opinions on eral ELT (English language teaching) experts. the extent to which professional development they received The questionnaire measures reflecting strategies (three during the last 2 years contributed to their own success and items such as “formal peer observation and coaching”), col- positively affected their classroom practices. To place the puz- laborating strategies (seven items such as “share new teach- zle pieces of four constructs of CPD and their connection with ing ideas and learning experiences with colleagues”), updating how successful, students evaluate their teachers, this study strategies (seven items such as “qualification program in EFL involved the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from such as a degree program”), and decision-making strategies two researcher-made questionnaires and open-ended ques- (three items such as “attend staff meetings to discuss the tions based on an ex post facto design. Mixed method research vision and mission of the school/institute”). Factor analysis undertaking in this study was done concurrently with a focus was used to organize items. A 5-point Likert-type scale from on quantitative side, because just a few of participants were no impact to a large impact was applied to rate the items. taking part in answering open-ended questions. Reliability of the questionnaire was 0.9, using Cronbach’s α. Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 5 Table 2. Demographic Profile of Respondents (Students). Teachers’ Success Questionnaire Category Frequency % Teachers’ success questionnaire was used to investigate stu- dents’ perspectives on a successful teacher. It is a 40-item Gender survey, which consisted of different principles for evaluating Male 375 45 teachers’ success on a variety of constructs, namely, (a) ELT Female 453 55 competencies (including six items such as “the teacher com- Age municates the subject matter clearly in front of the students”), ≤20 412 50 (b) teachers’ delivery of instruction/goals and accountability 21-30 363 44 (consists of 11 items such as “the teacher selects proper 31-40 50 4 +40 3 2 teaching aids beforehand”), (c) interpersonal relationships Educational status with students and colleagues (includes three items such as Under diploma 125 15 “the teacher creates a positive environment for student learn- Diploma 379 46 ing and involvement”), (d) examination/evaluation (includes AA 218 26.6 five items such as “the teacher uses the scores as one of the BA 93 11 major sources to check students’ understanding”), (e) class MA 10 1 attendance, management, and commitment (consists of four PhD 3 0.4 items such as “she or he always tries to be punctual”), (f) Proficiency attitude, motivation, and confidence (consists of eight items Average 226 27 such as “she or he controls the class confidently and has Good 337 41 enough self-confidence and autonomy”), and (g) teacher’s Very good 181 22 self-awareness (consists of three items such as “the teacher Excellent 84 10 has complete knowledge of individual differences”). Factor analysis was used to classify each construct’s items. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale from never to always. This questionnaire was designed in Persian to make Table 3. Internal Reliability of the Scales, Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficients (α). it easier for students to respond and, consequently, to increase the return rate. It took about 5 min to be completed. Subscale/ Cronbach’s Cronbach’s α analysis was conducted and an acceptable Scales constructs Items α value of .86 was shown. Moreover, its validity was con- CPD Updating 1-2-3-5-9-18-19 .80 firmed through the Rasch model using WinSteps 3.73 Reflecting 8-10-11 .75 (Tabatabaee Yazdi, Motallebzadeh, Ashraf, & Baghaei, Collaborating 4-6-7-14-15-17-20 .71 2018). Table 3 illustrates the Cronbach’s α internal consis- Decision making 12-13-16 .84 tency reliability coefficient of the scales. Teachers’ ELT competencies 1-2-3-4-5-6 .80 success Teachers’ delivery 7-8-9-10-11-12- .88 of instruction/ 13-14-15-16-17 Procedure goals and accountability A total number of 316 Iranian EFL teachers and 828 students Interpersonal 18-19-20 .78 were voluntarily asked to participate in this study to discover relationships any significant relationship between students’ perspectives with students of teachers’ success and the amount of impact teachers and colleagues receive by participating CPD programs. Each teacher then Examination/ 21-22-23-24-25 .80 receives the average mean of his or her students’ ideas on evaluation each statement. Moreover, the teachers were asked to men- Class attendance, 26-27-28-29 .89 tion (written or in oral form) any other ideas regarding CPD management, programs in Iran. Only 11 teachers (four oral and seven writ- and commitment ten) participated in this part of the study. Attitude, 30-31-32-33-34- .91 motivation, and 35-36-37 About 90% of the survey was done in a paper-based format confidence because generally, a 30% response rate for web-based surveys Teacher’s self- 38-39-40 .80 is expected (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 1997). Furthermore, awareness pairing received questionnaires of teachers and students through Google Drive was not easy. Therefore, researchers Note. CPD = continuing professional development; ELT = English language teaching. decided to conduct the survey mostly in a paper-based format. 6 SAGE Open Table 4. Total Effects. Collaborating Decision making Reflecting Updating Teachers’ success Collaborating 0.684 0.132 Decision making 0.293 Reflecting 0.340 0.233 0.045 Updating 0.601 0.585 0.745 0.113 Teachers’ success Table 5. Criteria for the Evaluation of the Models (Reliability and Validity). Loadings Composite 2 2 Items Minimum-maximum reliability score AVE R Adjusted R Collaborating 4-6-7-14-15-17-20 0.65-0.82 0.892 0.544 .782 .781 Decision making 12-13-16 0.78-0.81 0.842 0.639 .468 .467 Reflecting 8-10-11 0.74-0.81 0.833 0.642 .555 .554 Updating 1-2-3-5-9-18-19 0.70-0.80 0.873 0.501 Teachers’ success 1 to 40 0.61-0.88 0.986 0.642 .137 .135 Note. Loadings between 0.4 and 0.7 are acceptable; <0.7 is high. Composite reliability should be 0.7 or higher. R of .75 is substantial, 0.50 is moderate, and 0.25 is weak. AVE should be 0.5 or higher. AVE = average variance extracted. 2005). PLS-SEM does not assume the data as normally distrib- Data Analysis uted data, which is parametric significance tests cannot be Quantitative Analysis applied to test whether coefficients such as outer weights, outer loadings, and path coefficients are significant. As an alternative, Once the data was obtained, it was then entered into SPSS 16, PLS-SEM runs a nonparametric bootstrap procedure (Davison then various statistics for the data were calculated and sum- & Hinkley, 1997) to test the significance of probable path coef- marized using descriptive statistics techniques. To confirm ficients in models. the model, PLS-SEM which is a structural equation modeling (SEM), and used as an exploratory technique, was used. The software is used by the researchers as an alternative to SEM, Results as it works efficiently with a large number of indicators and The study’s model assessed the correlation among CPD pro- variables (Lowry & Gaskin, 2014), small sample sizes and grams (within four constructs of “updating activities,” “reflec- complex models that contain latent variables, series of effects, tive activities,” “decision-making activities,” and “collaborative and multiple group comparisons of these more complex rela- activities”) and teachers’ success by performing the PLS-SEM tionships (Hair, Hult, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2014; Lowry & approach using SmartPLS (3.2.4) software. Gaskin, 2014; Rezaei, 2015; Rezaei & Ghodsi, 2014; Shahijan, Rezaei, Preece, & Ismail, 2014; Vinzi, Trinchera, & Amato, 2010). Moreover, it is more fitting where there is not Measurement Model much conceptual theory. It is largely used to develop models in exploratory research (Ravand & Baghaei, 2016; Rönkkö & Reliability and validity of the proposed model were evalu- Evermann, 2013). ated and established by the researchers before starting to ana- The first phase in assessing SEM is validating the model lyze the structural model of the study. Next, the impacts by analyzing the measurement models (Baghaei & Tabatabaee evaluate the reflective measurement model, outer loadings, Yazdi, 2016). To this aim, the loadings of the latent variables’ composite reliability, AVE, and discriminant validity were items, the composite reliability score, the average variance calculated. The evaluation standards for the model are dem- extracted (AVE) and the discriminant validity should be mea- onstrated via Tables 4 and 5 and Figure 2. sured (Ringle, Sarstedt, & Schlittgen, 2010). Latent variables’ outer loadings examination specifies All variables of this study were considered as explanatory that loadings are between 0.61 and 0.88. Although, because variables (Figure 1). After bootstrapping analysis, the study con- removing indicators below 0.7 does not increase overall reli- sidered just indicators, latent variables, and paths that reached the ability, they were not deleted from the model. Moreover, as significance level of .05. Bootstrapping measures the distribution Table 5 illustrated, composite reliability scores and the AVE of sample by the use of random sampling methods (Varian, points out a good reliability and validity for the model. Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 7 Figure 2. Items loading, path coefficient and R . Table 6. Discriminant Validity. Collaborating Decision making Reflecting Teachers’ success Updating Collaborating 0.738 Decision making 0.684 0.799 Reflecting 0.727 0.500 0.790 Teachers’ success 0.211 0.293 0.226 0.801 Updating 0.705 0.537 0.745 0.245 0.714 Note. Bold values are loadings for each item which are above the recommended value of 0.5; and an item’s loadings on its own variable are higher than all of its cross loadings with other variables. As a final point for assessing the measurement model, Furthermore, normed fit index (NFI) or Bentler and Table 6 presented the discriminant validity based on Fornell Bonett index was reported 0.854 which is considered as a and Larcker (1981) principle. The off-diagonal values in the good fit. NFI or Bentler and Bonett index is one of the matrix in Table 6 suggest the relationships among the latent first fit measures used in the SEM literature which is pro- variables, which means there is discriminant validity between posed by Bentler and Bonett (1980). It computes the chi- all the components according to the cross loadings criterion. square value of the proposed model and compares it against a meaningful yardstick. The NFI values between 0 and 1. The closer the NFI to 1, the better the fit. NFI val- Structural Model ues above 0.9 usually represent acceptable fit. In addition, When reliability and validity of the construct measurements all of the indicators’ variance inflation factors (VIFs) were were confirmed, the structural model was examined to shown to be below 5.0, signifying sufficient construct observe the model’s predictive capabilities and the associa- validity. If any of the indicators scores higher than 10, tions among components of the proposed model. The results they should be eliminated from the study (Lowry & emphasized that the structural model and all the beta paths Gaskin, 2014). are statistically significant (p < .05). Moreover, standardized Finally, the model examined the RMS_theta which is root mean square residual (SRMR), which is defined as the defined as the root mean squared residual covariance matrix difference between the observed association and the model of the outer model residuals (Lohmöller, 1989). The RMS_ implied correlation matrix, was shown to be 0.08 which is theta weighs the degree to which the outer model residuals considered a good fit. A value less than 0.10 or of 0.08 (Hu & show a relationship. RMS_theta values below 0.12 indicate a Bentler, 1998) are said to be a good fit. Moreover, Henseler well-fitting model, whereas higher values indicate a lack of et al. (2014) introduce the SRMR as a goodness of fit mea- fit (Henseler et al., 2014). RMS_theta values in the current sure to avoid model misspecification in PLS-SEM. study was shown to be 0.111. 8 SAGE Open Table 7. Descriptive Statistics for Teachers’ Success Table 8. Bootstrapping Results. Components. Path coefficient SD t statistics p value Teachers’ success constructs/ Collaborating → Decision making 0.037 18.326* .000 components M SD Decision making → Teachers’ 0.047 4.092* .000 Class attendance, management and 4.12 0.044 success commitment Reflecting → Collaborating 0.058 5.873* .000 Interpersonal relationships with 4.01 0.044 Updating → Collaborating 0.052 11.459* .000 students and colleagues Updating → Reflecting 0.031 23.685* .000 Teachers delivery of instruction/goals 3.98 0.045 *The critical t value is 1.65 for a significance level of 10%, 1.96 for a ELT competencies 3.93 0.045 significance level of 5% and 2.58 for a significance level of 1% (all two- Attitude, motivation, and confidence 3.85 0.043 tailed). Teacher’s self-awareness 3.80 0.040 Evaluation 3.83 0.041 with loading of 0.305), however, the others (No. 7 and 15 in Note. ELT = English language teaching. “collaborating” construct, 2, 6, 9, 10, and 14 in “teachers’ success”) are not eliminated from the model, because elimi- nating them does not change overall reliability. Looking more closely to the result, it can be cleared that Target Endogenous Variance in reflecting construct, indicators 10 (discuss events in my As Figure 2 illustrates, numbers within the blue circles (the teaching with others to learn from them.) and 11(engaging in coefficient of determination, R ) explained how much the vari- informal dialogue with my colleagues on how to improve ance of each latent variable is being explained by the latent your teaching.) gained higher loadings than indicator 8 which variables. In this study, the coefficient of determination, R , is was concerned with “formal classroom observation.” It could .137 for the “teachers’ success” endogenous latent variable be concluded that teachers feel more improvement in their which specified that the latent variable “decision making” teaching practice while engaging in one to one or group dis- slightly explains 13% of the variance in “teachers’ success.” cussions rather than merely observing a class. In case of updating construct, the indicators loadings illustrated similar results. It means that teachers received Inner Model Path Coefficient Sizes and more positive impact by participating in “education confer- Significance ences and seminars” or “qualification program in EFL such Path coefficients, numbers on the arrows, explained how as university programs” rather than “visiting digital commu- strong variables effect on each other. Furthermore, the load- nities related to teaching” and “reading professional materi- ing of each path coefficients consents the researchers to iden- als such as journals, books, and thesis.” tify variables’ statistical significance. This is clearly in agreement with the high loadings of these The study’s inner model enlightened that “collaborating,” two constructs on collaborating construct, which highly empha- with a loading of 0.684, has an intense impact on “decision sized on “networking,” “collaborative research on a topic of making.” Accordingly, “collaborating” received almost interest,” and “exchanging teaching materials with colleagues.” moderate impact from “reflecting,” 0.340, and “updating,” Decision-making construct showed very close loadings 0.601. The inner model also proposed that “updating” has a regarding its indicators. All its three indicators (“attend staff considerable influence on “reflecting” component. Thus, meetings to discuss the vision and mission of the school/insti- “teachers’ success” endogenous latent variable was shown to tute,” “discuss and decide on the selection of instructional be influenced directly by the “decision making” construct materials such as textbooks, exercise books, lesson study,” and and indirectly by the three other variables. “work in small groups to come up with a joint solution to a Therefore, according to the path coefficient sizes and sig- problem”) illustrated high loadings which highlight the impor- nificance, which should be higher than 0.2 (Lowry & Gaskin, tance of decision-making concept in educational settings. 2014; Wong, 2013), the researchers can conclude that the Finally, one-way repeated measure ANOVA was run to paths among the variables are statistically significant. analyze and compare the significant differences in teachers’ rating on different components of teachers’ success. The results showed that Iranian EFL teachers’ ratings on different Outer Model Loadings components of teachers’ success significantly differ, Wilks’s Proposed model in this study demonstrated that all the con- Lambda = 0.61, F(6, 310) = 33.69, p < .000, multivariate nections between the latent variable and their indicators are partial eta squared = 0.97. According to the commonly used significant except for eight indicators which their loadings guidelines proposed by Cohen (1988), partial eta squared are shown to be less than 0.70. Consequently, one of these effect size showed a very strong effect. Accordingly, post hoc indicators is removed from the study (No. 19 in “updating” comparison using Bonferroni test indicated that the mean Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 9 Table 9. Effect Sizes of the Structural Model (F Square). Collaborating Decision making Reflecting Updating Teachers’ success Collaborating 0.88 Decision making 0.059 Reflecting 0.237 Updating 0.740 1.247 Note. Effect size of 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 indicates small, medium, and large effect, respectively (Marcoulides & Saunders, 2006). score of each component is different from the other compo- D. I have been teaching English for more than 20 years. I nents significantly (significance = 0.00 < 0.05). am absolutely familiar with these strategies. However, According to mean differences among different constructs the most important issue is not running and participat- of teachers’ success, the results showed that in “class atten- ing in such programs. The important thing is that we dance, management, and commitment” construct received are not able to apply most of the things that we get or the highest rating (M = 4.12, SD = 0.044). Moreover, the learn!! Society, culture, beliefs, and facilities are lowest score was shown to be for “evaluation” construct (M always concepts that make the way/this way/moving = 3.83, SD = 0.041; Table 7). toward reformat in our educational setting, difficult. In addition, bootstrapping procedure was run to study the significance of the path coefficients of the inner model (“t As it is discussed in the section “Results,” one of the items statistics”). The path coefficients are significant if the t statis- was removed from the study’s model because of very low tics is larger than 1.96 (using a two-tailed t test with a signifi- loading. This item was related to concept of the “mentoring.” cance level of 5%). In the present study, it can be seen that all During the administration period, the researchers came to the relationships are significant statistically (Table 8). this conclusion that many teachers were not familiar with the The model’s effect size (f ), showed a very small contri- concept of the mentoring. This was also one of the facts that bution of exogenous latent variable to the endogenous latent one of the teachers pointed in his questionnaire. variable’s R (Table 9). In our model, teachers’ success received an effect size of 0.059, showing a small effect; how- E. I think that CPD is started too soon in Iran! Or better to ever, even small effects indicate important model relation- say, Iranian teachers are behind the schedule to follow ships (Chin, Marcolin, & Newsted, 2003). what may happen in these courses or programs. Many of my TEFL learners cannot differentiate between “mentor” and “supervisor.” Then how can we expect Qualitative Analysis them to experience mentoring? At the time of administration of CPD questionnaire, the Two teachers complained about the fees for these courses researchers asked the teachers to mention (written or in oral or programs. Moreover, teachers highly agreed that the form) any other ideas regarding CPD programs in Iran. courses should not be obligatory. It is also believed that the Eleven teachers participated in this part of the study. Their time of the programs should be suitable enough to participation was completely voluntarily. participate. Almost most of the teachers agreed that they will attend a Furthermore, regarding Item 15, which is concentrated on CPD program if that program cares about both new theories “joint/team teaching,” a teacher stated that “our society and and practice at the same time. our people suffer from the absence of ‘cooperating-spirited’ people and teachers!” A. The important thing for me is that such a program could expose us to novel theories and concept while they are providing us with opportunities to experience Discussion them in the real world. This study is considered to be among the few attempts to B. These programs are mostly concentrated on repeated explore the relationship of different components of CPD and concept . . . They are not announced to teachers in appro- their impacts on Iranian teachers’ success. In view of that and priate ways (some teachers are not aware that such pro- based on the existing literature, a model was proposed by the grams are being held). Some of them suffer from researchers and tested by the application of PLS-SEM using appropriate materials or facilities to run the session. SmartPLS. The data has fitted the model greatly, which gains C. I believe that it’s better to hold these programs online, support for the suggested hypothetical model. because of different problems that may teachers Outcomes showed the significance and the degree to which encounter these days. Time is an important impeding CPD syllabi might influence teachers’ success in educational factor! 10 SAGE Open settings, through decision making, collaborating, reflecting, In addition, the study showed that decision making affects and updating. It was illustrated that collaborating and updating teachers’ success variable. Although the weights of this have the strongest loadings. Collaborating intensely impacts arrow, compared with the weights of other components, is decision making, which reveals that teachers’ decision making not so big, it is noteworthy and significant. This asserted that is in direct relationship with the extend teachers cooperate contribution of teachers in decisions, regarding teacher and with their colleagues. It is in accordance with Breen et al. teaching matters, acts as a significant predictor of teachers’ (2001), who pointed out that educated teachers make fairly sense of success. This is in line with Sarafidou and different decisions from the way inexpert teachers do. Chatziioannidis (2013), McKay (2005), and Farrell (2008). It Moreover, McKay (2005) and Farrell (2008) stated that team- clearly highlights the point that to be a successful teacher, work among teachers positively effects on the way they decide one should have the ability to decide on important issues and about important issues. the way to manage the class and teaching practices. Results also revealed that reflecting moderately influence Moreover, some of the participants asserted that for plan- collaborating, which is in agreement with Hagen, Loughran, ning and implementing CPD programs and courses, and to and Russell (2006, cited in Yanping & Jie, 2009) and Sharifi determine the applicability of the program, different factors and Abdolmanafi Rokni (2014) who believed that reflective such as need analysis, required material and facilities, an teaching can act as stimuli for working together and collabo- appropriate place for running the courses, and so on, should ration. Moreover, Cajkler, Wood, Norton, Pedder, and Xu be taken into account. Accordingly, it is expected that CPD (2015) stated that CPD courses inspire teachers to create a curricula provide teachers with opportunities regarding com- team and share their knowledge and teaching experiences, mitment, participation, and everyday accomplishments. and accomplish cooperative tasks. Thus, they can support Regarding the analysis of teachers’ success questionnaire each other in teaching/learning practices and as a final point which aimed at investigating students’ viewpoints of their create a greater success. Therefore, it is highlighted by the teaching success, the person-item evaluation showed that results that taking part in activities, helping other teachers to Items 7, 27, and 33 were the items most likely to be endorsed solve their teaching problems, and team teaching all can be (i.e., “my teacher has full mastery over the subject she or he dependent on the extent teachers involve themselves in is teaching,” “she or he always tries to be punctual,” and “she reflective activities. Besides, according to the qualitative part or he is respectful in students’ point of view”). Alternatively, of the study, one of the participants believed that cooperation the least likely to be endorsed items and so those that required is one of the strategies that should be strengthened among being cared more by the teachers were Items 11, 23, 13, and Iranian teachers to assists them in their teaching practices as 22 (i.e., “students receive frequent feedback about their per- well. Thus, it could be concluded that to be a good decision formance,” “the teacher tries to relate language forms, func- maker in teaching and educational settings, a teacher requires tions and vocabulary to contexts relevant to students’ to be more collaborating and reflecting. These are concerns interest,” “the teacher reviews with the students the home- that should be considered in planning, developing and imple- work they have prepared,” and “throughout the course, the menting teacher and teaching curricula. teacher uses/develops appropriate quizzes and tests to evalu- Furthermore, updating strongly affects both collaborating ate students’ progress and increase motivation”). and reflecting. This means that when teachers learn new These finding revealed that “class attendance, manage- things and try to improve their knowledge, they have a ten- ment, and commitment” is one of the scale’s constructs dency to team up with their coworkers and reflect more on which is easily endorsed. This means that teachers are really their teaching practices. That is, teachers move toward shar- successful regarding indicators related to their management ing their new knowledge by creating a social professional net- and commitment. However, “examination/evaluation” is the work and seeking each other’s opinions and advice. This is construct which its indicators less likely to be endorsed also in line with Tanghe and Pask (2016), who specified that (Tabatabaee Yazdi et al., 2018). learning happens through collaborating in social and cultural Finally, it should be noted that like any other research, the setting. Accordingly, CPD strategies focus on cooperative current study may suffer from some research biases, which activities among teachers (Matoba & Sarkar Arani, 2005). might have different kinds of impacts on measurement and Therefore, it could be concluded that teachers who are eager structural models (Schwarz, Rizzuto, Carraher-Wolverton, for taking part in collaborative activities are most likely those Roldán, & Barrera-Barrera, 2017). The most important method teachers who like to learn new things. In this regard, this fact bias of this study could be the transient mood state of the respon- should be taken into account that some new terms are very dents (students). Transient mood or halo effect are among biases novel for Iranian teachers. As it is discussed in the section that largely occur in quantitative educational research, where “Results,” some teachers were not aware of the meaning of students answer the provided questions emotionally and sympa- “lesson study” and “mentoring” or the differences between thetically, which can ultimately lead to imprecise assessment of “mentoring” and “supervising.” Thus, as an updating and the materials (Utami, Kusuma, Gudono, & Supriyadi, 2017). In reflecting strategy, it is nice to invite teachers to formal or this study, the students filled the questionnaires in an area with- informal meetings to discuss and practice these new topics. out the presence of their teachers, and they were told that their Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 11 answers remain confidential and anonymous. Moreover, the students. Future research could validate the instruments students were selected in a complete random order. within university settings and other contexts to generalize the findings. Moreover, administrators and researchers can consider the results of this research to work on planning and Conclusion designing any appropriate relevant courses for the proposed model. The EFL setting of Iran is ethnically, socially, and politically different from other contexts around the world (Safari & Declaration of Conflicting Interests Rashidi, 2015). All syllabi and resources are suggested by the Ministry of Education and teachers do not have much The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. choice except working with the prescribed materials. Accordingly, Ahmady, Changiz, Brommels, Gaffney, and Funding Masiello (2009) endorse that these curricula usually suffer from great implications for teachers and students because The author(s) received no financial support for the research, author- they do not involve teachers in active empirical learning ship, and/or publication of this article. through reflection, discussion, practical evaluation, and action research. At the same time, there is a need regarding Notes novel and better practical teaching methodologies and con- 1. The questionnaires developed and used in this study are avail- cepts for language teachers who, despite any shortcoming able from the corresponding author on email request. and demerits of educational setting, are supposed to regu- 2. According to the commonly used guidelines proposed by larly update their knowledge and skills. Cohen (1988), partial eta squared effect size is as follow (0.01 In view of that and to deal with the changing context of ELT = small, 0.6 = moderate, 0.14 = large effect). in Iran, the present study aimed at studying any significant effect of the proposed model of CPD strategies on Iranian EFL References teachers’ success. A number of implications were highlighted Ahmady, S., Changiz, T., Brommels, M., Gaffney, A. F., & by the results. The most important one was not large but sig- Masiello, I. (2009). The status of faculty development pro- nificant impact of teachers’ decision making on the extent they grammes in Iran after the medical education reform: A system- were evaluated as successful teachers by their students. It is atic and comprehensive approach. International Journal for confirmed the study’s model which theorized CPD strategies Academic Development, 14, 99-110. Amzat, I. H. (2017). 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PLS path modeling: Mona Tabatabaee Yazdi is a PhD student in TEFL, at Azad From foundations to recent developments and open issues for University of Torbat-e-Heydarieh, Iran. Her research interests focus model assessment and improvement. In V. Esposito Vinzi, on language teaching/learning assessment, effective/reflective W.W. Chin, J. Henseler, & H. Wang (Eds.), Handbook of par- teaching and teachers’ professional development. tial least squares: Concepts, methods and applications (pp. Khalil Motallebzadeh is an associate professor at the Islamic Azad 47-82). Berlin, Germany: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. University of Torbat-e-Heydarieh and Mashhad Branches, Iran. He Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, is a widely published researcher in teacher education, language test- and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ing and e-learning. He is also an accredited teacher/master trainer of Wenger, E. (2001). Supporting communities of practice: A the British Council since 2008. He has represented Iran in Asia survey of community-oriented technologies. Retrieved TEFL since 2009. from https://guard.canberra.edu.au/opus/copyright_register/ repository/53/153/01_03_CP_technology_survey_v3.pdf Hamid Ashraf, PhD in ELT from University of Pune (India), has Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). A guide to been a member of faculty at English Department, Islamic Azad managing knowledge: Cultivating communities of practice. University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran. He has worked on language Cambridge, UK: Harvard Business School Press. testing, critical thinking, and e-learning. Wong, K. K. K. (2013). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) techniques using SmartPLS. Marketing Purya Baghaei is an associate professor at the Islamic Azad Bulletin, 24, 1-32. University of Mashhad, Iran. His major research interest is in for- Yanping, P., & Jie, W. (2009, October). Research on reflective eign language proficiency testing with a focus on the applications of teaching and professional development of English teachers. item response theory models in test validation. He has conducted Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE International Conference on post-doctoral research at universities of Vienna, Berlin, and Systems, Man, and Cybernetics San Antonio, TX. Bamberg. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png SAGE Open SAGE

Continuing Professional Development Strategies: A Model for the Iranian EFL Teachers’ Success:

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Throughout the past decade, evaluating teachers’ success has become a crucial issue due to the increased motivation on teacher accountability. In view of that the purpose of the present study is to determine EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ success in the Iranian institutional context based on students’ perspectives. More specifically, the present study surveyed any significant correlation between teachers’ practices of continuing professional development (CPD) strategies and teachers’ success. For this purpose, a CPD model was suggested and verified using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), to examine CPD factors contributing to EFL teachers’ success. A total of 316 English-major institutional teachers in Iran completed the CPD questionnaire. Besides, about 30% of their students, 828 students, are asked to fill in teachers’ success questionnaire, which intended to check students’ opinions on how successful they measured their teachers in teaching. Findings specified that practice of CPD strategies had a strong direct predicting power on EFL teachers’ success. It was illustrated that “updating” construct strongly affects both “collaborating” and “reflecting.” Moreover, “reflecting” moderately influence “collaborating” and “collaborating” intensely affects “decision making.” The results, specifically, highlight the fact that one to be a successful teacher in the field of EFL should be a good decision maker in the field too. Keywords EFL teachers’ success, teachers’ professional development, CPD model, students’ perspectives, PLS-SEM, structural equation modeling (SEM) Introduction Measures of teachers’ success have become a key research professional development to advance their instructional and policy issue as a result of the increased focus on teacher capability and that of the schools’ (Miles, Odden, Fermanich, accountability during the past decade (Kane & Cantrell, & Archibald, 2004). Accordingly, “If teachers feel better 2010). Moreover, growing concerns about the variability in about themselves, they will feel better about their learners; the quality of teaching and knowledge expansion led so their learners feel better about their teachers” (Bolitho, researchers to study for more rigorous measures of teachers’ 2016). success (Duta & Rafaila, 2014). Besides, providing an effi- Teachers’ success in the second or foreign language is the cient means of supporting and retaining teachers is crucial to theme that describes different constructs relating to whatever creating a quality learning environment for learners and a makes a teacher move toward improvement, which could be helpful work atmosphere for teachers (C. Smith, Hofer, considered as an individual difference variable that has been Gillespie, Solomon, & Rowe, 2003). Moreover, policy mak- recently studied by many researchers (Guskey, 2002; Malik ers gradually focused on enlightening the educational system Omar, 2016; Seyf, 2008). Accordingly, during the past through the application of school accountability measures that focused on teacher qualifications (Lau, 2004). Islamic Azad University, Torbat-e-Heydarieh Branch, Iran Thus, one of the pedagogical expectations in the educa- Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Iran tional setting is that teachers, to be successful, should be Corresponding Author: highly qualified. Research displayed the influence that effec- Mona Tabatabaee Yazdi, Department of English, Islamic Azad University, tive and qualified teachers had on learners’ learning (Berry, Torbat-e-Heydarieh Branch, No. 5 Jami Str., Sajad Blvd., Mashhad, Hoke, & Hirsh, 2004; Besharati & Mazdayasna, 2017; Lau, Khorasan Razavi 9186914347, Iran. 2004). Therefore, teachers need intense, high-quality Email: Tabatabaee.mona@gmail.com Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open decade, an increasing number of studies critically examined least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the traditional views of second/foreign language teacher edu- Amzat (2017) reported that providing motivations for teach- cation and discussed the need for a reconceptualization of the ing and learning by a principal had a strong effect on teach- field (Freeman & Johnson, 1998; Freeman & Richards, 1996; ers’ awareness of their students’ background, hobbies, Richards & Nunan, 1990; Schulz, 2000). The field has interest, and so on. pointed the need to create criteria for the content of language Some empirical studies investigated the paths that link teacher education with the aim of developing new possibili- CPD, teachers’ knowledge, and teaching practice (Banilower, ties and effective teacher educational models (Guntermann, Heck, & Weiss, 2007; Garet, Porter, Desimore, Birman, & 1993), which has been one of the most important concern of Yoon, 2001; Heck, Banilower, Weiss, & Rosenberg, 2008). educators, teachers, and trainers. Using path analysis (Garet et al., 2001) showed that main To this aim, teachers are supposed to be knowledgeable features of the Professional Development Program such as enough to effectively assist their learners in achieving their goals, content focus, and active learning had a significant relation- and to help the school run efficiently, which required schools’ ship with teachers’ knowledge and skills. Using a structural and policy makers’ constant support to continuing learning, con- equation model (Banilower et al., 2007; Heck et al., 2008) sistent with teacher continuing professional development (CPD). also found that teachers’ approaches in standards-based There has been a growing harmony in the literature concern- teaching are significant in the relationship between CPD and ing the features of effective professional development for teach- investigative teaching practice. ers. In a simple term, CPD can be defined as ongoing learning Moreover, in a study of investigating the relationship programs and approaches through which teachers advance their between teachers’ knowledge of subject matter (mathemat- teaching skills to ensure them to remain competent (Speck & ics) and their pedagogical content knowledge and their learn- Knipe, 2005). It is also referred to a “results-driven, standards- ing needs within a CPD program using SmartPLS, Tajudin, based” package that is “embedded in the teachers’ daily work” Chinnappan, and Saad (2017) stated that the results of path (Sparks & Bransford, cited in Jackson & Davis, 2000, p. 110). analysis showed the direct effect of subject matter on CPD, CPD concerns with the concept of “reflective practice” which mediating by pedagogical content knowledge. centers around the notion of reflection on what a teacher is per- To sum up, professional development of teachers is shown forming, as a critical part of one’s improvement process (Diaz- in the relevant literature in various ways. However, almost Maggioli, 2004). Moreover, Diaz-Maggioli (2004) stated that always main point of such studies is the understanding that CPD programs provide teachers with the time and materials to professional development is about teachers learning, learn- reflect together on teaching methods, and help them to share ing how to learn, and transforming their knowledge into their teaching experiences, and as a result, teaching will be practice for the benefit of their students’ growth (Avalos, effectively happened and developments take place. 2011). Therefore, as few models in EFL settings using PLS- It is also defined by Lambert (2003) as “learning opportu- SEM has addressed a blended model of CPD and teachers’ nities that can be found in collegial conversations, coaching success, the purpose of the present study is validation of a episodes, shared decision-making groups, reflective jour- practical model for EFL teachers’ success in accordance with nals, parent forums, or other such occasions” (p.22). CPD programs to provide a guide for teachers’ success, and A need for classroom instruction and learning-based prac- administrators who wish to conduct and implement teacher tice seems to be crucial in nonnative English or foreign lan- professional development programs. The model has four guage setting, which consequently, make it a pressing concern constructs for CPD and their variables together with the to improve the quality of teachers through professional devel- seven constructs for teachers’ success and their variables opment. Accordingly, as Riazi (2005) states, different private proposed; which form the basis for the theoretical framework and language institutions provide their learners with different for the current study together with the hypothesized model. levels of English teaching, however, not many of these lan- Gathering data based on teachers CPD programs provides guage schools have been successful in meeting teachers and valuable information for future needed educational packages students’ needs to learn English communicatively which help in reforming curriculum for major development. (Talebinezhad & SadeghiBeniss, 2005). In this regard, Leather Consequently, the study addressed the following research and Motallebzadeh (2015) in a study investigating the current question: teacher training programs at private schools in Iran, claims that the “major principles underlying such programs are based Research Question 1: What is a proper CPD model for on the EFL teachers’ and teacher trainers’ preferences,” and Iranian English language teachers? such curriculums highlight the improvement of good EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers. He also maintains that teacher training programs have little room for students’ or Proposed Model trainees’ needs and follow a trainer centered mode. Very recently, in a study of the effect of instructional lead- To examine any significant relationship between the desig- ership practice on teachers’ reflective practices using partial nated variables (i.e., Teachers’ success and CPD), a structural Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 3 Figure 1. CPD and teachers’ success model. Note. CPD = continuing professional development. model is suggested. For model specification, the researchers Literature in the area of teacher decision making has asserted hypothesized a path from “updating” construct to “reflecting” that educated teachers make fairly different decisions from the construct of CPD, which is in accordance with Gong (2008) way inexperienced teachers do (Breen, Hird, Milton, Oliver, & and Jiang (2016) who stated that teachers’ knowledge and Thwaite, 2001; Nunan, 1992). Rosenholtz (1989), and Louis their ongoing experiences, directly affect on decision and (1998) stated that teachers’ professional development is facili- reflection that they make in a diverse educational setting. tated by the level of collaboration and teachers’ decision making Learning new skills and knowledge can help teachers to be which is in accordance with Farkas, Johnson, Foleno, Duffett, reflective teachers in their teaching practice. Accordingly, and Foley (2000) and T. Smith and Rowley (2005). In view of Mok (1994) considered teachers’ ways of understanding and that “collaborating” construct was connected to “decision mak- how they progressed through reflective practice. The results ing.” Moreover, research showed that teachers know they displayed that teachers’ reflections and their ways of knowing should work collaboratively (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, were shaped by several factors, such as theory, practice, back- & Stiles, 1998; National Commission on Teaching and ground knowledge, and interactions. America’s Future, 1996; Wenger, 2001) and know that “com- Teachers’ sense of collaboration is one of the important munities of practice,” which involve working closely with skills that can be motivated by experiencing new knowledge groups of people who share a concern or need can lead them to and technology. In this regard, learning is described as a better teaching (Wenger, 1998, 2001; Wenger, McDermott, & social collaboration (Dooly & Sadler, 2013; Tanghe & Pask, Snyder, 2002). 2016). Moreover, it is stated that teachers and students suc- Finally, the researcher theorizes a path from “decision mak- cess that greatly depend on needs are not something which ing” to “teachers’ success,” according to Sarafidou and changes as fashions come and go; rather, it is continuing and Chatziioannidis (2013) who asserted that more participation of an acceptable process of building collaboration (Darling- teachers in decisions, regarding teacher issues, was connected to Hammond & Ball, 1997; Elmore, 2002). In addition, learn- teachers’ insights of better leadership in schools, and act as the ing processes, design, collaboration, and research are among strongest predictor of both teachers’ sense of success and job the standards which are effective for the development satisfaction. In addition, Seyf (2008) indicates being a success- (DuFour & Eaker, 1998; Stein, 1998). Therefore, another ful teacher requires having the ability to decide how to manage path from “updating” construct to “collaborating” construct the class and having the necessary knowledge on manipulating is nominated by the researchers. the appropriate teaching methodologies. Moreover, Ghaith and Besides, McKay (2005) declared that reflective teaching Shaaban (1999) stated that how successfully the teachers behave supports teachers in dealing with different educational set- and the methodologies they use in their teaching depend highly tings and helps them to collaborate with each other and on their ideology, their vision and mission. assess their knowledge to discover solutions that work well The postulated model is presented in Figure 1. Circles in their teaching environment. represented latent variables, while the rectangles are 4 SAGE Open Table 1. Demographic Profile of Respondents (Teachers). In case of teachers, purposeful sampling was used, that is, just EFL institutional teachers were selected. Also student Category Frequency % participants who fill out the “teachers’ success” questionnaire Gender were selected randomly from among each teacher’s class. Male 125 36.6 Data from the interviews and written comments were Female 191 60.4 meant to support the study’s data, to pursue in-depth infor- Age mation around a topic, and to allow respondents to elaborate 21-30 116 0.37 more reflectively on professional development programs and 31-40 162 0.51 needs in general. +40 38 0.12 Educational status AA 13 4 Participants and Setting BA 103 33 A total number of 316 Iranian EFL teachers participated in MA 159 50 this study, including 125 males (39.6%) and 191 females PhD 41 13 (60.4%). Of these teachers, 17% stated that their participa- Language teaching experience (years) ≤5 125 40 tion in CPD programs was compulsory, 35% voluntarily, and 6-10 129 41 48% both, depends on the situation. All the participants had +10 62 19 university education (associated degree [AA] 4%, bachelor City 33%, master 50%, or PhD degree 13%). The most participa- Mashhad 138 0.44 tion of teachers was from Mashhad by 44% participation, Tehran 97 0.31 31% were living in Tehran, and the other 25% were from Others 81 0.25 other cities such as Bandar Abas, Yazd, and Esfahan. Field of study Moreover, Table 1 represents other demographic information TEFL 155 49 of the teachers. English translation 63 20 Furthermore, about 30% of each EFL teacher’s students English literature 65 21 were randomly and voluntarily asked to fill out the “teach- Others 33 10 er’s success” questionnaire. A total number of 828 Iranian Level of language teaching students studied English in different language institutions of Beginner 24 7 Iran participated in this study to provide us with their per- Intermediate 97 31 spectives on their teachers’ success. They were 375 males Upper-intermediate 97 31 (45%) and 453 females (55%) and from different age groups Advance 98 31 ranged below 20 to above 40, the mean age was 19 (SD = Note. TEFL = teaching English as a foreign language. 0.9; Table 2). Instrumentation indicators of the hypothesized model. It means that, for example, latent variable “decision making” has three indica- CPD Questionnaire tors (survey item numbers = 12, 13, 16). In this study, a CPD model concerning four main constructs was proposed by the researchers, which accordingly the Method researcher-made CPD questionnaire was designed to find out the extent of teachers’ experience and knowledge about Study Design CPD. The validity of the questionnaire was checked by sev- The purpose of this study was to examine teacher opinions on eral ELT (English language teaching) experts. the extent to which professional development they received The questionnaire measures reflecting strategies (three during the last 2 years contributed to their own success and items such as “formal peer observation and coaching”), col- positively affected their classroom practices. To place the puz- laborating strategies (seven items such as “share new teach- zle pieces of four constructs of CPD and their connection with ing ideas and learning experiences with colleagues”), updating how successful, students evaluate their teachers, this study strategies (seven items such as “qualification program in EFL involved the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from such as a degree program”), and decision-making strategies two researcher-made questionnaires and open-ended ques- (three items such as “attend staff meetings to discuss the tions based on an ex post facto design. Mixed method research vision and mission of the school/institute”). Factor analysis undertaking in this study was done concurrently with a focus was used to organize items. A 5-point Likert-type scale from on quantitative side, because just a few of participants were no impact to a large impact was applied to rate the items. taking part in answering open-ended questions. Reliability of the questionnaire was 0.9, using Cronbach’s α. Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 5 Table 2. Demographic Profile of Respondents (Students). Teachers’ Success Questionnaire Category Frequency % Teachers’ success questionnaire was used to investigate stu- dents’ perspectives on a successful teacher. It is a 40-item Gender survey, which consisted of different principles for evaluating Male 375 45 teachers’ success on a variety of constructs, namely, (a) ELT Female 453 55 competencies (including six items such as “the teacher com- Age municates the subject matter clearly in front of the students”), ≤20 412 50 (b) teachers’ delivery of instruction/goals and accountability 21-30 363 44 (consists of 11 items such as “the teacher selects proper 31-40 50 4 +40 3 2 teaching aids beforehand”), (c) interpersonal relationships Educational status with students and colleagues (includes three items such as Under diploma 125 15 “the teacher creates a positive environment for student learn- Diploma 379 46 ing and involvement”), (d) examination/evaluation (includes AA 218 26.6 five items such as “the teacher uses the scores as one of the BA 93 11 major sources to check students’ understanding”), (e) class MA 10 1 attendance, management, and commitment (consists of four PhD 3 0.4 items such as “she or he always tries to be punctual”), (f) Proficiency attitude, motivation, and confidence (consists of eight items Average 226 27 such as “she or he controls the class confidently and has Good 337 41 enough self-confidence and autonomy”), and (g) teacher’s Very good 181 22 self-awareness (consists of three items such as “the teacher Excellent 84 10 has complete knowledge of individual differences”). Factor analysis was used to classify each construct’s items. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale from never to always. This questionnaire was designed in Persian to make Table 3. Internal Reliability of the Scales, Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficients (α). it easier for students to respond and, consequently, to increase the return rate. It took about 5 min to be completed. Subscale/ Cronbach’s Cronbach’s α analysis was conducted and an acceptable Scales constructs Items α value of .86 was shown. Moreover, its validity was con- CPD Updating 1-2-3-5-9-18-19 .80 firmed through the Rasch model using WinSteps 3.73 Reflecting 8-10-11 .75 (Tabatabaee Yazdi, Motallebzadeh, Ashraf, & Baghaei, Collaborating 4-6-7-14-15-17-20 .71 2018). Table 3 illustrates the Cronbach’s α internal consis- Decision making 12-13-16 .84 tency reliability coefficient of the scales. Teachers’ ELT competencies 1-2-3-4-5-6 .80 success Teachers’ delivery 7-8-9-10-11-12- .88 of instruction/ 13-14-15-16-17 Procedure goals and accountability A total number of 316 Iranian EFL teachers and 828 students Interpersonal 18-19-20 .78 were voluntarily asked to participate in this study to discover relationships any significant relationship between students’ perspectives with students of teachers’ success and the amount of impact teachers and colleagues receive by participating CPD programs. Each teacher then Examination/ 21-22-23-24-25 .80 receives the average mean of his or her students’ ideas on evaluation each statement. Moreover, the teachers were asked to men- Class attendance, 26-27-28-29 .89 tion (written or in oral form) any other ideas regarding CPD management, programs in Iran. Only 11 teachers (four oral and seven writ- and commitment ten) participated in this part of the study. Attitude, 30-31-32-33-34- .91 motivation, and 35-36-37 About 90% of the survey was done in a paper-based format confidence because generally, a 30% response rate for web-based surveys Teacher’s self- 38-39-40 .80 is expected (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 1997). Furthermore, awareness pairing received questionnaires of teachers and students through Google Drive was not easy. Therefore, researchers Note. CPD = continuing professional development; ELT = English language teaching. decided to conduct the survey mostly in a paper-based format. 6 SAGE Open Table 4. Total Effects. Collaborating Decision making Reflecting Updating Teachers’ success Collaborating 0.684 0.132 Decision making 0.293 Reflecting 0.340 0.233 0.045 Updating 0.601 0.585 0.745 0.113 Teachers’ success Table 5. Criteria for the Evaluation of the Models (Reliability and Validity). Loadings Composite 2 2 Items Minimum-maximum reliability score AVE R Adjusted R Collaborating 4-6-7-14-15-17-20 0.65-0.82 0.892 0.544 .782 .781 Decision making 12-13-16 0.78-0.81 0.842 0.639 .468 .467 Reflecting 8-10-11 0.74-0.81 0.833 0.642 .555 .554 Updating 1-2-3-5-9-18-19 0.70-0.80 0.873 0.501 Teachers’ success 1 to 40 0.61-0.88 0.986 0.642 .137 .135 Note. Loadings between 0.4 and 0.7 are acceptable; <0.7 is high. Composite reliability should be 0.7 or higher. R of .75 is substantial, 0.50 is moderate, and 0.25 is weak. AVE should be 0.5 or higher. AVE = average variance extracted. 2005). PLS-SEM does not assume the data as normally distrib- Data Analysis uted data, which is parametric significance tests cannot be Quantitative Analysis applied to test whether coefficients such as outer weights, outer loadings, and path coefficients are significant. As an alternative, Once the data was obtained, it was then entered into SPSS 16, PLS-SEM runs a nonparametric bootstrap procedure (Davison then various statistics for the data were calculated and sum- & Hinkley, 1997) to test the significance of probable path coef- marized using descriptive statistics techniques. To confirm ficients in models. the model, PLS-SEM which is a structural equation modeling (SEM), and used as an exploratory technique, was used. The software is used by the researchers as an alternative to SEM, Results as it works efficiently with a large number of indicators and The study’s model assessed the correlation among CPD pro- variables (Lowry & Gaskin, 2014), small sample sizes and grams (within four constructs of “updating activities,” “reflec- complex models that contain latent variables, series of effects, tive activities,” “decision-making activities,” and “collaborative and multiple group comparisons of these more complex rela- activities”) and teachers’ success by performing the PLS-SEM tionships (Hair, Hult, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2014; Lowry & approach using SmartPLS (3.2.4) software. Gaskin, 2014; Rezaei, 2015; Rezaei & Ghodsi, 2014; Shahijan, Rezaei, Preece, & Ismail, 2014; Vinzi, Trinchera, & Amato, 2010). Moreover, it is more fitting where there is not Measurement Model much conceptual theory. It is largely used to develop models in exploratory research (Ravand & Baghaei, 2016; Rönkkö & Reliability and validity of the proposed model were evalu- Evermann, 2013). ated and established by the researchers before starting to ana- The first phase in assessing SEM is validating the model lyze the structural model of the study. Next, the impacts by analyzing the measurement models (Baghaei & Tabatabaee evaluate the reflective measurement model, outer loadings, Yazdi, 2016). To this aim, the loadings of the latent variables’ composite reliability, AVE, and discriminant validity were items, the composite reliability score, the average variance calculated. The evaluation standards for the model are dem- extracted (AVE) and the discriminant validity should be mea- onstrated via Tables 4 and 5 and Figure 2. sured (Ringle, Sarstedt, & Schlittgen, 2010). Latent variables’ outer loadings examination specifies All variables of this study were considered as explanatory that loadings are between 0.61 and 0.88. Although, because variables (Figure 1). After bootstrapping analysis, the study con- removing indicators below 0.7 does not increase overall reli- sidered just indicators, latent variables, and paths that reached the ability, they were not deleted from the model. Moreover, as significance level of .05. Bootstrapping measures the distribution Table 5 illustrated, composite reliability scores and the AVE of sample by the use of random sampling methods (Varian, points out a good reliability and validity for the model. Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 7 Figure 2. Items loading, path coefficient and R . Table 6. Discriminant Validity. Collaborating Decision making Reflecting Teachers’ success Updating Collaborating 0.738 Decision making 0.684 0.799 Reflecting 0.727 0.500 0.790 Teachers’ success 0.211 0.293 0.226 0.801 Updating 0.705 0.537 0.745 0.245 0.714 Note. Bold values are loadings for each item which are above the recommended value of 0.5; and an item’s loadings on its own variable are higher than all of its cross loadings with other variables. As a final point for assessing the measurement model, Furthermore, normed fit index (NFI) or Bentler and Table 6 presented the discriminant validity based on Fornell Bonett index was reported 0.854 which is considered as a and Larcker (1981) principle. The off-diagonal values in the good fit. NFI or Bentler and Bonett index is one of the matrix in Table 6 suggest the relationships among the latent first fit measures used in the SEM literature which is pro- variables, which means there is discriminant validity between posed by Bentler and Bonett (1980). It computes the chi- all the components according to the cross loadings criterion. square value of the proposed model and compares it against a meaningful yardstick. The NFI values between 0 and 1. The closer the NFI to 1, the better the fit. NFI val- Structural Model ues above 0.9 usually represent acceptable fit. In addition, When reliability and validity of the construct measurements all of the indicators’ variance inflation factors (VIFs) were were confirmed, the structural model was examined to shown to be below 5.0, signifying sufficient construct observe the model’s predictive capabilities and the associa- validity. If any of the indicators scores higher than 10, tions among components of the proposed model. The results they should be eliminated from the study (Lowry & emphasized that the structural model and all the beta paths Gaskin, 2014). are statistically significant (p < .05). Moreover, standardized Finally, the model examined the RMS_theta which is root mean square residual (SRMR), which is defined as the defined as the root mean squared residual covariance matrix difference between the observed association and the model of the outer model residuals (Lohmöller, 1989). The RMS_ implied correlation matrix, was shown to be 0.08 which is theta weighs the degree to which the outer model residuals considered a good fit. A value less than 0.10 or of 0.08 (Hu & show a relationship. RMS_theta values below 0.12 indicate a Bentler, 1998) are said to be a good fit. Moreover, Henseler well-fitting model, whereas higher values indicate a lack of et al. (2014) introduce the SRMR as a goodness of fit mea- fit (Henseler et al., 2014). RMS_theta values in the current sure to avoid model misspecification in PLS-SEM. study was shown to be 0.111. 8 SAGE Open Table 7. Descriptive Statistics for Teachers’ Success Table 8. Bootstrapping Results. Components. Path coefficient SD t statistics p value Teachers’ success constructs/ Collaborating → Decision making 0.037 18.326* .000 components M SD Decision making → Teachers’ 0.047 4.092* .000 Class attendance, management and 4.12 0.044 success commitment Reflecting → Collaborating 0.058 5.873* .000 Interpersonal relationships with 4.01 0.044 Updating → Collaborating 0.052 11.459* .000 students and colleagues Updating → Reflecting 0.031 23.685* .000 Teachers delivery of instruction/goals 3.98 0.045 *The critical t value is 1.65 for a significance level of 10%, 1.96 for a ELT competencies 3.93 0.045 significance level of 5% and 2.58 for a significance level of 1% (all two- Attitude, motivation, and confidence 3.85 0.043 tailed). Teacher’s self-awareness 3.80 0.040 Evaluation 3.83 0.041 with loading of 0.305), however, the others (No. 7 and 15 in Note. ELT = English language teaching. “collaborating” construct, 2, 6, 9, 10, and 14 in “teachers’ success”) are not eliminated from the model, because elimi- nating them does not change overall reliability. Looking more closely to the result, it can be cleared that Target Endogenous Variance in reflecting construct, indicators 10 (discuss events in my As Figure 2 illustrates, numbers within the blue circles (the teaching with others to learn from them.) and 11(engaging in coefficient of determination, R ) explained how much the vari- informal dialogue with my colleagues on how to improve ance of each latent variable is being explained by the latent your teaching.) gained higher loadings than indicator 8 which variables. In this study, the coefficient of determination, R , is was concerned with “formal classroom observation.” It could .137 for the “teachers’ success” endogenous latent variable be concluded that teachers feel more improvement in their which specified that the latent variable “decision making” teaching practice while engaging in one to one or group dis- slightly explains 13% of the variance in “teachers’ success.” cussions rather than merely observing a class. In case of updating construct, the indicators loadings illustrated similar results. It means that teachers received Inner Model Path Coefficient Sizes and more positive impact by participating in “education confer- Significance ences and seminars” or “qualification program in EFL such Path coefficients, numbers on the arrows, explained how as university programs” rather than “visiting digital commu- strong variables effect on each other. Furthermore, the load- nities related to teaching” and “reading professional materi- ing of each path coefficients consents the researchers to iden- als such as journals, books, and thesis.” tify variables’ statistical significance. This is clearly in agreement with the high loadings of these The study’s inner model enlightened that “collaborating,” two constructs on collaborating construct, which highly empha- with a loading of 0.684, has an intense impact on “decision sized on “networking,” “collaborative research on a topic of making.” Accordingly, “collaborating” received almost interest,” and “exchanging teaching materials with colleagues.” moderate impact from “reflecting,” 0.340, and “updating,” Decision-making construct showed very close loadings 0.601. The inner model also proposed that “updating” has a regarding its indicators. All its three indicators (“attend staff considerable influence on “reflecting” component. Thus, meetings to discuss the vision and mission of the school/insti- “teachers’ success” endogenous latent variable was shown to tute,” “discuss and decide on the selection of instructional be influenced directly by the “decision making” construct materials such as textbooks, exercise books, lesson study,” and and indirectly by the three other variables. “work in small groups to come up with a joint solution to a Therefore, according to the path coefficient sizes and sig- problem”) illustrated high loadings which highlight the impor- nificance, which should be higher than 0.2 (Lowry & Gaskin, tance of decision-making concept in educational settings. 2014; Wong, 2013), the researchers can conclude that the Finally, one-way repeated measure ANOVA was run to paths among the variables are statistically significant. analyze and compare the significant differences in teachers’ rating on different components of teachers’ success. The results showed that Iranian EFL teachers’ ratings on different Outer Model Loadings components of teachers’ success significantly differ, Wilks’s Proposed model in this study demonstrated that all the con- Lambda = 0.61, F(6, 310) = 33.69, p < .000, multivariate nections between the latent variable and their indicators are partial eta squared = 0.97. According to the commonly used significant except for eight indicators which their loadings guidelines proposed by Cohen (1988), partial eta squared are shown to be less than 0.70. Consequently, one of these effect size showed a very strong effect. Accordingly, post hoc indicators is removed from the study (No. 19 in “updating” comparison using Bonferroni test indicated that the mean Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 9 Table 9. Effect Sizes of the Structural Model (F Square). Collaborating Decision making Reflecting Updating Teachers’ success Collaborating 0.88 Decision making 0.059 Reflecting 0.237 Updating 0.740 1.247 Note. Effect size of 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 indicates small, medium, and large effect, respectively (Marcoulides & Saunders, 2006). score of each component is different from the other compo- D. I have been teaching English for more than 20 years. I nents significantly (significance = 0.00 < 0.05). am absolutely familiar with these strategies. However, According to mean differences among different constructs the most important issue is not running and participat- of teachers’ success, the results showed that in “class atten- ing in such programs. The important thing is that we dance, management, and commitment” construct received are not able to apply most of the things that we get or the highest rating (M = 4.12, SD = 0.044). Moreover, the learn!! Society, culture, beliefs, and facilities are lowest score was shown to be for “evaluation” construct (M always concepts that make the way/this way/moving = 3.83, SD = 0.041; Table 7). toward reformat in our educational setting, difficult. In addition, bootstrapping procedure was run to study the significance of the path coefficients of the inner model (“t As it is discussed in the section “Results,” one of the items statistics”). The path coefficients are significant if the t statis- was removed from the study’s model because of very low tics is larger than 1.96 (using a two-tailed t test with a signifi- loading. This item was related to concept of the “mentoring.” cance level of 5%). In the present study, it can be seen that all During the administration period, the researchers came to the relationships are significant statistically (Table 8). this conclusion that many teachers were not familiar with the The model’s effect size (f ), showed a very small contri- concept of the mentoring. This was also one of the facts that bution of exogenous latent variable to the endogenous latent one of the teachers pointed in his questionnaire. variable’s R (Table 9). In our model, teachers’ success received an effect size of 0.059, showing a small effect; how- E. I think that CPD is started too soon in Iran! Or better to ever, even small effects indicate important model relation- say, Iranian teachers are behind the schedule to follow ships (Chin, Marcolin, & Newsted, 2003). what may happen in these courses or programs. Many of my TEFL learners cannot differentiate between “mentor” and “supervisor.” Then how can we expect Qualitative Analysis them to experience mentoring? At the time of administration of CPD questionnaire, the Two teachers complained about the fees for these courses researchers asked the teachers to mention (written or in oral or programs. Moreover, teachers highly agreed that the form) any other ideas regarding CPD programs in Iran. courses should not be obligatory. It is also believed that the Eleven teachers participated in this part of the study. Their time of the programs should be suitable enough to participation was completely voluntarily. participate. Almost most of the teachers agreed that they will attend a Furthermore, regarding Item 15, which is concentrated on CPD program if that program cares about both new theories “joint/team teaching,” a teacher stated that “our society and and practice at the same time. our people suffer from the absence of ‘cooperating-spirited’ people and teachers!” A. The important thing for me is that such a program could expose us to novel theories and concept while they are providing us with opportunities to experience Discussion them in the real world. This study is considered to be among the few attempts to B. These programs are mostly concentrated on repeated explore the relationship of different components of CPD and concept . . . They are not announced to teachers in appro- their impacts on Iranian teachers’ success. In view of that and priate ways (some teachers are not aware that such pro- based on the existing literature, a model was proposed by the grams are being held). Some of them suffer from researchers and tested by the application of PLS-SEM using appropriate materials or facilities to run the session. SmartPLS. The data has fitted the model greatly, which gains C. I believe that it’s better to hold these programs online, support for the suggested hypothetical model. because of different problems that may teachers Outcomes showed the significance and the degree to which encounter these days. Time is an important impeding CPD syllabi might influence teachers’ success in educational factor! 10 SAGE Open settings, through decision making, collaborating, reflecting, In addition, the study showed that decision making affects and updating. It was illustrated that collaborating and updating teachers’ success variable. Although the weights of this have the strongest loadings. Collaborating intensely impacts arrow, compared with the weights of other components, is decision making, which reveals that teachers’ decision making not so big, it is noteworthy and significant. This asserted that is in direct relationship with the extend teachers cooperate contribution of teachers in decisions, regarding teacher and with their colleagues. It is in accordance with Breen et al. teaching matters, acts as a significant predictor of teachers’ (2001), who pointed out that educated teachers make fairly sense of success. This is in line with Sarafidou and different decisions from the way inexpert teachers do. Chatziioannidis (2013), McKay (2005), and Farrell (2008). It Moreover, McKay (2005) and Farrell (2008) stated that team- clearly highlights the point that to be a successful teacher, work among teachers positively effects on the way they decide one should have the ability to decide on important issues and about important issues. the way to manage the class and teaching practices. Results also revealed that reflecting moderately influence Moreover, some of the participants asserted that for plan- collaborating, which is in agreement with Hagen, Loughran, ning and implementing CPD programs and courses, and to and Russell (2006, cited in Yanping & Jie, 2009) and Sharifi determine the applicability of the program, different factors and Abdolmanafi Rokni (2014) who believed that reflective such as need analysis, required material and facilities, an teaching can act as stimuli for working together and collabo- appropriate place for running the courses, and so on, should ration. Moreover, Cajkler, Wood, Norton, Pedder, and Xu be taken into account. Accordingly, it is expected that CPD (2015) stated that CPD courses inspire teachers to create a curricula provide teachers with opportunities regarding com- team and share their knowledge and teaching experiences, mitment, participation, and everyday accomplishments. and accomplish cooperative tasks. Thus, they can support Regarding the analysis of teachers’ success questionnaire each other in teaching/learning practices and as a final point which aimed at investigating students’ viewpoints of their create a greater success. Therefore, it is highlighted by the teaching success, the person-item evaluation showed that results that taking part in activities, helping other teachers to Items 7, 27, and 33 were the items most likely to be endorsed solve their teaching problems, and team teaching all can be (i.e., “my teacher has full mastery over the subject she or he dependent on the extent teachers involve themselves in is teaching,” “she or he always tries to be punctual,” and “she reflective activities. Besides, according to the qualitative part or he is respectful in students’ point of view”). Alternatively, of the study, one of the participants believed that cooperation the least likely to be endorsed items and so those that required is one of the strategies that should be strengthened among being cared more by the teachers were Items 11, 23, 13, and Iranian teachers to assists them in their teaching practices as 22 (i.e., “students receive frequent feedback about their per- well. Thus, it could be concluded that to be a good decision formance,” “the teacher tries to relate language forms, func- maker in teaching and educational settings, a teacher requires tions and vocabulary to contexts relevant to students’ to be more collaborating and reflecting. These are concerns interest,” “the teacher reviews with the students the home- that should be considered in planning, developing and imple- work they have prepared,” and “throughout the course, the menting teacher and teaching curricula. teacher uses/develops appropriate quizzes and tests to evalu- Furthermore, updating strongly affects both collaborating ate students’ progress and increase motivation”). and reflecting. This means that when teachers learn new These finding revealed that “class attendance, manage- things and try to improve their knowledge, they have a ten- ment, and commitment” is one of the scale’s constructs dency to team up with their coworkers and reflect more on which is easily endorsed. This means that teachers are really their teaching practices. That is, teachers move toward shar- successful regarding indicators related to their management ing their new knowledge by creating a social professional net- and commitment. However, “examination/evaluation” is the work and seeking each other’s opinions and advice. This is construct which its indicators less likely to be endorsed also in line with Tanghe and Pask (2016), who specified that (Tabatabaee Yazdi et al., 2018). learning happens through collaborating in social and cultural Finally, it should be noted that like any other research, the setting. Accordingly, CPD strategies focus on cooperative current study may suffer from some research biases, which activities among teachers (Matoba & Sarkar Arani, 2005). might have different kinds of impacts on measurement and Therefore, it could be concluded that teachers who are eager structural models (Schwarz, Rizzuto, Carraher-Wolverton, for taking part in collaborative activities are most likely those Roldán, & Barrera-Barrera, 2017). The most important method teachers who like to learn new things. In this regard, this fact bias of this study could be the transient mood state of the respon- should be taken into account that some new terms are very dents (students). Transient mood or halo effect are among biases novel for Iranian teachers. As it is discussed in the section that largely occur in quantitative educational research, where “Results,” some teachers were not aware of the meaning of students answer the provided questions emotionally and sympa- “lesson study” and “mentoring” or the differences between thetically, which can ultimately lead to imprecise assessment of “mentoring” and “supervising.” Thus, as an updating and the materials (Utami, Kusuma, Gudono, & Supriyadi, 2017). In reflecting strategy, it is nice to invite teachers to formal or this study, the students filled the questionnaires in an area with- informal meetings to discuss and practice these new topics. out the presence of their teachers, and they were told that their Tabatabaee-Yazdi et al. 11 answers remain confidential and anonymous. Moreover, the students. Future research could validate the instruments students were selected in a complete random order. within university settings and other contexts to generalize the findings. Moreover, administrators and researchers can consider the results of this research to work on planning and Conclusion designing any appropriate relevant courses for the proposed model. The EFL setting of Iran is ethnically, socially, and politically different from other contexts around the world (Safari & Declaration of Conflicting Interests Rashidi, 2015). All syllabi and resources are suggested by the Ministry of Education and teachers do not have much The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. choice except working with the prescribed materials. Accordingly, Ahmady, Changiz, Brommels, Gaffney, and Funding Masiello (2009) endorse that these curricula usually suffer from great implications for teachers and students because The author(s) received no financial support for the research, author- they do not involve teachers in active empirical learning ship, and/or publication of this article. through reflection, discussion, practical evaluation, and action research. At the same time, there is a need regarding Notes novel and better practical teaching methodologies and con- 1. The questionnaires developed and used in this study are avail- cepts for language teachers who, despite any shortcoming able from the corresponding author on email request. and demerits of educational setting, are supposed to regu- 2. According to the commonly used guidelines proposed by larly update their knowledge and skills. Cohen (1988), partial eta squared effect size is as follow (0.01 In view of that and to deal with the changing context of ELT = small, 0.6 = moderate, 0.14 = large effect). in Iran, the present study aimed at studying any significant effect of the proposed model of CPD strategies on Iranian EFL References teachers’ success. A number of implications were highlighted Ahmady, S., Changiz, T., Brommels, M., Gaffney, A. F., & by the results. The most important one was not large but sig- Masiello, I. (2009). The status of faculty development pro- nificant impact of teachers’ decision making on the extent they grammes in Iran after the medical education reform: A system- were evaluated as successful teachers by their students. It is atic and comprehensive approach. International Journal for confirmed the study’s model which theorized CPD strategies Academic Development, 14, 99-110. Amzat, I. H. (2017). 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PLS path modeling: Mona Tabatabaee Yazdi is a PhD student in TEFL, at Azad From foundations to recent developments and open issues for University of Torbat-e-Heydarieh, Iran. Her research interests focus model assessment and improvement. In V. Esposito Vinzi, on language teaching/learning assessment, effective/reflective W.W. Chin, J. Henseler, & H. Wang (Eds.), Handbook of par- teaching and teachers’ professional development. tial least squares: Concepts, methods and applications (pp. Khalil Motallebzadeh is an associate professor at the Islamic Azad 47-82). Berlin, Germany: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. University of Torbat-e-Heydarieh and Mashhad Branches, Iran. He Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, is a widely published researcher in teacher education, language test- and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ing and e-learning. He is also an accredited teacher/master trainer of Wenger, E. (2001). Supporting communities of practice: A the British Council since 2008. He has represented Iran in Asia survey of community-oriented technologies. Retrieved TEFL since 2009. from https://guard.canberra.edu.au/opus/copyright_register/ repository/53/153/01_03_CP_technology_survey_v3.pdf Hamid Ashraf, PhD in ELT from University of Pune (India), has Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). A guide to been a member of faculty at English Department, Islamic Azad managing knowledge: Cultivating communities of practice. University, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Iran. He has worked on language Cambridge, UK: Harvard Business School Press. testing, critical thinking, and e-learning. Wong, K. K. K. (2013). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) techniques using SmartPLS. Marketing Purya Baghaei is an associate professor at the Islamic Azad Bulletin, 24, 1-32. University of Mashhad, Iran. His major research interest is in for- Yanping, P., & Jie, W. (2009, October). Research on reflective eign language proficiency testing with a focus on the applications of teaching and professional development of English teachers. item response theory models in test validation. He has conducted Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE International Conference on post-doctoral research at universities of Vienna, Berlin, and Systems, Man, and Cybernetics San Antonio, TX. Bamberg.

Journal

SAGE Open – SAGE

Published: Mar 16, 2018

Keywords: EFL teachers’ success; teachers’ professional development; CPD model; students’ perspectives; PLS-SEM; structural equation modeling (SEM)

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