the discrepancy between teachers’ theories and practices: a case study on the teachers’ code-switching to l1 in iranian efl classes: from sociocultural perspective

This study intended to find out efl teachers’ attitudes toward the use of l1 in l2 contexts as opposed to the restrictive use of l2 in efl contexts. it also aimed at investigating the areas of instruction in which the mother tongue is used in the actual environment. hence, it explored the opinions and code-switching practices of 10 available iranian efl teachers of shiraz zand universitiy teaching reading comprehension in order to see whether there was any discrepancy between their beliefs and practices. the piece made use of a mixed-methods research (mmr) by incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data in order to increase the validity of the research. the results of the data collected via questionnaire, observation checklist and interview revealed that though efl teachers should maintain the maximum use of english, the appropriate and judicious use of the mother tongue is inevitable in their classes.