language teachers' preferred and practiced teaching styles: evidence from iraqi high school efl context

Objective: the researchers in the current study sought to explore the status-quo of the teaching styles appealed and adopted by iraqi efl teachers. method: to conduct the study, the researchers selected 120 english language teachers from the context of iraqi high schools employing grasha-riechmann’s (1996) teaching styles questionnaire to gather data. results: the analysis of data mainly through quantitative measures and frequency count revealed a clear discrepancy between the teachers’ preferences and practices of teaching styles. more specifically, while the most desired teaching style among the teachers was the expert type, and the least preferred one was facilitator type, in real practice of teaching, they made a greater use of personal model style. furthermore, ‘expert style’ which was the most favored type was used less frequently than the other styles. however, a go-togetherness was witnessed in the obtained data with regard to ‘facilitator style of teaching’ which ranked the least based on the teachers’ practices in a manner identical to what was found concerning their preferences. conclusions: the study findings indicated a discrepancy between the preferences and practices of iraqi high schools which may provide fruitful implications for language teachers, particularly as regards their increased familiarity with the practical teaching styles and their attempts targeted at bridging the gap between their style preferences and practices.