Iranian Translation Teachers and Their Professional Development

ABSTRACTThe goal of this research was to find out more about the professional development needs of Iranian translation teachers, taking the role of gender and education degree into account. In line with the objectives of the study, a qualitative research method using content analysis was applied. To do this, ۱۵ male and ۱۵ female Iranian EFL teachers with MA and Ph.D. degrees in different branches of English field including translation and TEFL were selected as the contributors in the research through purposive sampling from teachers teaching translation courses in different universities including Islamic Azad University, Kerman branch, and Shiraz Branch. A semi-structured interview, designed in six open-ended questions by the researcher through consulting the previous studies, was used to collect the appropriate data. The method utilized for data analysis included qualitative content analysis. According to the results, some professional development needs were extracted from interviews as knowledge of teaching methods, affective factors, evaluation procedure, good class communication, critical thinking, etc. Moreover, it was found that gender does not play a significant role in the professional development needs of Iranian translation teachers. However, the results confirmed that educational level plays a significant role in the professional development needs of Iranian translation teachers.