The Effect of the Three Different Dimensions of Transformative Teaching on Iranian EFL Students: A Macro Study on Teaching Professionalism

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of three dimensions of Transformative Teaching on Iranian EFL Students as a macro study on teaching professionalism. The participants were 81 female and male Intermediate students enrolled in Jahad Language Institute. The study employed a Quasi-experimental design involving administering PET test as pre-test in order to determine language proficiency and homogeneity of the learners and post-test in which speaking was scored by two rates, the Gardner Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (2004) both in Persian at the beginning of the term and in English at the end of the term, to measure motivation, and a researcher- developed catalogue introducing Transformative Teaching to teachers, and a teacher-made journal of what happened in classrooms. The results of this study revealed, at the P < .05 alpha level, that, the treatment implied in this research had a significant effect on learners’ motivation and speaking ability. Furthermore, the results showed that Transformative teaching happens through being actively engaged in the learning process, co-creating or constructing what it is they are learning as they learn rather than taking in content passively. Thus transformative learning is essentially a way of understanding adult learning as a meaning-making process. The findings also revealed that the most frequently used strategies evoked integrated motivation of the learners.