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This essay shows how I came to assume the role of an activist-scholar and educator through engaging in self-observation and self-reflection in the course of my day-to-day professional practice. The story of my professional growth comprises epiphanies that were transformational, enabling me and my students to transcend our traditional roles. This critical adventure occurred in an Iranian language institute where I was able to implement a curriculum inspired by principles of critical pedagogy and Rumi's literary texts. I drew on material from divergent sources to develop and understand my transformed self. My story illustrates my departure from domineering syllabi, how I embraced alternative roles, and became what I call a 'nomad' educator. My aim is to show how teachers can bridge the theory-practice gap to implement a curriculum that is congruent with their internal selves and their students' souls, thoughts, and lived culture.

This qualitative study applied dialogue journal writing to explore its effectiveness on language learning and critical literacy skills of 45 EFL students with the age range of 10-13 in an Iranian EFL context. Data analysis of 500 entries showed students' emancipation from banking education constraints, their empowerment to voice, enhancement of motivation and positive feelings, as well as improvement of their linguistic competence. Based on the findings of this study, language teachers are suggested to use this educational tool to transform their pedagogy and enliven students' language learning.

The impact of COVID-19 on education involved an abrupt switch from face-to-face instruction toward emergency remote teaching/learning. In public schools, teachers and students were required to undertake language education using virtual learning platforms. This shift created certain problems for both teachers and students. This qualitative research attempts to explore challenges encountered by English teachers and students in Iranian middle schools during the lockdown period. 47 participants were selected by stratified purposive sampling, providing qualitative data through semi-structured interviews and online focus groups. Thematic analysis illustrated economic, technological, and instructional concerns in addition to a set of psychological pressures. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic created certain affordances for language program which accelerated the process of online language education. The anticipation and effective management of educational problems arising from such catastrophes would help stakeholders enhance the quality of language education, prioritize teachers' and students' language needs at the middle level education of public schools, and facilitate learning/teaching process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization as an increasingly influencing force has led English language to become the lingua franca of the world. However, the global spread of English is considered as linguistic and cultural imperialism of English speaking countries to exert their dominance, power, culture, ideology and language over the periphery countries. The devastating consequence of this hegemony, according to Canagarajah (2005) can be putting learners in danger of losing their languages, cultures, and identities, giving rise to the devaluation of their local knowledge and cultures. Here, the researchers administer an interview to explore thirty-seven experienced Iranian EFL teachers' (18 males/19 females) perceptions on English globalization and its hegemony, who were selected based on purposive sampling. The researchers' adoption of Strauss and Corbin's (1998) constant comparative method revealed that although Iranian English teachers admitted globalization as an inevitable reality and English language as a tool in the service of globalization to smooth communication among people, they took up a counter-hegemonic stance and resistance towards the values associated with its use. They also suggested some anti-hegemonic strategies to de-colonize the power, culture, values, and ideologies of the West which tries to marginalize other countries and people.

This study makes use of visual methodology to achieve insights regarding Iranian ELT student teachers' professional identities. Accordingly, the researcher makes an attempt to investigate the 51 male-female student teachers' professional identities through their drawings. Social constructivism, hermeneutics, and grounded theory inspire this study and allow the researcher to make sense of drawings and approach them as texts, which freight meaning to be interpreted. Data analysis based on inductive design led to the emergence of themes that most of the student teachers have reconstructed and developed their identities in the rapid evolving cultural and global context created by the new insights and perspectives of postmodernism. However, in the case of student teachers whose identities have been traditionally shaped, teacher educators are required to provide support through additional instruction, dialogue, feedback, and insights to raise their consciousness about their identities and self.

Kumaravadivelu's (2003) introduction and development of "postmethod" led to the demise of methods and a dramatic change in the language teaching profession. In fact, it can be claimed that the arrival of postmethod pedagogy in language teaching might be the reason for the abandonment and replacement of method by context sensitive, pedagogic indicators, and the guiding principles of particularity, practicality and possibility. The literature concerning postmethod pedagogy has highlighted that much of the research centers on the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings, without any consideration of its realization and practical aspects in EFL contexts. So, we tried to unearth English teachers' practical constraints and barriers in applying postmethod as a new EFL pedagogy in Iran. Twenty two male and female experienced English teachers from Yazd and Shiraz, Iran, participated in this qualitative research. The researchers used a semistructured interview as the primary source of data collection (Ary, Jacobs, & Sorenson, 2010), and adopted Strauss and Corbin's (1998) constant comparative method, including three steps of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding to reveal practitioners' problems and constraints in putting the pedagogy into practice, in the EFL context of Iran, where all syllabi and materials are prescribed by the Ministry of Education. The researchers identified several barriers to adopting postmethod pedagogy in EFL teaching in Iran, as well as teachers' constraints when dealing with those obstacles.

Critical pedagogy (CP) with the eventual aim of creating changes in society towards the socially just world rests upon the premise that language learning is understood as a sociopolitical event. Schools and classrooms are not merely seen as the neutral and apolitical sites or oxymoron of transmitting taken-for-granted knowledge and common sense to students but rather as the political and democratic sites in which teachers, through praxis-oriented activities, furnish opportunities for students to critically question oppressive systems, hierarchies, and sociopolitical inequalities. Through the connection of word to the world, or the relationship between classroom learning and students' lived experiences and worlds, teachers can create social transformation and empowerment in the marginalized students' lives. However, teachers as the transformative intellectuals can facilitate this transformative process only if they are equipped with the critical theories, theoretical underpinnings and practical implications of CP. A brief look at the CP literature reveals that most of the researches center on its theories and conceptual dimensions without presenting any pragmatic discourse or practical realizations to critical pedagogues. In fact, this study intends to investigate the problems, concerns, and frustrations that Iranian EFL teachers encounter while enacting this alternative pedagogy. So, the researchers adopted purposive sampling to choose thirty-four EFL teachers from private English language institutes in Tehran, Yazd and Shiraz, Iran; and focused interview as the appropriate data gathering instrument of qualitative research. Finally, the researchers unearthed the relevant themes concerning the practical dimensions as the supplementary components of CP in EFL context of Iran.

This narrative self-study reflects on my discursively shaped thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge to portray the construction and reconstruction of my identity at different stages of professional life. I tried to investigate carefully, up to the current moment, the struggles, building blocks, and successes which have reshaped my formerly shaped identity as an English language learner and English teacher. Accordingly, a compilation of reflective writings as documents, pamphlet notes, drawings, and journals during such a long-lasting continuum of learning and teaching were adopted to critically review my identity through Strauss and Corbin's constant comparative method of data analysis which led to the emergence of three stages of my identity formation and its further reconstruction. The findings illuminate that students, teachers, and teacher educators' narrations provide insightful and enlightening clues for each and every engaged member of the training cycle to learn how to deal with these group members within our community, and reminds policy-makers and higher-order authorities of the value in acknowledging and appreciating their voices.

In the field of English Language Teaching (ELT), attention has been shifted toward the alternative role of teachers as transformative intellectuals whereby transformation in teaching occurs from control and technical operations to criticism and intellectual reflection. This role enables teachers to focus on marginalized students' lived experiences and worlds to transform them into active and critical citizens who are emancipated to develop their voices and question the status quo. Through critically examining the learning milieu that maintains injustice and inequality, students struggle to connect it to sociopolitical conditions in wider society, and eventually transform it to meet the desired ideologies and thinking. This paper attempts to scrutinize teachers' role as transformative intellectuals and their challenges through the transformation process. Thus, the researcher used purposive sampling to select 26 teachers in four private language institutes of Tehran, Shiraz, and Yazd, Iran to adopt the role of transformative intellectuals based on theoretical principles and concepts of critical pedagogy. Semi-structured interview and an online focus group were used to collect data. Data analysis disclosed transformations and benefits as well as the challenges resulting from teachers becoming transformative intellectuals. The fruitful findings of this study are insightful, since this study is an example to show how language teachers can create transformation in the EFL context, change their fossilized role, and empower oppressed students within the institutionalized and oppressive system of schooling.

Recently, there has been a change from traditional language testing approaches, with a focus on psychometric properties towards critical language testing (CLT) with its social practice nature. CLT assumes tests not as neutral devices but as instruments of power and control which are related to authorities' policy agendas to shape individuals' and groups' lives. Test consequences are not restricted to washback issues concerning teaching, learning, and instructional improvement. Rather, it goes far beyond educational context by illuminating issues such as values, ethics, biases, fairness, and test takers' rights. With respect to CLT principles, this study attempts to critically examine the current status of language testing in Iranian education system. Two prominent high-stakes tests of Sampad Entrance Exam (SEE) and Nation-wide University Entrance Exam (NUEE) were used to uncover power relations, interpretations as well as the hidden intentions and consequences of tests in the educational system of Iran. Thus, teachers, administrators, test-takers and parents were selected (15 males/17 females) based on purposive sampling to participate in the research and semi-structured interview was adopted to gather in-depth data. The oppressive nature of tests, the marginalization of powerless testing parties, the asymmetrical power relationships, and the broader detrimental consequences and impacts of tests were obtained through Strauss and Corbin's ("Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory," SAGE, Thousand Oaks, 1998) constant comparative method of data analysis. To counterbalance negative consequences of the high-stakes tests, they all agreed on multiple assessment sources of the construct and a dialogically-based assessment system to provide social justice and equal world while knowledge and power are shared by all testing parties. It was also suggested that the use of critical thinking and raising the stake holders' consciousness can be used as the strategies against the test abuses, power, and its consequences.

The ultimate aim of any EFL program is to promote long life language development in learners and prepare them for the language use in real life communicative situations. However, many educational systems all over the globe might not achieve this end. Actually, a number of factors within or beyond any system can influence the success or the failure of the language curriculum. In the case of the educational system of Iran, a critical look reveals the fact that despite a great amount of investment and expenses on the part of the government for so long, it is yet unable to generate proficient learners. Keeping this issue in mind, the researcher as the teacher educator teaching in an in-service class held through the Education Organization of Yazd, Iran could uncover the teachers' views and perceptions accordingly. Using currere and collaborative dialogue, the researcher in this qualitative study attempted to explore the challenges faced by teachers in addition to the potential factors leading to the current failures of the language curriculum in the system. The insightful findings of this study can be of great assistance to policy makers, textbook writers, and teacher educators to take critical actions towards the betterment and fruitfulness of the EFL program in our education system.

The teacher education field has recently undergone dramatic changes leading to a shift of focus from transmission models towards alternative approaches and theories that emerged in the post-transmission era addressing sociocultural, political, ideological, and critical issues. Despite worldwide changes in teacher education programs, it seems that alternative theories and ideas have had little or no impact on teacher education for English language teaching (ELT) in Iran. This study investigated the applicability of the post-transmission perspectives and theories to the Iranian teacher education context, in addition to the concerns and challenges faced by teachers and instructors working in that context. To this end, the views and beliefs of ten experienced English teachers and three educators were collected using three methods of data collection: collaborative dialogue; currere or reflexive narrative; and, interviews. The data were analysed to identify emerging themes relating to the current status of teacher education in Iran, including impediments, constraints, and concerns in case of any change. The study found that participants believed that policy makers, educators, and teachers needed to adopt alternative theories and approaches in order to improve pre-service and in-service ELT teacher education in Iran. However, given the local context, they indicated that any action taken towards transformation required meticulous consideration on the part of the key stakeholders.

This qualitative study applied dialogue journal writing to explore its effectiveness on language learning and critical literacy skills of 45 EFL students with the age range of 10–13 in an Iranian EFL context. Data analysis of 500 entries showed students' emancipation from banking education constraints, their empowerment to voice, enhancement of motivation and positive feelings, as well as improvement of their linguistic competence. Based on the findings of this study, language teachers are suggested to use this educational tool to transform their pedagogy and enliven students' language learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study makes use of visual methodology to achieve insights regarding Iranian ELT student teachers' professional identities. Accordingly, the researcher makes an attempt to investigate the 51 male-female student teachers' professional identities through their drawings. Social constructivism, hermeneutics, and grounded theory inspire this study and allow the researcher to make sense of drawings and approach them as texts, which freight meaning to be interpreted. Data analysis based on inductive design led to the emergence of themes that most of the student teachers have reconstructed and developed their identities in the rapid evolving cultural and global context created by the new insights and perspectives of postmodernism. However, in the case of student teachers whose identities have been traditionally shaped, teacher educators are required to provide support through additional instruction, dialogue, feedback, and insights to raise their consciousness about their identities and self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This narrative self-study reflects on my discursively shaped thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge to portray the construction and reconstruction of my identity at different stages of professional life. I tried to investigate carefully, up to the current moment, the struggles, building blocks, and successes which have reshaped my formerly shaped identity as an English language learner and English teacher. Accordingly, a compilation of reflective writings as documents, pamphlet notes, drawings, and journals during such a long-lasting continuum of learning and teaching were adopted to critically review my identity through Strauss and Corbin’s constant comparative method of data analysis which led to the emergence of three stages of my identity formation and its further reconstruction. The findings illuminate that students, teachers, and teacher educators’ narrations provide insightful and enlightening clues for each and every engaged member of the training cycle to learn how to deal with these group members within our community, and reminds policy-makers and higher-order authorities of the value in acknowledging and appreciating their voices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]