exploring factors hindering efl teachers’ productivity in public high schools

Teachers are critical elements in the ministry of education as they plan, coordinate, organize, and harness all other resources to achieve educational goals. on this premise, the researcher decided to explore factors hindering iranian efl teachers’ productivity in public high schools in mashhad, iran. to this end, the study explored the perspectives of efl high school teachers, educational leaders, and principals on influential factors hindering teachers’ productivity. the research methodology used for this study was the qualitative comparative case study approach. data were gathered through in-depth face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions (fgds) of 21 female participants, including efl educational leaders, efl teachers, and principals in mashhad, iran, selected through convenience sampling. the result showed that marital friction, unproductive committee work, lack of training, institutional procedures, lack of promotion opportunities, difficult relations with colleagues, supervisor relationships, lack of motivation, work load, and government policy constituted significant hindrances to the teachers’ productivity. all these factors are to be identified and taken into consideration by the education stakeholders to enhance teachers’ productivity. through the ministry of education, the government should look into the modalities of promoting issues relating to personal factors to enhance teachers’ productivity.