Abstract:
In an attempt to liberate teachers from deficiencies of the conventional methods, Kumaravadivelu (1994) proposed the concept of “post method condition” to overcome the challenges caused by the very nature of methods. The literature regarding post-method pedagogy has indicated that most of the studies focus on its theoretical aspect, while the practical realization has been largely untouched. To this end, the present study was an endeavor to unveil the perspective of Iranian EFL teachers concerning the applicability of this pedagogy. 21 male and female in-service EFL teachers from different cities in Iran (Shiraz, Marvdasht, Bushehr, Tehran, and Gonbad-e-Kavus) participated in this qualitative research where data came from semi-structured interviews as the primary source of data collection. The interview data were transcribed and coded using Straus and Corbin’s (1998) constant comparative method, including three codification processes of open, axial and selective codings. The finding indicated that absence of required autonomy among teachers, teacher’s job security, students’ passivity, absence of critical thinking skills among students, dominance of transmission model of teacher education, inefficiency of the textbooks, teacher’s focus on coverage and grade pressure, and demanding nature of post-method pedagogy as the main pedagogical barriers which prevent language teachers from applying this pedagogy in their teaching practices.
Machine summary:
The finding indicated that absence of required autonomy among teachers, teacher’s job security, students’ passivity, absence of critical thinking skills among students, dominance of transmission model of teacher education, inefficiency of the textbooks, teacher’s focus on coverage and grade pressure, and demanding nature of post-method pedagogy as the main pedagogical barriers which prevent language teachers from applying this pedagogy in their teaching practices.
According to the ideological bases of this pedagogy, instead of following a specific method, language teachers must find the most appropriate strategies and techniques to enrich their teaching repertoire (Kumaravadivelu, 1994) by assuming learners to be partners in a cooperative venture who are directed toward the enrichment of their learning potentials (Kumaravadivelu, 2001).
Since structured interviews consist of rigorous sets of questions that do not allow one to divert (Braun & Clarke, 2006), a semi-structured interview with a small number of participants was conducted to yield an in-depth understanding of the teachers’ experiences regarding the challenges and obstacles that they face in implementing post-method pedagogy in their teaching.
<H4>Results</H4> The findings of the problems and obstacles that teachers face in implementing post-method pedagogy in Iran’s EFL context is presented in the eight subcategories as follows: <H4>Absence of the Required Autonomy among Teachers</H4> The teachers argued that there is no room left for them to engage in decision making regarding the overall process of their teaching.
<H4>Teacher’s Job Security</H4> The parameter of ‘possibility’ of Post-method pedagogy provides a context for teaching regarding the social engagement and political accountability (Khatib &amp; Fathi, 2012).