Iranian EFL Teachers’ Personality Types and Differences in their Autonomy Levels

As literature shows, in education studies a significant emphasis is toward the issue that teachers as one of the major elements of pedagogical programs have the most important roles in promoting learner achievements. To this end, autonomy, recently introduced to teacher pedagogy is of considerable importance. The present study then aims at investigating teacher personality types which might be significant in depicting their autonomy levels. To do so, a sample of 86 teachers (51 female, 35 male) were selected with consideration of homogeneity factors. Teacher Autonomy Scale by Pearson and Moomaw (2005) and NEO-R Personality Trait Inventory by Costa and McCrae (1995) both reliable and validated were utilized to gather quantitative data. Then analysis phase began by factorial ANOVA test. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted. Findings revealed that teachers with Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Neuroticism personality types showed highest to lowest autonomy levels in order. The results can have implications in teacher education courses where individual variations matters in order to maximize efficiency of educational programs.