ابوالفضل قاسم زاده علیشاهی

This research is with a mixed approach. The study population quantitatively consisted of all Urmia’s high school principals and assistant principals (n=452). Cochran’s formula was used to determine this quantity. 204 subjects were chosen as the study sample through stratified random sampling. Qualitatively, the study population who consisted of education pundits was chosen by a purposive sampling—snowball. That is to say, 13 subjects were chosen by the theoretical saturation technique. To collect the quantitative data, a researcher-made questionnaire ensuring a face and content validity of 0.88 was developed by the experts. The qualitative data were collected according to semi-structured interviews. The data analysis was performed by two software programs—SPSS and MAXQDA. The results of the quantitative findings suggested that the challenges and obstacles to the leadership of professional learning communities are not in satisfactory condition in schools. Furthermore, the results of Friedman’s rank test indicated that the highest rank mean relates to the organizational challenges and obstacles, while the lowest rank mean was depicted by the individual challenges and barriers. According to the results of the qualitative findings, four strategies were suggested to address the challenges and obstacles to the leadership of professional learning communities as follows; organizational strategies, educational and selection strategies, cultural strategies, and leadership strategies.

Purpose: Considering the importance of media literacy and competency development in this field, the present research was conducted with the aim of assessing the suitability and prioritization of the components of the media literacy competency development model of English language teachers. Methodology: This study in terms of purpose was applied and in terms of implementation method was mixed (qualitative and quantitative). The research population in the qualitative part was the experts of Farhangian University and principals of the first and second period schools of Tabriz city, which based on the principle of theoretical saturation number of 15 people were selected as a sample. The research population in the quantitative part was English language teachers of the first and second period schools of Tabriz city, which based on Cochran's formula number of 384 people were selected as a sample. The research tool in the qualitative part was a semi-structured interview, which its data was coded in MAXQDA software, and in the quantitative part was a researcher-made questionnaire, which its data was analyzed by structural equation modeling and weighted matrix in SPSS and SmartPLS software. Findings: The findings showed that the media literacy competency development of English language teachers has 50 sub components in 12 main components, including the media access, production and communication, technology development at the global level, media literacy promotion infrastructure, provision of educational equipment, management of students' entry into the virtual world, lack of possibilities of educational assistance, lack of acceptance of virtual media among teachers, critical thinking training, creating a learning environment and learners' participation in the educational structure, media literacy competency development, establishing educational justice and developing and updating teachers' skills. Also, all the main components had an average variance extracted higher than 0.50 and Cronbach's and combined reliability higher than 0.70, and the media literacy competency development model of English language teachers had a good fit and their effects on each other were significant (P<0.05). In addition, respectively the components of technology development at the global level, establishing educational justice, media literacy competency development, developing and updating teachers' skills, media access, production and communication, lack of acceptance of virtual media among teachers, management of students' entry into the virtual world, creating a learning environment and learners' participation in the educational structure, critical thinking training, media literacy promotion infrastructure, provision of educational equipment and lack of possibilities of educational assistance were of higher importance. Conclusion: According to the identified components for the media literacy competency development and their prioritization can be taken an effective step to media literacy competency development of English language teachers.