Appraising the Relationship between Teachers’ Effectiveness and Teachers’ Productivity among Iranian EFL High School Teachers: A Mixed Methods Sequential Explanatory Design

Research in English Language Pedagogy

دوره 11، شماره 2 - شماره پیاپی 23، شهریور 2023، صفحه 277-301   

نوع مقاله: Original Article

شناسه دیجیتال (DOI): 10.30486/relp.2022.1963675.1393

نویسندگان

Azadeh Ghorbanzadeh¹؛ Seyyed Hassan Seyyedrezaei^{* 1}؛ Behzad Ghonsooly²؛ Zari Sadat Seyyedrezaei¹

¹Department of English Language Teaching, Aliabad Katoul Branch, Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katoul, Iran

²Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

چکیده

Due to the primary role of teachers as practitioners of educational principles, considering teachers’ effectiveness and productivity are regarded as significant issues in the field of language teaching which has recently received experts’ attention in SLA research. In response to this outlook in education, this interdisciplinary explanatory ‎sequential mixed-methods study aimed to address the relationship between EFL teachers’ effectiveness and productivity in the light of a famous model taken from the field of human resource management now applied to the EFL domain. On this premise, out of 100 English teachers, 80 female Iranian EFL high ‎school teachers, selected through convenience sampling from 34 public high schools in Mashhad, ‎Iran, participated in the study and responded to the Teachers’ Effectiveness Questionnaire (Kumar & Mutha, 1974), and Teachers’ Productivity Questionnaire (Hersey & Goldsmith, 1980). A semi-structured interview with 15 female EFL teachers was also undertaken to help triangulate the results. Results from the quantitative phase indicated that teachers’ perceptions of the teachers’ effectiveness were significantly correlated with their productivity. The qualitative findings added to the quantitative findings by explaining several main personal and organizational issues concerning EFL teachers’ perceptions of teachers’ effectiveness and productivity, for example, teachers’ interpersonal relationships, personal needs, motivational factors, subject knowledge, professional development, personal attributes, and administrators’ support. The findings of this investigation may have some implications for stakeholders, policymakers, administrators, and teacher educators to re-plan their professional development programs to meet the real needs of teachers in their particular educational context rather than providing teachers with theory-based programs.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Mixed Methods Study؛ Teachers’ Effectiveness؛ Teacher of English as a Foreign Language (EFL)؛ Teachers’ Productivity

اصل مقاله

1. Introduction

Teachers’ effectiveness and productivity are two attributes that may point them in the proper direction in their careers. Klassen and Kim (2019) defined teachers’ effectiveness as a set of internal characteristics including personality, motivation, beliefs, and dispositions that interact with external elements (i.e., cultural, social, and educational) to impact students’ outcomes. Teachers’ productivity is characterized by Orodho et al. (2013) as the obligations fulfilled by a teacher at a certain time in the educational system to achieve the ideal points.

In this regard, in line with the claim of Jacobs and Winslow (2004) concerning the centrality of faculty productivity for their organizational growth, today’s teachers are challenged by various stressful sources in their work, including student overcrowding, long working hours, inequality of pay and benefits, and the struggle to balance the increasing demands of their job, which are becoming more challenging in terms of effort and time. Furthermore, today, we have two major problems with human resources in the educational system: motivation in human resources and professional skills (Davidescu et al., 2020). Besides, to put flesh on Derakhshan et al. (2020)’s study, teachers in the educational system are not motivated sufficiently to prove their effectiveness and productivity as they are employed enduringly in the system.

Issues such as job motivation and commitment and teachers’ organizational commitment affect the effectiveness and productivity of teachers and schools. Adu et al. (2012) contended that giving teachers opportunities for professional advancement, achievement, recognition, accountability, and financial compensation is essential to obtaining high-quality job output from them. All these and more will be enhanced the teachers’ effectiveness and productivity. Similarly, Alvarez and Barney (2007) confirmed issues like the nature of the job, the possibility of advancement in the job, the assignment of responsibilities, success in fulfilling responsibilities, and creating a context and conditions that cause the teacher to be known in the workplace, cause teacher satisfaction with their work, and all contribute to teachers’ productivity.

 

2. Literature Review

2.1. The Theoretical Background

2.1.1. Teachers’ Effectiveness

To achieve the importance of the concept of teachers’ effectiveness in teacher quality, the researchers first introduced the concept of teachers’ effectiveness, addressing who is an effective teacher, how effectiveness is assessed, and how it may be increased.

The teaching and learning paradigms of Danielson (2011) and Marzano (2007) are widely used in educational settings to define teachers’ effectiveness in the twenty-first century. According to Danielson’s methodology, the four domains of planning and preparation, the classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities comprised the criteria for measuring teachers’ effectiveness. She emphasized how a teacher’s choices, experiences, and actions all have an impact on how effective she is with her students as well as how she develops professionally. Teachers with more experience are more effective since they learn more about how to do their jobs effectively throughout their careers. The adaptable domains in Danielson’s paradigm can be used in a range of classroom settings, academic disciplines, and student ages.

In the same vein, Marzano (2007) articulated his framework in the form of ten inquiries that symbolized a reasonable planning sequence for successful instructional design, such as establishing learning goals, student practice to deepen understanding, students interacting with new knowledge, engaging students, effective student-teacher relationships, effective classroom management, communicating high expectation for students, as well as effective, standards-based, formative and summative assessment processes that employ numerous indicators of students’ competency.

Manifesting qualities of effective teachers, Stronge (2018) supported that effectiveness is an intangible term when considering the complicated process of teaching.  To Kumar and Mutha (1974), teachers’ effectiveness means the ability to teach effectively in the classroom; justifying this, Mazandarani and Troudi (2017) stated that teachers’ effectiveness is a crucial factor in teacher evaluation systems in the context of English Language Teaching (ELT) in Iran. They suggested five primary categories as markers of effective teaching based on their exploratory research findings on Iranian EFL lecturers’ perceptions of the attributes and traits of an effective L2 teacher. Personal characteristics, cognitive and metacognitive abilities, and professional capabilities were among them.

 

2.1.2. Teachers’ Productivity

One of the productivity models developed by Hersey and Goldsmith (1980) is the ACHIEVE model which assists managers in determining the root cause of performance issues and developing change strategies to address these issues. Hersey and Goldsmith (1980) had two primary objectives in mind when developing a model for human performance analysis: The first step in the ACHIEVE model is to focus on the ability of followers. To some extent, followers must have the willingness and knowledge necessary to carry out assignments. In the second stage, they broaden the idea that adherents must have a proper understanding of how to do everything suitable and duty by adding role image or independent understanding.

This economic-driven concept is increasingly difficult to pin down when it comes to education and persons. According to Coombe et al. (2020), a definition of productivity for teachers must reflect the effect of teaching, the capacity to fulfill the number of additional activities necessary in any educational context, the quality of research conducted, and the devotion to the profession. They defined a productive teacher as one who has a recognized position, including self-employment, is engaged in teaching, conducts research and evidence this research through conference presentations and publications, is dedicated to the profession, professional development, and lifelong learning, and maintains an excellent work-life balance.

In this respect, Yusuf and Adigun (2010) established that productivity in the educational sector is quite often considered as a proportion of task completion, which may contribute to the conviction of the sector’s goals and aspirations for the future within the economy, as well as pertinent to numerous sectors or organizations. Likewise, they represented that teachers’ productivity is the proportion of teachers’ output. At this juncture, the output alludes to the value and amount of qualified students produced by the teachers. Johnson and Birkeland (2003) also portrayed teachers’ productivity as a proportion of the amount and nature of the result, to their contributions to all aspects of their performances as teachers, such as teacher responsibility, teacher authority, school climate, test outcome, graduation rates, and dropout rates.

In a relatively new perspective, the keyword embedded in productivity is value-added, which means high productivity performance demonstrates a superior degree of value-added to an enterprise. Conceptually, Gomez-Mejia et al. (2016) identified the notion of productivity as a measurement of the number of value-added employees on goods or services produced by the organization. In this case, added value is identified with products, services, or occupations produced by somebody. As a result, productivity is the work of employees who contribute considerably to hierarchical objectives in business. Also, being productive, as underlined by Coombe et al. (2020), will enable you to do more work daily, increasing your value to your organization and accelerating your career.

Chinyere (2017) has proposed that teachers’ productivity is a measure of the link between what teachers can create and the number of resources allocated to production. Productivity is such an essential idea that it is used in all types of organizations. Teachers’ productivity is defined as a teacher’s capacity to grasp the curriculum, transform it into the teachable subject matter, and convey it to students in a way that they can gain information, modify their attitudes, and develop skills that are appropriate for personal growth and social amelioration. This clearly shows that teachers’ productivity is defined as their ability to grasp a certain domain of their topic to successfully teach it to prepare students for future environmental development.

 

2.2. Empirical Background

The theoretical basis briefly provided in the preceding section has helped several scholars who have attempted to explore the relationship between effectiveness and productivity. Adu et al. (2012) conducted a simple non-experimental study that included all teachers, vice principals, and students from Oyo State’s public secondary schools. This study sought to determine how many careers development, student-teacher relationships, and features of support services affected teachers’ effectiveness and productivity. They concluded that issues including career progression and school relations had a beneficial impact on teachers’ productivity and effectiveness. On the contrary, the support services issue had little impact on teachers’ productivity.  Ellett and Teddlie (2003) also maintained that providing chances for reward, personal growth, career development, success, accountability, respect, and engagement in decision-making to teachers is critical to obtaining high-quality work performances.

Soodmand Afshar and Doosti (2014) explored the qualities of effective Iranian junior secondary school EFL teachers through the perspectives of 376 junior secondary school students and 32 EFL teachers from various Iranian junior secondary schools. The results of the content analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaire and the interview indicated that students and teachers were rough of the same opinion, both highlighting teachers’ professional qualities (e.g., knowledge of the subject matter and ability to impart knowledge adequately), classroom management-related qualities (e.g., involving all students by assigning pair work/ group work activities and/or assessing their learning progress regularly), and interpersonal relationships as being of crucial importance for effective EFL teaching.

Vipinosa (2015) investigated the teaching effectiveness, productivity, and work values of science teachers at Capiz State University during the 2014-2015 school years to gain insight into the question of whether performance in one territory improves execution in the other or something along those lines. This survey-correlation research included 35 Science teachers, 24 administrators, and 375 randomly selected students from Capiz State University’s nine campuses. The findings revealed that effectiveness, productivity, and work esteem were not fundamentally linked in reality.

In another study, to better understand how administrators in some government secondary schools in Cameroon can increase the productivity of secondary school teachers, Etomes and Molua (2019) employed a cross-sectional survey research approach. The effectiveness of four main strategies (i.e., motivation, conflict resolution, supervision, and communication) and the degree to which they affect teachers' productivity were examined. The results showed that in government secondary schools, administrators' communication, conflict resolution, supervision, and motivation tactics have an impact on teachers' productivity. Aja-Okorie and Usulor (2016) also found that administrators’ involvement patterns had a significant impact on teachers' productivity in secondary schools.

Regarding the significance of teachers’ effectiveness in the field of language teaching, Tahan Shizari et al. (2022) developed a 42-item Likert-scale questionnaire. To evaluate the effects of modular education on EFL teacher effectiveness in a practical classroom setting, this study required the participation of 322 EFL students and 50 EFL teachers. The study's findings indicated that (1) the modular teaching methods had a positive effect on EFL teachers' effectiveness and that (2) Iranian EFL students had a highly positive attitude toward constructs of teachers’ effectiveness, such as behavior, attitude, relationship, interest, and effective teaching practice. Relying on their findings, they proved that teachers’ effectiveness actively contributes to the L2 teachers’ sensitivity to learning in EFL settings.

According to a survey of the literature, a significant study has been undertaken on effectiveness and productivity across the world, although the majority of these studies have been undertaken in sectors such as business and management. Moreover, to the best of the current researchers’ knowledge, investigations on manifesting the inseparable chain between teachers’ effectiveness and productivity concerning EFL teachers through teachers’ views have been scarce in the context of Iran. Besides, the relevance of productivity in education has been extensively documented in the literature; nevertheless, additional research is needed to shed light on its contribution to teachers’ effectiveness, which has an impact on students’ language learning quality. Taking into account the aforementioned concerns, the current study was conducted to contribute to the existing research in this area by investigating the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of their effectiveness and productivity. This study contains a quantitative and qualitative phase and follows a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018).

The conceptual foundation of the current study is based on the self-efficacy theory by Bandura (1997) and the productivity theory by Taylor (1997). Self-efficacy, according to Bandura, is an individual’s conviction in their capacity to influence actions that result in explicit execution success. Meanwhile, Taylor’s philosophy emphasizes the conviction that making individuals function as hard as possible, was not as efficient as upgrading how the work was finished. In 1997, Taylor who is the pioneer of scientific management research recommended that productivity would heighten by upgrading and streamlining jobs. As a result, laborers are urged to strive to earn more, the production of the business is as efficient as it tends to be, and benefits are expanded subsequently. More specifically, the current study was led by the following research questions:

1. Is there any statistically significant relationship between Iranian EFL teachers’ effectiveness and productivity?
2. What are the perceptions of Iranian EFL teachers concerning effectiveness?
3. What are the perceptions of Iranian EFL teachers concerning productivity?

 

3. Method

3.1. Design and Context of the Study

A sequential explanatory model was used in this investigation (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). The second qualitative phase clarifies and explains the previous quantitative phase’s findings. Data mixing happens in this design between phases one and two, as well as at the interpretation level (explanatory) when quantitative and qualitative data are analyzed independently.

The quantitative section of this study involved 80 EFL female teachers from 34 public high schools in Mashhad, Iran. Convenience sampling was utilized since the education department only permits researchers to visit a small number of schools. The teachers’ ages varied from 32 to 50. These English teachers have a variety of English majors (Teaching, Literature, Translation, and Linguistics) and teaching experience (novice and experienced). They were all Iranians who spoke Persian fluently.

Besides, in-depth semi-structured interviews were done to discover the attitudes of Iranian EFL participants and to address the study’s second and third research questions. According to Creswell and Plano Clark (2018), qualitative follow-up inquiries may be employed by researchers to aid obtain a more thorough grasp of the issue when the quantitative phase does not give adequate interpretation and information. During this stage of the study, 15 volunteering teachers were asked for follow-up interviews. To adhere to the qualitative paradigm’s sample rules, the researchers maintained the observations until saturation was attained.

 

3.2. Instruments

Two questionnaires, which were piloted on 20 EFL high school teachers previously, were used to gather information on the effectiveness and productivity of the teachers. The pilot study findings were examined using Chronbach’s alpha to determine the reliability of the questionnaires. The items on the questionnaires were given to three experienced professors in the subject who were Ph.D. holders to check for ambiguity to ensure face and content validity. Their feedback assisted the researchers in enhancing the quality of the final instruments used. The following is a full explanation of these instruments.

 

3.2.1. Teachers’ Effectiveness Questionnaire (TEQ)

            The Kumar and Mutha (1974) Teacher Effectiveness Scale (TES) with 69 items was utilized (Appendix A). On a five-point Likert scale, each response was given a score ranging from disagree 1 to agree 5. This scale consists of six different areas of the teachers i.e. Academic, Professional, Social, Emotional, Moral, and Personality. The sum of these numbers yields the topic effectiveness rating for the teachers. The same instrument was utilized in a study by Malik and Kapoor (2014). In the current investigation, the overall reliability of the measure was adequate (α = 0.94), as determined by Cronbach’s alpha.

 

3.2.2. Teachers’ Productivity Questionnaire (TPQ)

The researchers adapted an existing Human Resources Productivity Standard Questionnaire developed by Hersey and Goldsmith (1980) to better suit the objective of the study. There were 26 items on this modified scale. The Teacher Productivity Scale has 26 items (Appendix B). It comprises seven dimensions, including the ability (knowledge and skills), clarity (perceived or imagined role), help (organizational support), incentive (motivation or desire), evaluation (education and performance feedback), validity (the valid and legal practice of the staff), environment (environmental fit), which was scored on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire scale, however, was found to be satisfactory (α = 0.91).

 

3.2.3. Semi-Structured Interviews

Furthermore, utilizing a semi-structured interview with 15 EFL high school teachers, the teachers’ perceptions of effectiveness and productivity were studied. The interview questions were created using components from the literature on teachers’ attitudes about their effectiveness and productivity, as well as data from the quantitative part of the study. The goal was to gather detailed information on the characteristics that EFL teachers considered to be the most important contributors to the development of teachers’ effectiveness and productivity. Accordingly, the validity and credibility of the qualitative data analysis were checked as Creswell and Plano Clark (2018) explained to ask peers to examine the data, i.e., peer-reviewing. Finally, the interviewees were asked 9 questions (2 yes/no and 7 open-ended) that addressed the key themes in the teachers’ effectiveness and productivity. However, after the domain had been fully sampled, data replication happened and data saturation was attained. It was then time to cease gathering information and examine what had been gathered (Saunders et al., 2018).

 

3.3. Data Collection Procedure

The procedure of this study is divided into two sections. Initially, quantitative data were collected and analyzed to examine the connection between the effectiveness and productivity of EFL teachers. Following that, qualitative data were collected and examined to aid in gaining a better understanding of the quantitative findings. To that aim, before the study, the participants were given a brief overview of the research’s goal. The study’s two key components, teacher effectiveness, and productivity were then briefly described to them. They were instructed that since the questions would be anonymous, they should not put their names on the questionnaire form. It was anticipated that teacher answers would be more honest as a result of the anonymity. Furthermore, teachers’ interviews varied in duration from 20 to 30 minutes and were done at the high school at a time that did not interfere with students’ instructional time in the classroom. The transcribed interview data were processed and categorized using the coding methodology suggested by Saldaña (2012) to obtain an in-depth look at major dimensions of teachers’ effectiveness and productivity among EFL high school teachers. The codes were then synthesized into certain categories. Finally, these groups were related to broader themes. As a final point, the association between the variables was studied using the data from the questionnaires and interviews.

 

3.4. Data Analysis Procedure

Utilizing the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 23), the current study employed descriptive and inferential statistics to examine the data collected during the quantitative phase. To respond to the quantitative research question, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r) was used to ascertain the relationship between the two variables. Additionally, the interviews were audio-recorded with the participant’s consent, transcribed, and coded to categorize the participants’ perspectives on the variables in the issue to respond to the qualitative research objectives of this study. After audio recordings were transcribed, transcripts and analytical memos were imported into MAXQDA. Kuckartz and Rädiker (2019) confirmed that doing qualitative data analyses with MAXQDA aids the researcher’s effort to develop empirical types during the case-oriented analysis process. The overarching goal of the case-oriented analysis is to categorize and, if required, quantify qualitative data or sections of it.

 

4. Results

Descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, variance, and range were computed for each variable. Table 1 displays this information.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics for TEn and TP

	N	Range	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation	Variance
TEn	80	76.00	269.00	345.00	304.90	21.22	450.42
TP	80	30.00	64.00	94.00	80.10	6.63	44.04
Valid N (listwise)	80

Note. TEn= Teachers’ Effectiveness; TP= Teachers’ Productivity.

The results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test are displayed in Table 2; this test was carried out to make sure that the data were distributed normally.

Table 2.

One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

		TEn	TP
N		80	80
Normal Parametersa,b	Mean	304.90	80.10
	Std. Deviation	21.22	6.63
Most Extreme Differences	Absolute	.07	.09
	Positive	.07	.07
	Negative	-.05	-.09
Test Statistic		.07	.09
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)		.20c,d	.06c
a. Test distribution is Normal.
b. Calculated from data.
c. Lilliefors Significance Correction.
d. This is a lower bound of the true significance.

In Table 2, it is stated that the p-values for the Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests for TEn and TP are 0.20 and 0.06, respectively. Because these values are greater than 0.05, it may be argued that the data distribution is normal, and so the parametric tests may be employed.

At that point, to respond to the principal research question of this investigation, the Pearson coefficient correlation test was utilized. Table 3 displays the test’s results.

Table 3.

Correlation between Teachers’ Effectiveness and Teachers’ Productivity

		TEn	TP
TEn	Pearson Correlation	1	.63**
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.00
	N	80	80
TP	Pearson Correlation	.63**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.00
	N	80	80
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Note. TEn=Teachers’ Effectiveness; TP= Teachers’ Productivity

As can be seen in Table 3, Pearson’s (r= 0.63, n= 80, p-value= 0.00) disclosed significant relationships between teachers’ effectiveness and teachers’ productivity. As a consequence of Pearson’s r values, the researchers were able to reject the null hypothesis.

Several attributes were developed for this investigation based on the qualitative data from the interviews. Table 4 shows the underlying themes and subthemes that emerged from the examination of the respondents’ replies. Some identified codes are repeated in several main themes, such as teachers’ interpersonal interactions, teachers’ personal needs, motivational factors, subject knowledge, professional development, teachers’ personal attributes, and administrators’ support, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4.

The Coded Themes Along with Their Frequency Counts

Parent code	Code	All coded segments
Teachers’ personal needs		8
Teachers’ personal needs	Psychological needs	1
Teachers’ personal needs	Skills	1
Teachers’ personal needs	Accountability	0
Teachers’ personal needs	Praise	2
Teachers’ personal attributes		1
Teachers’ personal attributes	Patience	2
Teachers’ personal attributes	Preparation	4
Teachers’ personal attributes	Appearance	1
Teachers’ personal attributes	Creativity	3
Teachers’ personal attributes	Confidence	3
Teachers’ personal attributes	Responsibility	6
Teachers’ personal attributes	Management	4
Professional development		11
Motivation		9
Motivation	Interest	4
Motivation	Job satisfaction	2
Administrators		9
Teachers’ Subject Knowledge		9
Interpersonal relationships		5
Interpersonal relationships	Cooperation	3
Interpersonal relationships	Respect	5

 

Figure 1 depicts a schematic representation of the study’s emergent model.

Figure 1.

Themes Derived from Analyzing Teachers’ Responses in Interviews

Teachers’ effectiveness. Teachers perceived teachers’ effectiveness as one of the characteristics of teachers to perform tasks expected of them successfully. In this regard, one teacher, Nazli, considered teachers’ effectiveness as: “attributes as an individual; their preparation; their classroom management; and how they prepare for and track their students’ growth.” Likewise, Somayeh, one of the interviewees among the teacher participants, characterized an effective teacher as:

A person who inspires and motivates students helps them feel confident, cultivates good relationships with them, and strives to acquire their respect.

Teachers’ subject knowledge. Mina, one of the experienced participation teachers, emphasized the significance of subject knowledge in language teaching, saying, "In language instruction, the value of comprehending the target language cannot be overstated.” Similarly, Zahra remarked: “The teachers' inadequate understanding of the English sound system, syntax, and vocabulary, as well as their poor communication skills, would prevent them from working effectively and productively if they did not have a practical mastery of the target language.”

Interpersonal relationships. Maryam touched upon the importance of teachers’ interpersonal relationships as an influential factor in teachers’ effectiveness and productivity. She pointed out: “Intimate connections between teachers and students and between teachers are defined by the teacher’s tolerance, respect for students and other teachers, understanding of students, and respect for other points of view.” She suggested: “participation in co-curricular activities is a part of teachers’ productivity, which entails the teacher’s ability to maintain a good relationship with students and other teachers; attention to each learner; effective execution of additional responsibilities; participation in school activities; involvement in school societies.”

Professional development. In terms of professional development for teachers, Hengameh claimed that an effective teacher should learn from others and that “Teacher training to operate properly as an input-output mediator, it must be focused on the individual and situations as the need arises.” One more teacher, Akram declared that: “Training increases teacher confidence and improves work knowledge, performance skills, effectiveness, and productivity." She emphasized that teachers are assured of successfully teaching and managing the everyday problems of the classroom for the remainder of their professional careers after completing the training courses and education programs and receiving certifications or degrees.

Personal needs. Niloofar who is an experienced teacher emphasized teachers’ personal needs. She posited that: “teachers are to a great extent, effective and productive inside the classroom when their elevated instructional fulfillment, skill, achievements, professional development, and praises are taken into account.” She continued that the lifetime of teachers in the work should be extended by providing a work environment that promotes teachers’ effectiveness and productivity.

Motivation. To fulfill corporate goals, a motivated and competent teacher is essential. Laleh posited that: “Motivation is important since even those with the necessary information, skills, and talents may struggle if they aren’t driven to put in the necessary time and effort” Similarly, referring to the role of ‘motivation’ in teachers’ effectiveness and productivity, Kosar who is an experienced teacher contended that: “The teachers’ lack of motivation, interest, and low job satisfaction consecutively contributes to low effectiveness and productivity.”

Teachers’ productivity. Teachers’ productivity was categorized by teachers according to the sense of duty, responsibility, and respectability to accomplish the destinations of learning and teaching. For example, as Sara, one of the respondents, stated:

Teachers’ productivity is considered as the effective and practical utilization of inputs including students, environment, materials, energy, and the knowledge within the production of assorted services.

Another characteristic of productive EFL teachers advocated by this study’s teacher participants of this study is the ability to reflect on their practice to improve teaching skills. Maryam highlighted the importance of “the necessity of trying to learn and assimilate new material teaching, seeking feedback and criticism, and maintaining up-to-date in the specialization.”

Principals have an important role in increasing teacher quality through reinforcing school culture, giving advice and support, and providing instructional tools, as demonstrated by the findings of this study. Masoumeh referred to this as follows: “Administrators can strive to develop teachers’ effectiveness and productivity by providing appropriate professional growth opportunities, frequent evaluations, a collaborative environment, mentoring support, accountability, and praise for teachers.”

Furthermore, Mina, one of the participants, expressed the responsibility of administrators as follows:

School administrators can trust teachers and offer opportunities for them to take initiative and feel relaxed." They should also serve as facilitators for teachers.

 

5. Discussion

Significant relationships between teachers’ effectiveness and productivity were discovered during the quantitative phase of this mixed-methods investigation. These findings were supported by the qualitative data, which revealed that teachers’ perceptions of effectiveness are highly connected with their perceptions of productivity.

The first research question investigated if there was a significant association between teachers’ effectiveness and productivity as measured by the Teachers’ Effectiveness Questionnaire and Teachers’ Productivity Questionnaire. Consequently, Pearson’s (r=.63) results indicated a statistically significant relationship. As a consequence of Pearson’s r values, the researchers were able to reject the null hypothesis.

Quantitative and qualitative results revealed that there is a recognition that within the school context variables, particularly teachers’ effectiveness has a significant relationship with students’ improvement and teachers’ outcomes. One differentiating feature of effective and productive teachers appears to be that they focus on student learning to guide their teaching in all of their methods to planning, creating, and executing instruction and evaluation. The finding of the first research question is confirmed by Ellett and Teddlie (2003) that the quality of teaching has received substantial attention from educational institutions, decision-makers, researchers, and teacher educators to improve student outcomes and the educational system. Effective and productive teachers are subject matter experts, but more importantly, they are always focused on their students’ learning.

The findings of this investigation, on the other hand, were inconsistent with the findings of a survey-correlation study conducted by Vipinosa (2015) to examine the effectiveness, productivity, and work values of Science teachers at Capiz State University to determine whether execution in one territory improves execution in the other or something along those lines. Vipinosa (2015) found that there was no measurably significant contrast in the effectiveness of science teachers based on their production level. Besides, science teachers were seen as productive at work paying little heed to their work esteems. She posited that effectiveness and productivity were not, factually, and fundamentally, identified with each other.

Based on the second research question, most of the teachers who participated in interviews defined an effective teacher as one who is properly trained has high standards, optimizes instructional time, monitors student development, caters to all of their students, and reflects on their craft. They also stressed visible features of a teacher, such as their rapport with students and their teaching style, in their definitions. These include a thorough grasp of the subject content, planning, learning theory, student differences, and classroom teaching tactics, getting to know individual students, and assessing student comprehension and performance with learning objectives.

The results of this study are consistent with Stronge's (2018) conceptualization of foreign language teachers’ effectiveness as having traits like being a person, adept at managing and organizing the classroom, organizing and orienting for instruction, putting instruction into practice, monitoring student progress and potential, and being a professional. This result is in line with the findings of Derakhshan et al. (2020)’s study, manifesting that when teachers change agents in their classrooms, they are in a good position to become effective teachers.

In line with the results of the second research question, Mazandarani and Troudi (2017) introduced five significant categories as indicators of effective teaching. Personal attributes, cognitive and meta-cognitive qualities, and pedagogical and professional skills were among those listed. This result is supported by Soodmand Afshar and Doosti (2014)’s findings that teachers’ professional qualities (e.g., subject matter knowledge, ability to impart knowledge adequately), classroom management-related qualities (e.g., involving all students by assigning pair work/group work activities, assessing their learning progress regularly), and interpersonal relationships were identified as critical for effective EFL teaching.

Based on the findings of the qualitative phase, the third question of the study, the majority of respondents highlighted that the type of connection that exists between teachers and associates can impact their level of responsibility as well as their productivity. As Coombe et al. (2020) stated, in educational settings, there are four primary connections that teachers need to cultivate: teacher to teacher, teacher to parent, teacher to student, and teacher to immediate supervisor and beyond. Being a team player and supporting your colleagues is essential for being a productive teacher.

Job satisfaction and motivation were two of the most important criteria mentioned by the majority of interviewees. According to the interviews, when teachers are more motivated, their school’s production increases. Teachers’ motivation and performance are also intimately associated, and if incentives and pay are effectively managed, they can lead to better performance and increased motivation. This conclusion is consistent with the findings of Aja-Okorie and Usulor (2016), who asserted that paying attention to teachers’ welfare requirements, positive reinforcement, and including them in decision-making promotes their job participation and performance.

Most of the teachers came to an agreement that training mostly contributes to the productivity objective. It enables teachers to stay current and meet with instructional innovations. The results were in agreement with the results of Tahan Shizari et al. (2022). They illustrated that modular instruction can have an immense impact on teacher ecological validity as it was observed the teachers who manipulated modular instructions developed a highly positive attitude towards the conditions of learning and generated deeper rapport with their students. Teachers’ training positively changed the atmosphere for the teachers and students in language classes.

 

6. Conclusion

According to teachers’ perceptions of these two variables, enhancing teachers’ effectiveness and productivity comes from comparable sources. These sources are connected to improving specific organizational and personal characteristics in this regard. The first of many methods to enhance and assist our teachers is to use measurements of their effectiveness and productivity to help them grow and assess them. The current study findings may catalyze educators to make judgments on the issue of effectiveness, and productivity as an overall self-evaluation to process teaching competence.

The current study’s results confirmed the findings of prior studies in this field of study. However, the presence of numerous unavoidable constraints would restrict the findings’ generalizability. The results of this study cannot be extrapolated to other nations because it was conducted on a sample of EFL teachers from Mashhad, Iran. Furthermore, since the only available teachers’ effectiveness scale is by Kumar and Mutha (1974), the researchers could not use a more up-to-date questionnaire. Besides, future longitudinal research might supplement the current study’s cross-sectional methodology to examine the causal link between EFL teachers’ effectiveness and productivity. Then again, it is shrewd to search out the view of other stakeholders, for example, administrators and students, regardless of whether independent or all in all. Future research might focus on additional essential but understudied teacher characteristics that influence their effectiveness and productivity, particularly in teaching English as a second/foreign language.

 

 

Appendices

Appendix A: Teachers’ Effectiveness Questionnaire

S. No.	Statement	Totally Agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Totally Disagree
1.	One should have full confidence in which subject he teaches.
2.	One should always try to develop his knowledge.
3.	A teacher should have the capacity to give knowledge of the present events, and general knowledge in addition to the course subject.
4.	One should give the necessary guidance to search for the solution to a pupil’s problems.
5.	A good teacher gives opportunity to pupils for adequate motivation.
6.	For achieving an adequate goal, one should use maximum reward and minimum punishment.
7.	One should behave brotherly/sisterly to all students.
8.	One should be always voluntarily ready to give his time and labor for the benefit of the pupils.
9.	A teacher does not usually use physical punishment on the pupils.
10.	One should use civilized language with pupils.
11.	One should do quality behavior with the pupils.
12.	One should honor to pupil’s ideas and proposals.
13.	One should not call his students outside of the class without cause.
14.	One should accept with pleasure, the errors told by the pupils.
15.	One should honor the Head of the Institution as the eldest member.
16.	One should solve illogical questions of the pupils patiently.
17.	One should cooperate in the daily school works.
18.	One should have confidence.
19.	One should give a neutral opinion concerning school activities.
20.	One should not do any work against the institution’s welfare.
21.	One should prevent the differences through the exchange of thoughts.
22.	One should have a relationship of friendship and brotherhood with fellow teachers.
23.	One should not hesitate in acquiring knowledge from fellow teachers.
24.	One should be always ready to give guidance to my teacher fellows.
25.	One should not assault his fellow teachers.
26.	One should give proper time to the guardian for the solution to the pupil’s problem.
27.	One should behave with honor to all guardians without considering caste, social and economic status.
28.	For the comprehensive development of the pupils, I take help from the guardian.
29.	One should take interest in the co-curricular activities of the Institution.
30.	One should prepare the pupils to take part in co-curricular activities.
31.	One should conduct the co-curricular
32.	One should prepare regularly a daily lesson plan.
33.	One should be familiar totally with the aims of lesson learning.
34.	One should select and prepare adequate assistance material.
35.	One should be creative.
36.	One should be responsible.
37.	One should have insight.
38.	One should be imaginative.
39.	One should have adjustment capacity.
40.	One should prepare practice homework according to students’ capacity.
41.	One should use adequate teaching methods in the class.
42.	One should present the subject matter clearly.
43.	My expression is fluent.
44.	One should develop the pupil’s interest in the lesson.
45.	One should use a blackboard.
46.	One should pay personal attention to each pupil.
47.	One should use effectively, of material aid.
48.	One should adequately make supervision of class practice work.
49.	One should examine written work adequately at times.
50.	One should utilize essential remedial methods.
51.	One should review the lesson after the end of a lesson.
52.	One should provide attention to the meanness of class.
53.	One should be a person of emotional stability.
54.	One should control the class without fear.
55.	One should have full knowledge of educational psychology.
56.	I use educational psychology based on pupils’ differences.
57.	One should always try to acquire knowledge and use new devices of education.
58.	One should take more cooperation from students in class management.
59.	One should live a happy, smart, and active life in school.
60.	One should wear a self-cleaned dress in school.
61.	One should be regular and disciplined.
62.	One should not smoke in class.
63.	One should have the feeling of cooperation.
64.	One should have an interest in vocation.
65.	One should be humorous.
66.	One should possess missionary zeal.
67.	One should emphasize the habit of regularity in students.
68.	One should have respect in his vocation.
69.	One should be disciplined.

 

Appendix B: Teachers’ Productivity Questionnaire

Questions	Very Low	Little	Average	High	Very high
1. How much do you feel your job in education will lead to success?
2. How much do you go through in-service training?
3. How much did you get the necessary training on doing your job?
4. To what extent are you reminded by the authorities of the mistakes caused by the lack of understanding of the job?
5. To what extent are you encouraged to ask how to do the right thing?
6. To what extent do you have a correct understanding of your work goals in the Ministry of Education?
7. To what extent does the Ministry of Education work to make teachers understand their work?
8. To what extent is adequate funding allocated to different units of education by the Ministry of Education?
9. How much of the equipment you need for your job is provided for you?
10. How much are you supported by other units in achieving your unit goals?
11. How much direct support do you receive from authorities for doing difficult tasks?
12. How many promotion opportunities are there in your job?
13. To what extent do you receive cash rewards from the Ministry of Education when showing initiatives?
14. To what extent does the Ministry of Education welcome and appreciate teachers’ initiatives?
15. To what extent do you receive support from a superior manager during personal problems?
16. How much do you know about the quality of your work?
17. To what extent are you informed by the Ministry of Education about the ways of improving your performance?
18. To what extent does the Ministry of Education provide feedback on the individual performance of teachers?
19. How much do you know about the positive and negative results of the work?
20. To what extent do you consider the Ministry of Education’s decisions to be ethical?
21. How fair do you think Ministry of Education decisions are?
22. To what extent is the appointment of staff in the Ministry of Education based on criteria and competence?
23. How much do you trust your superiors?
24. How much do market conditions affect your performance in the Ministry of Education?
25. How much does changing the economic conditions of society affect your performance in the Ministry of Education?
26. To what extent does compete with other similar districts affect your performance in the Ministry of Education?

 

 

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