Critical Pedagogy Principles: Iranian EFL Teachers' Perceptions

In a critical pedagogy context, class should not be seen as a closed capsule or as an isolated area which is separated from the outside environment. In other words, classes regardless of their outside environment may be just as places for reading and writing and memorizing school materials and textbooks, not as places for reading and writing the world. Thus, the teacher’s value should not be depreciated to a scorer or evaluator controlling and monitoring the phase of passing one course to the next course by learners as a formal role for teachers. This study desired to investigate the difference between Iranian high school EFL teachers across their gender, age, and academic degree. To this aim, 200 EFL teachers teaching in English institutes in Qom city with different genders, ages, and academic degrees were selected non-randomly and purposefully. The instrument of this study was the Principles of Critical Pedagogy Scale questionnaire developed by Yilmaz (2009). This study used a mixed-method design. The participants of the current study were asked through a five-point Linkert Scale about their perception of critical pedagogy principles. Data analysis used descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA. The results of the t-test and ANOVA indicated there was no difference between teachers' perception of critical pedagogy across their age and gender except for academic degree. The findings of this study might have implications for stakeholders, teachers, and students.