Iranian EFL Teacher Cognition: Tracing Cognitive Dissonance

Abstract

This paper is based on research with two groups of novice and expert teachers with and without TEFL Certificate (Standard Licensed and Alternatively Licensed) in contexts with prescribed methodology. It considers discord and tensions between teachers’ preformed beliefs, prior experiences and conceptions of teaching with the contextual obligations and teaching practices which may result in cognitive dissonance. In addition, it attempts to understand how teachers’ dispositions as indicated through teaching practices could affect them with various professional profiles such as expertise and teaching licensure. Associated with this, the article also studies how awareness and experience of dissonance in different teachers may be reflective of a ‘change provoking disequilibrium’ which may affect and shift their cognition and quality of their teaching. Cognitive Dissonance questionnaire (DARQ), class observation, and semi-structured interviews are used to help explain to what extent teachers experience and respond to dissonance during their field experiences and professional development.