'teacher authority' from efl teachers' perspectives in online classes: the case of two institutes in iran

Authority, in a broad sense, and teacher authority in a more specific domain, can be of paramount significance in classroom management. efl teachers, as the main participants in pedagogical events and taking their perspectives on teacher authority into account, can assist the teaching community to be equipped with more influential procedures. teacher authority as a multi-dimensional and misunderstood concept has rarely been examined in iranian online efl private institutes. hence, in the current qualitative research, two efl online institutes in tehran were considered to explore seven female efl teachers, through e-observation, e-interview and teachers’ reflective journals, to gather their perspectives on teacher authority. as a result of content analysis, four main themes emerged: delicate authority, austere authority, latent authority and patent authority. love triangle authority, including care, respect and trust plus cordiality, coaching, motivation, fun and aesthetics authorities were the sub-categories of delicate authority. on the opposite pole, threatening, sarcastic, suppressing and dominating authorities popped up as austere authority. latent authority, on the other hand, was crystalized due to tone, defensiveness, calling, tactfulness, tech-savvy and autonomous-training authorities in online classes. professionalism, motherish and gesture authorities also led to patent authority. this study provides teacher educators and trainers with pedagogical implementations on how to practice the proper authority in efl/esl classes in accordance with the most appreciated forms of authority in teachers’ perspectives.