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Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL) A Peer Reviewed International Journal - http://www.rjelal.com

Vol.1.Issue.2.;2013

50 POST-METHOD EFL TEACHING IN IRAN: ………. l ARSHAD MIRZAEI et al.,

POST-METHOD EFL TEACHING IN IRAN: BARRIERS, ATTITUDES, AND SYMBOLS

Dr. JAVAD GHOLAMI

English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran, Email: [email protected]

ARSHAD MIRZAEI

English Department, Faculty of Letters, Islamic Azad University, Urmia Branch, Urmia, Iran.

Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT On its way to abide with current and coming demands of the future, English language

teaching has to put the tyranny of teaching methods aside and start exploring new

horizons. In this challenging era, it has opponents and proponents. Post-method

pedagogy has been the research topic of many studies conducted in EFL contexts

including Iran; however, there are only few studies that specifically deal with post-

method implementation in the Iranian private language schools. Hence, this study was

designed to investigate the Iranian EFL teachers’ understanding of English language

teaching in post-method era, predominantly the difficulties and challenges they face in

its implementation. With these ideas in mind, the current study was carried out to

illuminate the barriers facing post-method pedagogy, changes happened concerning the

new trends leading to post-method, and at last the teaching strategies teachers apply in

their classes as the symbols of post-method pedagogy. To this end, 162 language

teachers voluntarily took part in a survey and answered three open-ended questions.

The findings of the survey showed that EFL teachers in Iran, whilst aware of the

achievements of post-method era, encounter many difficulties and barriers in

implementing teaching based on its criteria. The results suggest that despite being

curious and eager to develop post-method pedagogy, Iranian teachers are rather

pessimistic about its realization unless the obstacles are removed.

Keywords: Post-method pedagogy, teaching methods, EFL, private language schools,

teachers' beliefs

RESEARCH ARTICLE ISSN 2321 – 3108

Arshad Mirzaei Khoshalani

Article Info: Received on: 05/06/2013 Revised From :06/06/2013 Accepted on:26/06/2013


Vol.1.Issue.2.;2013


INTRODUCTION

Postmodernism has been the real reason of many

breakthroughs in all fields of science and technology.

Describing its main features and proponents, (Ward)

comments that the believers in postmodernism

suggest that society, culture and the lifestyle of our

time are different from the norm in 100, 50 or even 30

years ago. They are actually concerned about

development in mass media, the consuming society

and information technology. They agree that these

improvements have their undeniable impacts on

almost everything, and finally to understand the

current issues new concepts and vocabularies have to

be created.

Postmodernism as the backbone of post-method

pedagogy (Kumaravadivelu) is the era of changing

demands and aspirations of the new generations and

the incontrovertible reality of global village, in which

English language is becoming more and more versatile

and unpredictably affecting the nations all over the

world. As Pandy (cited in Meganathan) realistically

construed that English language today is almost a

compulsory second language, the non-native nations

and the governments have to adapt their postures and

policies related to this language.

Regarding the unavoidable need for real life

communications, post-method pedagogy is very keen

to explore and apply the available instructional means

in language classroom, and beside linguistic accuracy

improve fluency, too. To this end, instead of teacher-

centeredness the classes are learner-centered and

learners are regarded cooperative partners rather

than isolated competitors (Brown).

The main implications of post-method pedagogy

according to (Finch) for ELT can be summarized in

what he calls "the six deaths" including the death of

native speaker contributing to the idea that there are

other newly developed acceptable norms and accents

and pronunciations around the world, reflecting the

idea that no one is the owner of English language but

whoever speaks it. The death of structuralism leading

to CLT (communicative language teaching) and other

newly developed approaches to language learning and

language acquisition which believes that language is

acquired through communication (Ellis "The Study of

Second Language Acquisition"). The death of the

teacher or the advent of student centered class and

teaching based on learner's needs, putting an end to

teacher dominated education, which led to pair and

group work in order to use language to learn it in real-

life- like atmosphere (Richards), The death of

imperialism means the time of colonialism is over and

we are in globalization era in which there are different

voices to be heard. The death of method believing

that, the search for the ideal method suitable for all

times , all learners and in all places is over, and the last

so called The death of EFL depicting that English

language has gained new status as international and

Ligua Franca language, it is not foreign language any

more but the international language.

(Kumaravadivelu) considers post-method not as the

dead end of ELT but just a new millennium for it to

venture beyond methods by adopting three main

guide lines for post-method conditions, the first is

that instead of continuously searching for the

alternative method we are looking for an alternative

for method. The second guideline is the autonomy for

teacher in which he is the one who based on the

context, his knowledge of teaching and experience

adopts a teaching theory and approves or rejects

when implements it in real teaching and learning

contexts. The last one is principled pragmatism which

conceives how self observation, self-analysis, and self-

evaluation on behalf of the teacher can shape and

reshape classroom learning.

In practical terms postmodernism and post-method

teaching have been the cornerstone of most of newly

developments in ELT. According to (Edwards),

postmodern education promotes a kind of education

which has four main features; the first one is

advocating diversity in educational goals, learning

process, teaching methods and curriculum

development. The second feature of postmodern

education is to promote limitless growth in both space

and time not to reproduce the same society. The third

feature is rejecting universals and rigid methods, and

the last is attracting and accepting culturally diverse


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learners and teachers in the same learning

atmosphere in order to achieve greater participation.

According to (Richards, Gallo and Renandya) current

approaches to teacher’s beliefs include the reality that

in the process of teacher’s development, teacher’s

beliefs play a central role, and the changes happening

in teacher’s beliefs initiate subsequent changes in

teacher’s teaching practices and at last teaching

development is a multifaceted notion resulting from

personal factors and professional contexts the

teachers teach. Regarding these personal and

professional factors, obstacles against the emergence

and even the promoting of post-method pedagogy are

categorized under two main sections of pedagogical

and ideological barriers as discussed in (Bell; FAHIM

MANSOUR; G. Hall; Kumaravadivelu).

Pedagogical barriers, inextricably interconnected,

mainly include the educational systems which are

based on transmission methods, based on preselected

and predetermined theories and knowledge packages

from method-based teacher education system. While

there is less emphasis on student teachers’ having the

opportunity to develop or even adopt critical standing

for what they regard as their own understanding of

language teaching and learning, they are forced to

accept their teacher masters as wells of wisdom

(Larsen-Freeman).

Ideological barriers outlined by (Kumaravadivelu) are

in two categories. The first one is marginalization,

reflecting the idea that unfortunately the local

knowledge and experience gained, are regarded back

warded in the field of language teaching and learning

or is tried to be deemed as less important. “This

colonial strategy of power, for instance, purposely

projects the image of western knowledge, and

deliberately diminishes the value of local knowledge”

(p. 220). The second type is self- marginalization

standing for the reality that in most periphery contexts

the language teachers and specially the experts

knowingly or unknowingly accept the native norms,

their dominance and centrally produced textbooks

and other materials uncritically which leads to self

marginalization legitimacy.

Introducing new teaching strategies like task-based

teaching and recently project-based teaching, post-

method is very eager to make class atmosphere as

much like real-life communication as possible (G.

Hall).What is more emphasized, in new approaches to

ELT, is encouraging learners and teachers to apply

effective learning and teaching strategies to help

successful communication and expressing themselves

appropriately (Ellis).

(Hazratzad and Gheitanchian) studying post-method in

Iranian high schools concluded that" EFL teachers have

different attitudes towards dominant teaching

methods but that there is no relationship between the

teachers’ attitudes towards post-method and their

students’ achievement" (p. 6).They also suggest

teachers in their pre-service or in-service courses have

not been familiar with post-method teaching and have

difficulty putting their theories into teaching practices

as the main feature of it since the traditional roles

given to teachers and learners through introducing

Lerner-centered education, opposing transitional

methods or teacher-centered education have changed

which demands teacher and learners as co-

participators (Pani). As (Utecht) pointed out, teachers

should regard themselves as a part of education to let

education flow freely and students learn to apply their

knowledge in meaningful and productive ways,

confirming the research carried out by (Sarıçoban and

Bakla) who investigated how to promote productive

language skills especially writing and speaking through

learner generated surveys. Mentioning the drawbacks

of teacher education systems (Abednia) comments

that teacher training courses have ignored that

teachers are different in their teaching strategies since

still a method based teaching like preselected and

rigid curriculum with scanty attention to student

teachers' needs, is offered in most of the cases.

Critical pedagogy (CP) is another aspect of ELT in new

era, in which teachers are encouraged to emancipate

learners to take responsibility of their learning and put

an end to oppressive educational norms created by

the hegemony of teacher in the class (Finch).Which is

an end to the idea of banking education in which

teacher deposes education like money in the learner’s


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mind as criticized by (Aliakbari) .The paradoxes

inherited in ELT today needing a critical pedagogy is

studied by(G. Hall) claiming," we provide

opportunities and life-chances for learners, but are

also accused of promoting British goods, language and

culture, and of assisting the imposition of a Western

liberal-capitalist ideology around the world. For the

classroom teacher, these debates often remain

abstract, as we ask what we can do in the face of such

global forces" (Para. 1).

Having studied language teachers' beliefs concerning

post-method and the idea of availability of diversity of

teaching methods for teachers to select, (Bell)

suggests that teachers should be exposed to all

methods to ‘build’ their own methods or decide about

principles they would apply in their teaching.

Underpinning the realities of different context and

cultures and promoting the concept of glocalization,

Sharifian (2010) suggests how “English languages”

concept and cultural conceptualizations in post-

method era can reflect the ecology of language

learning and teaching. In the same line, (Akbari)

concludes that, what takes place in English language

classrooms is the only thing that can provide us with

justifiable and accurate information on post-method,

and no grand theory can meet all the specifics of many

local realities of language classes. That is why in order

to avoid being monolithic and arbitrary as methods

offer to teacher, ELT has to get its inspirations and

future guide lines from ethnographic of classrooms’

real life not theoretical and philosophical out of

context discussions.

As a proponent of post-method pedagogy, (Finch)

reckons post-method as the era of depoliticization of

ELT rather than imperialism which has led to

distributing of cultural, economic and religious values

and the idea that many of the metanarratives of

method-based pedagogy like teacher-centered

education, hegemony of textbooks and standard

pronunciation and standardized tests are culturally

driven and man-made concepts. (Samar and Davari)

suggested that imperialistic approach to English

language in Iran and its implications like native-like

accent and being worried about cultural threats it can

have for native culture are still dominant.

Reflective teaching and learning conceptualized as

forming meaningful connection between existing

knowledge and the reality of teaching practice

(Hanson), is another aspect of post-method pedagogy,

in which teachers and learners learn from their

previous experiences while experiencing the new

contexts and reflecting upon it, so reflective teaching

of post-method not only teaches what is legitimized by

the dominant paradigms of science, but the realities

needed for the reproduction of existing social and

cultural conceptions and norms (Berry).

Context-sensitivity is the backbone of post-method

pedagogy (Finch; Kumaravadivelu), so what is

appropriate for teaching in a given context with

diverse socio-cultural features cannot be applied to

another context (Hiep). Regarding these principles,

language schools are inseparable part of socio-cultural

context and the idea of ecology of language learning

and teaching proposed by (Van Lier) reflects this

principle of post-method era. Since most recent

studies concerning post-method in Iran were done in

governmental language schools or university classes,

and never studied teacher's beliefs about post-method

barriers in private language institutes as the main

sector of English language education in Iran (Ghorbani;

Gorjian, Pazhakh and Parang; Riazi and Mosalanejad),

the current study approached ELT in Iranian context

from this point of view.

METHODOLOGY

Participants: In order to understand the viewpoints of

Iranian EFL teachers in private language schools about

the barriers of post-method teaching and the attitudes

of families, learners, and government's language

policies concerning new teaching methodology and at

last the language teaching strategies they apply in

their classes as the symbols of post-method pedagogy,

the current study was carried out in six major cities,

namely Tabriz, Urmia, Mahabad, Bokan, Salmas, Khoy,

all located in the North-West part of Iran. As shown in

table 1, the participants of this survey aged from 21 to

55. They shared two different linguistic and cultural


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backgrounds namely Kurdish and Turkish but they all

were quite fluent in Persian as the official language

commonly used in Iran.

Instruments and procedure

A questionnaire containing three open-ended

questions was designed and reviewed several times

before being used to elicit data on different aspects of

post-method pedagogy. It was piloted on a few

language teachers, and some necessary revisions were

made to make problematic items easier to

understand, and also it was decided to allow teachers

to answer questions in Persian as piloting indicated

that some teachers had difficulties in expressing

themselves in English. Since the questionnaire was

intended to provide qualitative rather than

quantitative information, no reliability index was

estimated. However, at least four university lectures

with PhD were asked to give their opinions regarding

the validity of the items. Two hundred fifty

questionnaires along with a cover letter and a page

containing guidelines and principles of post-method

pedagogy were distributed among teachers in main

private language schools. The teachers were asked to

submit the questionnaire to the school head in one

week and 162 of them voluntarily answered and

returned the questionnaires.

RESULTS

In order to give a better coherence and organization to

the data analysis, each question is dealt with

separately and pertinent issues are accordingly

discussed.

RQ1: Have you ever made any changes in your

language teaching strategies and method according to

post-method criteria? If so, what kind of barriers do

you face on the part of language learners, their

families, language institutes, and your colleagues?

Attending teachers have mentioned different barriers

against any changes they wanted to make in language

teaching strategies and methods but mainly they can

be categorized under five titles. Table 1.

According to the surveyed teachers, families have

made obstacles against the likely changes happening

in language teaching methodology; more than 70

teachers agreed that families make obstacles when

faced with new approaches to language teaching,

Table 1. They believe if language learners do not learn,

it is the teacher's fault. “When we studied English we

learned fast and better because our teachers were

better than now." No 80 quoting from a parent, and

also according to families, teachers should give score

and do all exercises in the textbooks since they are

paid to do so.. P (Participating Teacher). No. 72 "We

have to do all homework since parents think we are

paid to do so." In families’ viewpoints, teachers who

give lots of homework and make learners write a lot in

the classes are the best. "Parents believe that

language learners should have grammar and

vocabulary notebooks and teachers dictate

grammatical rules" P. No. 8. And at last parents

believed that their children should learn in the same

way they had learned English in the past through

learning lots of grammar, memorizing vocabularies in

lists, and getting ready for University Entrance Exam,

so called KONKOOR . P. No. 32 said “many parents do

not trust or believe in the surge of new trends in

language teaching and are dubious about them, that is

why they prefer their children to learn as they learnt

in the past”.

More than 60 of the participating teachers believed

that learners resist against any changes in their

teaching, Table 1, because they consider language

classes as the only places to learn so they hardly study

before or after the class. “We just learn in the class

even if we study at home” No20, and they overheard

that one especial accent is better than the others; they

tried and even make teachers to use only L1 in

language schools. “We understand very little when the

teacher speaks in English.” P. NO. 11 quoting from his

students; learners are afraid of creativity and

everything new or different from other classes, “Why

the other classes do not study like us?” P. No. 18,

quoting from her students. Learners are mainly

concerned about Konkoor, university entrance exam in

Iran, so want more grammar and vocabulary and put

aside listening, speaking, additional resources like

magazines, articles, CDs. “For our future, Konkoor is

more important than other skills so we have to study


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grammar and vocabulary.” P. No. 76 quoting from his

students, the learners try to translate everything in

their mother tongue and make comparisons between

the two languages. “When we translate in Farsi we

learn easier.” P. No. 68 quoting from his students, and

they still believe that teacher is the only language

learning resource, and at last learners suppose that

teachers are paid to do whatever learners want.” Our

students in private schools resist doing exercises at

home since they believe we get money to do them in

class,” P. No. 42.

As Figure 1 attests, more than 50% of the attending

teachers believed that language institutes make

barriers since they just try to attract as many language

learners as possible even by unprofessional ways

because it is a matter of money. No 35, “they are

concerned about the money they can make not

teacher or learners’ concerns”. Institutes have to put

families first not teachers. “If families get dissatisfied

with institutes they will enroll in some other schools

and this will make bad reputation for the school.” P.

No. 33. Moreover, if the families get dissatisfied,

institutes are afraid of governmental authorities

banning the school.

They make teachers obey their unwritten timetables

and schedules with the least changes. "Too many

language teaching strategies make chaos." P. No. 80.

Institutes never encourage or mention teachers with

creativities. They want conservative teachers (there is

no encouragement or mentioning for creative and

successful teachers” P. No.17. They force teachers

teach certain textbooks just because they are new, up-

to-date, popular, attractive, expensive. "We have to

be up to date for the books available at the market" P.

No. 71, as a senior teacher. They believe that having

different teaching strategies in the same language

school is unacceptable. "Students compare their

teachers and when there is a difference they report to

supervisors or their families and sometimes they argue

over which one is better and it makes language school

disordered" P. No. 140, and at last language schools

emphasize that some teachers especially newly

graduated ones, know little or nothing about teaching,

so they should have little or no freedom of

choices."We cannot trust the new teachers and have

to control them very closely." No 123, as a supervisor.

Cross-cultural barriers mentioned by18% of the

surveyed teachers Figure 1 , hampering the flow of

changes included difference and some time

contradictions between textbook materials and

learners' cultures and believes." Topics like chatting,

having boy friend, girl friend over internet are taboos

for families and even some institutes." P. No. 20

"Some topics are even embarrassing to talk about

especially in female classes like boy friend, drinking,

depicted in movies or textbooks " P. No.100. The

teachers said free discussions end in political, social,

and even religious taboos forbidden or making

arguments in the classes. "Students refer to

argumentative topics like religion and political

elements in most free discussions and many times

they argue over their ideas and teachers'" P. No. 37.

Also they mention some topics are censored by the

government while published in the books or forbidden

by the institutes." Topics related to other religions,

cultures and political systems and even pictures are

censored in some publications but some others have

and these are not accepted for teachers or learners" P.

No.10.

Some colleagues think that teaching a language needs

teaching or advocating its culture too, "instead of

making learners familiar with it but still respecting the

first culture and mentioning the differences between

two cultures." No 48. By using their small talks,

clothes, fashion and even make up and advertising just

positive points of western cultures, some of our

colleagues idealize some cultures and downplay the

others especially learners' own culture" N0. 46.

Inadequate facilities according to the participants,

mentioned by 14% of them Figure 1, were lack of

books and educational facilities like computers, CDs,

listening related facilities…"In most language institutes

CDs, computers and other facilities are just for

advanced levels, and even not enough for all learners

of one class" No 28. And adopting new teaching

strategies needed more time, patience and even costs

which were lacking in busy time tables of institutes or

even for families and learners. “As teachers we work a


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lot and have a little time for extra and supplementary

materials and learners study many other subjects like

literature, science and mathematics. They have no

time and even families have restricted financial

properties." No 46. At last Internet as the cheapest

source for language learning was not available in most

language schools or was just for teachers in rare cases.

RQ2: Have you ever noticed any changes happening in

the learners’, their families’ or government’s attitudes

or language policies regarding English language and

its role in our life? Please give examples?

Table 2 illustrates that the attitudes of families have

changed regarding English language learning, almost

60% of the attending teachers claimed to have

witnessed the shifts in families' attitude regarding ELT,

Figure 2. They suppose that learning English language

is necessary for better future, better life and better

job, they are engaged in the process of language

learning, showing enthusiasm in their children's

progress believing that English is really needed if they

want to communicate via internet or travel even to

neighboring countries. Families also compete against

each other and English language learning has become

a matter of prestige among them. "Families regard

learning English language as a skill rather that filling

their children's free time as a kind of entertainment or

extra-curricular activity." P. NO. 48, "There has been a

steady increase in the number of children attending

English classes even before formal education of

elementary level and it means change in families'

attitudes." P. NO. 112

Language learners have recognized the need to

consider learning English language with new

perspectives. According to the survey more than 50%

of the attending teachers Figure 2, believed that

learners have made shifts in their attitudes regarding

English language because if they want to continue

their studies for higher education they need English

language, they regard it as a prerequisite to have

better job opportunities, they know that internet and

other social networks like face-book, chatting or

emigration need English.

Based on Figure 2, 30% of the surveyed teachers

mentioned the shifts happened in teachers' and

language schools' opinions concerning English

language which mainly included a dramatic rise in the

number of private language schools even in small

towns. These institutes try to hire the best teachers

and teach the best books available and fashionable.

They are trying to employ internet, CDs and movies in

their classes.

At last as Figure 2 illustrates only 4% of the teachers

believed that there were some changes in the state's

language policy and the indicators of these were as

the increased number of language schools authorized

to activate in the field, increased number of original

English movies on TV especially scientific programs

and at last recent CDs available for high school text

books. However, most teachers objected to the state

language policies as according to them, there have

been no or few changes in high school textbooks and

education system of English language in state sector

and public schools never meet learners' needs.

Teacher P. No. 45, stated: “After four years of English

language education they still have little knowledge of

it”. “English language education is still thought of as a

sign of imperialism” P. No. 25. "I feel sad when I see

the poor families who want to enroll for the higher

levels but with no support on behalf of state or

whoever responsible as this is because of poor English

language courses in state run sectors that families

have to enroll their children in private language

schools." P. No. 87, as a head teacher.


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Table1. Characteristics of participants

Number of teachers

Gender

Male 74 Female 88

Teaching Experience

1-3 years 54 More than 3 years 108

Fields of study

English teaching 78 English literature 48 Other fields 36

Educational Qualifications

MA 66 BA 94 PhD 2

Barriers of Post-method

The main barriers against post-method pedagogy Number of answers

Barriers made by families. 72

Barriers made by language learners. 61

Barriers made by Language institutes. 56

Cross-cultural barriers. 49

Inadequate facilities. 37

Table 2. Changing Sectors

Sectors of changes seen Number of answers

Changes in families attitudes 125

Changes in language learners' opinions 57

Changes in language teachers' and language schools 30

Changes in government's policies 9

I have seen no changes recently in any sectors mentioned 5

Table 3. Teaching strategies as symbols of post-method

Skills regarded as post-method teaching symbols Answers

Internet and social networks like: Email, chatting, face book, 69

Integration of four language skills 63

Using books, articles, and CDs in addition to textbook 49

Teaching according to learner needs, differences. 41

Using free discussions and group work. 40

Encouraging learners to attend decision making process. 33

Trying to make learners familiar with other cultures. 24

Encouraging learners to self study, autonomous learning. 21


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Figure 1. Barriers against the implementation of post-method teaching

Figure 2. Percentage of attitude changes in various sectors


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Figure 3. Distribution of teaching strategies as symbols of post-method

RQ3: Which one of these post-method strategies do

you apply in your real teaching classes? Strategies like:

integrating four skills of reading, listening, speaking

and writing; using up-to-date technology like internet

and face book or other social networks; free discussion

in the class; teaching based on learners’ needs;

teaching suitable text for social life of learners’;

sharing learners in decision making process in the

class; respecting differences among learners in terms

of language learning strategies.

According to Table 3, the surveyed teachers regarded

different language teaching strategies as the symbols

of postmethod pedagogy as far as their facilities,

language schools' policies and learners' intentions

allowed. 20% of the surveyed teachers Figure 3,

regarded using internet as a very suitable way to get

familiar with authentic language in varieties of forms.

“Many books and journals are not available here but

internet can fill these gaps” said by P. No. 66. The next

strategy was trying to teach the four skills of reading,

listening, writing and speaking at the same session,

mentioned by 63 ones of the teachers (Table 3). The

third mostly mentioned one was using books, articles

and CDs in addition to materials available in the

classes mentioned by 14% of the teachers Figure 3.

The next strategy was trying to teach according to

learners' needs and differences as much as possible

through encouraging language learners to attend

decision making processes in the class. Arranging free

discussions and group work projects was mentioned as

the sixth one Table 3, encouraging and valuing self-

study and the idea that teacher is not the only source

of English language, and at last giving information

about other cultures and asking learners to get

familiar with them and study about them through

English books or internet and report to the class.

According to Figure 3 while trying to persuade

language learners to use internet and other social

networks as new sources of language learning and

integrating the four skills in every session were

regarded by about 20% of teachers, just 6% of them

replied autonomous running classes as a symbol of

teaching in post method era. Roughly the same

percent (7%) mentioned encouraging learners to get

familiar with other cultures, reflecting another

parameter of still teacher-centered education and

English language status as still being a foreign


Vol.1.Issue.2.;2013


language and teachers feeling less need for cross-

cultural communication as a base for ELT.

DISCUSSION

The current research revealed that postmodern

English language pedagogy in the context of Iran in

compliance with the realities of postmodernism and

combating the short comes of modernism's stiff

barriers, has to apply new strategies to survive. The

study is in the line with Edwards (1994) who describes

the main characteristics of education in our times as

the followings:

1. Education should adopt more diversity in its

main constructs like method, curricula,

targets and processes.

2. It should stop mass production and

recreation of a new society within newly

defined boarders. Since postmodernism is

regarded decentering and loosening of

limitations.

3. It has to accept more participants with more

cultural diversity without rejecting local

realities of them.

In agreement with postmodern adaptations necessary

in education, in this study English language learning

and teaching were revealed as highly politically and

culturally oriented. As Kumaravadivelu (2006)

discusses the ideological and pedagogical barriers of

implementing postmethod pedagogy, we tried to

show them in real context of TESOL in Iran. A

postmodern approach to English language recognizes

the crucial and really affective factors of localities and

never take for granted the modernistic views to

language learning such as global methods, text books,

native like pronunciation and teacher centered

education (Sharifian, 2011, Finch. 2008) , which were

dominant in English language pedagogy based on this

research. Instead of these metanarratives,

postmethod pedagogy now looks teaching with new

perspective and creativities on behalf of teachers and

learners, through introduction of new concepts like

task-based and project-based language teaching,

however the current study arrived at this points that

creativities and applying newly developed language

teaching and learning strategies were faced with

serious barriers Table 1. As an authentic study the

preceding analysis of the data gathered through a

tailor-made questionnaire indicated the status quo of

post-method pedagogy and its main barriers Table 1,

the attitudes of related sectors of families, learners,

institutes and state concerning postmethod Table 2,

and the teaching strategies Iranian teachers in private

language schools regarded as the symbols of it Table

3. According to the findings of this survey, post-

method pedagogy in Iran is faced with barrage of

barriers on behalf of families, language learners and

language institutes, even cross-cultural differences

and macro language policies of the ruling system

Figure 1.

In line with postmethod principle of ‘ecology of

language teaching and learning’, (Van Lier, 2004) who

highlights the crucial role of context driven factors in

order to apply newly teaching and learning strategies,

the current study revealed the main barriers as the

method based views of families, learners, language

institutes and macro-strategies of state (see Figure 1).

As suggested by other researchers (Abednia, 2011;

Aliakbari, 2003; Fahim, 2009), all related elements of

English language pedagogy have to start big changes

to enter postmethod era. The findings of the current

research is in line with (Ozsevik), who studying

barriers of CLT in the context of Turkey, arrived at

these points that large classes, teachers’ heavy

workload, heavily loaded program,

curriculum/assessment mismatch, students’ poor

communicative abilities, and students’ low motivation

were the main obstacles against applying new

language teaching strategies including CLT.

In the same line with Fahim and Pishghadam (2009), in

practice TESOL in Iran was revealed to be in method

based approach to teaching English. As main features

of method era the current study attested that

autonomy and self-study is not yet well founded in

Iranian context, teachers are regarded as the only

source of language and responsible for doing all

exercises and following the content of textbooks to

the letter (Finch, 2008). While Hashemi (2011) regards

no difference in practice between method and post

method and comments that looking for alternative to


Vol.1.Issue.2.;2013


method would never guarantee the future of language

pedagogy, the current study reflecting the views of

teachers puts it as imperative to adapt current

practices towards postmethod ones. In accordance

with Riazi and Mosalanejad (2010) our study showed

teaching for testing as another prevalent fact of

method based pedagogy in our country since the

English section of KONKOOR (university entrance

exam,) is based on just textbooks and can be

answered just by memorization of the vocabulary and

the structural points in them. Also reflected by the

research, there is still a misconception that learning a

language is leaning and copying its culture. Therefore,

families and teachers are very concerned about the

negative aspects of being exposed to western culture

through internet or textbooks. Language learners are

accustomed to having teacher-centered education in

their non-English courses and mainstream education

system. Given this, changing this just through English

classes while still having it in other classes seems

impossible for EFL teachers and their learners, also

emphasized by Ghorbani (2009).The findings accord

with the study done by Riazi and Mosallanejad (2010)

who argued against the prevalence of low-order

learning objective in state English language system

and the goal of language teaching which was

preparing students just for university exam. While

educational goal of postmethod is believed to be

cross-border communications as the irreversible

consequence of globalization (Hall, 2011). The findings

of the study confirmed wash-back effect of KONKOOR

forced learners, teachers and families to prefer

language-centered rather than communication-

centered classes with a heavy load of decontextualized

grammar and vocabulary teaching, multiple - choice

test and translation practices. Mirroring the same

conclusion Ghorbani (2009) arrived at while

conducting a research concerning high school

language teaching in Iran, Japan and Malaysia, the

current research indicates the external pressure,

especially particular testing system is highly restricting

applying newly developed language teaching

methodology in Iran. The policies of private language

schools as another result of the current study were

determined as economically oriented, so they

attributed more priority to textbooks, families, and

learners while paying less attention to language

teachers' creativities, in contrast with what Brown

(2007) encourages teachers to adopt an enlightened

and eclectic method or approach. This led to teachers’

witnessing lack of extrinsic motivational factors in the

same line with the results of the study done on factors

affecting teachers' motivations for professionalism by

(Hildebrandt and Eom). All of the mentioned reasons

indicate that professional development is faced with

stiff barriers and teachers are strictly controlled by

language institutes and families to obey certain rules,

not teach based on their experiences and theories and

some of most popular strategies of post-method

teaching like free discussions, out of textbook

materials, student-centered education and internet

search.

When it comes to possible explanations and

speculations, it can be argued that teaching English in

Iran still has a long way to go in order to appreciate

and implement post-method teaching and learning.

The research supports what outlined by Hashemi

(2011) that, although in many theoretical aspects

teachers in Iran have progressed a lot, they just have

to think of finding ways to translate that body of

knowledge into practice. Based on the findings of this

study, teachers' creativities are to some extent

hampered by families' and language schools'

restricting approaches (see Table 1). Which can

negatively affect professionalism as indicated in the

research carried out in the context of Turkey by

(Hildebrandt and Eom). For the better performance of

postmethod pedagogy the present study indicated the

necessity of adopting a more postmethod driven

pedagogy based on the principals of particularity,

practicality and possibility (Kumaravadivelu, 2006).

The results of the study accord with Akbari (2008) in

emphasizing on the accurate reflection of class

oriented conditions as the imminent matter of post-

method. With regard to barriers facing newly

developed pedagogical approaches as shown in Table

1, it seems inevitable that all related factors in the

field of language learning and teaching including


Vol.1.Issue.2.;2013


teachers, institutes and state educational policies have

to adapt and adopt new strategies, in the same line

with Aliakbari (2011) who demands new policies as

prerequisites of our era of language teaching and

learning. In order to make successful transition from

method to post-method pedagogy, it should be

founded upon instructor's variables and these

variables should be revised based on inevitable

realities of time (Gorjian, Pazhakh and Parang) as post-

method also reflected by this research is based on the

previous experience and local knowledge of its agents

(Kumaravadivelu). In the same line with the research

done by (Samar and Davari), the findings of this study

suggest that faced with new realities resulting from

globalization and glocalization (Sharifian, 2010) who

regards thinking globally and acting locally as a key

stone of postmethod pedagogy and the status of

English as a Lingua Franca, language policy makers at

the levels of institutes and state have to think deeply

and strategically when setting new priorities.

CONCLUSION

The current study touched on a post-method

pedagogy oriented endeavor to diagnose and analyze

the teachers’ beliefs concerning barriers facing the

implementation of post-method ELT, teaching

strategies as its symbols, and at last the changes

happened in the attitudes of main stakeholders with

respect to English language. In parallel with the main

functions, the current study was also aimed at

investigating and illuminating the characteristics and

localities of ELT in Iranian context according to the

concept of particularity (Kumaravadivelu) since post-

method pedagogy regards context-sensitivity as its

main cornerstone (Van Lier). In light of evidence

provided above regarding teachers' views and

recommendations about post-method pedagogy, it

can be concluded that ELT in Iran is faced with a

barrage of barriers almost on behalf of all related

sectors. While families and learners, aware of the new

status of English language and its crucial role, still

believe in traditional and method based teaching and

learning, language institutes being concerned about

their business, competition and unwritten procedures

make teachers abide by their policies and preferred

language teaching approach. Moreover, the

educational state policies are less congruent with the

current issues of ELT. The same applies to EFL courses

offered at tertiary level in Iran, so it seems very far-

fetched to expect post-method driven ELT to emerge

out of these limiting conditions unless serious and

extensive thinking and planning are carried out by all

related elements mentioned in the study.

Regarding the unique context of this survey, the

results may be cautiously applied to other cultures and

countries especially the middle-east ones. As the

findings of the study reflect the suggestions and ideas

regarding the research topic not the real obstacles

witnessed or identified in the real classes, it would be

worthwhile to study the topic in more practical

aspects of post-method pedagogy like class-

observations. Not many language institutes were

willing to cooperate fully with the researchers and

some of them had got negative suppositions of their

teachers taking part in a survey evaluating their

language schools’ policies concerning the modern

approaches to language teaching and learning. Some

of the participating teachers were not as familiar with

the research topic as it was expected, which gives

legitimacy to doing a survey regarding pre-service

education of language teachers.

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