On the Effectiveness of Language Education Programs and Environments: Perceptions of Novice and Experienced Teachers

Effectiveness of a language education program and learning environment is perceived differently by L2 teachers, learners, and managers as the main stakeholders. Previous studies have mostly focused on either the characteristics of effective teachers or the learners perceptions of teacher efficacy. To fill this gap, this study sought to investigate the perceptions of 200 novice and experienced teachers of features of effective institutes through a sequential Qual-Quan mixed method. At the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews yielded categories and themes on the influential criteria underlying effective language programs and learning environments with similarities and differences between the perceptions of 20 novice and experienced teachers at five language institutes. Three main features of linguistic, humanistic, and contextual elements were identified as primary effective macro-categories made up of thirteen principal subcategories, including, inter alia, “teachers,” “physical setting,” “textbooks,” “meetings,” and “assessment.” While both groups of teachers regarded the role of teachers as the primary factor, they showed remarkable discrepancies in their perceptions. At the quantitative phase, two groups of 200 teachers fulfilled the questionnaire containing 51 items developed on the basis of the themes extracted from the interviews. The results of total independent t-test indicated significant difference between the two groups. The results of t-tests for the questionnaire items showed the two groups differences in eighteen features. Novice teachers higher priority had been on teachers use of fun and humor while experienced teachers foregrounded physical setting, students and teachers characteristics, textbooks, supplementary materials, salary, management, and interpersonal relationships. These findings have implications for the improvement of language education programs and help enhance the EFL teachers instructional practices and efficacy.