assessing digital competence of iranian efl teachers: the interplay of teachers’ age, gender, teaching experience and self-confidence in using information and communication technologies

Today, information and communication technologies have transformed our modern life more than ever before. in this line, pervasive digital technologies have affected ways of communication, interaction, learning and teaching in a digitized society. undoubtedly, people need to be digitally competent to function effectively in modern societies. these profound changes have created huge demands for teachers who play an important role in the educational arena. this study seeks to explore the digital competence of iranian efl teachers based on the digcompedu framework (overall and per single areas) and its relationship with their demographics. to this end, a total of 143 iranian efl (75 females and 68 males) were selected randomly to participate in the present study and their level of digital competence was gauged by answering this self-assessment tool. an in-depth analysis of the twenty-two competences comprising the digcompedu framework showed that the competences which are most related to the different needs of the learners are the ones that teachers had greater difficulties in achieving. teachers scored lower in the areas of assessment, empowering learners, and facilitating learners’ digital competence. on the contrary, they obtained higher scores regarding professional engagement, using digital resources, and teaching and learning. the results of this study revealed that there was no relationship between teachers’ self-assessed level of digital competence and their age and years of teaching experience. however, a small but statistically significant relationship was found between teachers’ digital competence and self-confidence in using digital technologies. the present study was the first instance of using digcompedu instrument for assessing iranian efl teachers’ level of digital competence.