An Investigation into the Relationship between Iranian EFL Teachers’ Teaching Style and their Attitudes towards Online Teaching

Withtheaccelerateddevelopmentintechnology,itseemsthatonlineeducationwillbecometheprimaryagentforeducation.Apotentialfactorwhichseemstobeinfluentialinteachers’attitudeto-wardsonlineteachingistheirpersonalcharacteristicsandbehaviorsthatdeterminehowteachersconducttheirclasses,i.e.theirteachingstyle.Notwithstanding,itseemstheroleofteachingstyleinteachers’attitudestowardsonlineteachingisquiteunexploredamongEFLteach-ers.Therefore,thepurposeofthisstudywas,first,toinvestigateIranianEFLteachers’attitudestowardsonlineteaching.Thesecondaimofthisstudywastoexplorewhattypeofteachingstyleismoreassociatedwithteachers’attitudestowardsonlineteaching.Furthermore,thisresearchwasanattempttoseeifIranianEFLteachers’teachingstylemodifytheirattitudestowardsonlineteaching.ThelastobjectiveofthisstudywastoinvestigateifthereisanysignificantdifferencebetweenmaleandfemaleEFLteachers’attitudestowardsonlineteaching.Tothisend,92IranianEFLteachers(40malesand52females)wereselectedthroughconveniencesampling.Toexploreteachers’teachingstyles,Grasha’sTeachingStyleInventorywasemployed.AmodifiedversionofattitudequestionnairedevelopedbyLiaw,Huang,andChen(2007)wasutilizedtogaugeteachers’attitudestowardsonlineteaching.Toanalyzethedata,thedescriptivestatistics,correlationanalysis,one-wayANOVAandindependentsamplest-testwereused.Thefindingsdemonstratedtheparticipantshadpositiveattitudestowardsonlineteaching.More-over,basedontheresults,therewerepositiveandsignificantrelation-shipsbetweenthreeteachingstyles(personalmodel,facilitator,anddelegatorteachingstyles)andteachers’attitudestowardsonlineteach-ing.Itwasalsofoundthatcomparedtoteacherswithexpertteach-ingstyle,teacherswithinclinationtowardfacilitatorteachingstyles hadmorepositiveattitudestowardsonlineteaching.Finally,theresultsshowedthattherewasnotanysignificantdifferencebetweenmaleandfemaleteacherswithregardtotheirattitudestowardsonlineteaching.