Developing Productive Teacher Immunity by Providing Tailor-Made Teacher Education: A Constructive Endeavor?

The present study strived to determine the utility of tailor-made and learner-difference-based teacher education for the amelioration of the EFL teachers’ productive teacher immunity. To this end, ۶۲ EFL teachers were selected from ۱۲ language institutes in Urmia, Iran. The participants were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group, and were asked to complete the teacher immunity questionnaire prior to the onset of the treatment sessions. In the treatment phase of the study, the experimental group received a tailor-made teacher immunity education on the basis of the overarching sub-constructs of the teacher immunity construct using a web conferencing system in ten sessions during a ۵-week period. Notwithstanding, the control group received a learner-difference-based teacher education based on the predominant learner factors. Finally, both groups filled out the pertinent teacher immunity questionnaire anew, in order to examine the efficacy of the aforementioned treatments for the betterment of the teachers’ productive teacher immunity. The results of the study accentuated the fact that the EFL instructors’ teacher immunity was not impervious to the teacher education intervention. Furthermore, the tailor-made teacher immunity education had a more favorable impact on the improvement of the teachers’ productive teacher immunity. The findings might provide teacher educators with certain guiding principles that might empower them to revamp the current teacher education courses and tailor their education to meet the language teachers’ needs.

Keywords:

Learner Differences , Learner-Difference-Based Teacher Education , Tailor-Made Teacher Education , Teacher Characteristics , Teacher Immunity