Ali Sayyadi - University of Tehran
Sayyed Mohammad Alavi - University of Tehran
Hossein Karami - University of Tehran

The current study attempted qualitatively to explore and compare the qualities that native and Iranian English teachers (with and without related educational backgrounds) attend to while rating their students' oral productions in the classroom context. In doing so, the perceptions of ۱۹ native English teachers (۹ graduates in TEFL and ۱۰ graduates in other majors) along with ۱۸ Iranian English teachers (۱۰ graduates in TEFL and ۸ graduates in other majors) were sought through semi-structured interviews. The data were collected after the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-۱۹) disease in ۲۰۲۰, which gave the researchers no choice but to look for haphazard cases with specific features in social networks. The recorded interviews were analyzed attentively through content analysis. The findings indicated that although all native and non-native respondents focused intensively on the structural features of language in general while rating oral interviews, they had notably different views regarding some sub-features within each category. Further results showed that the native and non-native TEFL-graduate teachers, unlike their peers with unrelated educational backgrounds, also gave credits to several message-based and pragmatic aspects of oral production. The findings have practical implications for researchers, pre-service and in-service teachers, and teacher educators.

classroom assessment, speaking, rating criteria, native teachers, non-native teachers, educational background