درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Social identity plays a significant role in the professional life of teachers; however, the social identity of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers is an under-investigated research area in general and in the context of Iran in particular. This study aimed to explore Iranian primary-level EFL teachers’ perceptions toward social identity. To this end, phenomenological design was adopted. Participants included 15 teachers (7 males and 8 females) from private language schools of Tehran and Tabriz who were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Based on the results of the thematic analysis, five main themes were identified: social communication skills, professional development experiences, using collaboration, group activities, and negotiation strategies to understand students’ social identity, effect of social identity on teaching profession, and effect of social identity on teacher interactions. This study has some implications for primary-level EFL teacher educators and primary-level EFL teachers. Primary-level EFL teacher educators should use the findings to train pre-service teachers on the construction and reconstruction of their social identity. Besides, primary-level EFL teacher teachers should be attentive to the reconstruction of their social identity based on the insights taken from this study.

This study examined the structure of professional interaction networks among primary school teachers and their relationship to professional learning. Using social network analysis, we investigated 69 second-cycle primary school teachers in District 3 of Mashhad through a census approach. Data were collected using two instruments: the Teacher Interaction Network Analysis Questionnaire and the Teacher Professional Learning Questionnaire (Liu et al., 2016), and analyzed using ERGM and PLS approaches. Key findings revealed that teachers' network size significantly influences their positional capital within the network, which in turn directly affects their professional learning. While intra-school professional consultations showed a significant positive relationship with professional learning, inter-school consultations at the district level demonstrated no significant effect. ERGM analysis identified several critical factors shaping network ties: school homophily emerged as the strongest predictor, followed by out-degree based on educational qualifications, in-degree based on school role (teaching vs. administrative), and out-degree based on teaching experience. Notably, teachers with higher qualifications (Master's and PhD) and less experience were more active in seeking peer consultations, with administrative staff (principals and deputies) receiving the majority of these professional inquiries. These findings highlighted the localized nature of professional learning networks and suggest opportunities for strengthening inter-school collaboration to enhance teacher development.

This research aimed to investigate the factors contributing to dropout rates among students in physical education high schools in Kurdistan province. The study employed a qualitative approach, specifically utilizing the systematic data-based strategy developed by Strauss and Corbin. Sixteen male students were purposefully selected based on theoretical saturation. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews, online media analysis, and document reviews. Following the extraction of perspectives from the qualitative interview texts, the content of these texts, along with online media and documents, was analyzed using a three-stage coding process: open, axial, and selective coding. Initially, 332 open codes were identified, which were subsequently refined to 234 primary codes and 20 axial codes by eliminating redundancies. To ensure the reliability and validity of the data, several strategies were implemented, including rigorous research stages, author characteristics, resource enrichment, data triangulation, and participant validation. The findings revealed that causal factors for dropout included internal demotivation, family financial difficulties, and peer pressure. Background factors consisted of an inappropriate family atmosphere, parental illiteracy, and discrepancies in societal literacy. Intervention factors contributing to dropout included parental coercion regarding education and inadequate school facilities and infrastructure. Proposed strategies to reduce dropout rates encompass support from school staff, attention to students facing challenges, and fostering teacher empathy. Ultimately, the consequences of student dropout include diminished social competencies and negative attitudes toward education.

The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of using new educational technologies (interactive PowerPoint) on the collaborative learning of sixth grade students. The present research is an applied research in terms of purpose and semi-experimental one in terms of data collection method. The selected research design is the pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of this research (250) includes all the sixth grade students of Qazvin city, Lower Tarem region, in the academic year 2017-2018. Using simple random sampling method, 50 people (25 control group and 25 experimental group) were selected. The main data collection method is library research method. For data collect purpose, participatory and active learning questionnaire (Cho and Bavli, 2007) has been used. The data collection instrument is a package of using modern educational technologies (interactive PowerPoint). Content validity was checked to secure the validity of the research and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. The reliability of the questionnaire was found to be 0.85. In the descriptive statistics section, statistical characteristics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation have been reported, and in the inferential statistics section, the KS test was employed to determine whether the variables are parametric or non-parametric. Also, one-variable covariance analysis was run using SPSS23 software. The results of the present study indicated that the use of new educational technologies (interactive PowerPoint) had a positive and significant effect on the group dynamics and project of the sixth grade elementary students. The findings of the present research also revealed that making use of use of new educational technologies (interactive PowerPoint) had a significant effect on the collaborative learning of students. It also indicated that the use of new educational technologies (interactive PowerPoint) had a significant effect on the dimensions of collaborative learning (group dynamics, doing work on the project, feedback) and students' feedback