reflection levels among iranian efl teachers: the interactional effects of gender, academic degree and their teachers’ experience

In today's society, it is important for teachers, particularly foreign language teachers, to understand that reflectivity is considered a main factor in the growing teaching profession. this study sought to examine the different dimensions of reflective teaching among iranian efl teachers considering the variables of gender, academic degree, teaching experience, and interactional effect between them. in doing so, initially using an explanatory sequential mixed method survey design a five–point likert scale, 29-item reflective teaching questionnaire including (practical, meta-cognitive, critical, cognitive, and affective) was distributed to 142 efl teachers (male and female) with 4 to 30+ years of professional experience with ba, ma, and ph.d. academic degrees. considering teaching experience, the participants were categorized into three groups. manova results indicated the significant effect of teachers’ experience on their reflective teaching with the least effect reported on the affective dimension. secondly, sixteen efl teachers were invited to participate in an interview. the results of the present study will be useful for efl teachers to have effective teaching, and to involve themselves more in exploring their students’ learning styles and critical aspects of the teaching context. reflective teaching would help teachers to foster their independence. the analysis revealed that shortage of time, prescribed syllabi, predetermined textbooks, and ineffective teacher training programs were the main obstacles to reflectivity as experienced by the teachers. the outcomes have pedagogical implications for iranian efl teachers and theoreticians in the area of language teaching.