The Effect of Classroom Observation and Teacher-Portfolio Evaluation on the General Language Proficiency Achievement of EFL learners: A Case of Iranian Intermediate Students

Abstract

The present study attempts to investigate the effect of teacher evaluation on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' general language proficiency achievement. Teacher evaluation is widely considered to be the important point in any educational system which aims at evaluating and assessing the performance of the teachers. Various techniques and methods have been suggested and practiced in educational contexts. This study employs the two well-known techniques for evaluation of the teachers: classroom observation and teacher portfolio. In doing so, 45 male and female English learners, who were all at true intermediate level in language institute Sama in Rasht, Gulian, Iran were randomly selected. These learners were divided in three groups: two experimental groups and one control group. These three groups received a pre-test before the treatment sessions (the control group did not receive any treatment). Finally the post-test which was the same as the pre-test was administrated. This research was conducted for about six months and a half during which two semesters took place. During treatment sessions each of the teachers of the experimental groups received both techniques. But in order to minimize any irrelevant teacher effect, each teacher for a semester received one treatment. In other words, one teacher dealt with classroom observation and the other teacher received portfolio treatment in the first semester. Similarly, for the second term the operation of the methods changed. As a matter of fact, the first teacher received portfolio and the second teacher was evaluated with classroom observation. Finally, the scores of the students at the post-test phase were calculated through the statistical package of SPSS. The results revealed that teacher-portfolio evaluation and classroom observation had a significant effect on the general language proficiency achievement of the learners and could be beneficial for enhancing the academic achievement of the learners.

Keywords: teacher evaluation, general language proficiency achievement, intermediate level, teacher portfolio, classroom observation, Iranian EFL learners