Are TEFL vs. Non-TEFL Graduates Teachers’ Experience, Creativity, Mindfulness, and Instructional Competency Different?

Oct 15, 2026

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Recent advancement in educational systems has increased the importance of language teachers’ responsibilities for improving quality and competence, because students’ development is directly linked to teachers’ professionalism. This study examines the interrelationships between TEFL and Non-TEFL graduates’ EFL teachers’ teaching experience, creativity, mindfulness, and instructional competency. Using convenience sampling, 318 teachers completed relevant questionnaires. Path analysis compared two interrelationship models across groups, showing strong model fit for TEFL graduates and weaker fit for Non-TEFL graduates. Significant group differences emerged for instructional competency, supporting benefits for teachers, learners, and supervisors.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teacher responsibilities and competencies

Stress, teacher quality, and creativity

Mindfulness and instructional competency

Factors influencing instructional competency

Are TEFL vs. Non-TEFL Graduates Teachers’ Experience, Creativity, Mindfulness, and Instructional Competency Different ? Fatemeh Tohidifar1 English Department, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran [fatemeh.tohidifar73@yahoo.com](fatemeh.tohidifar73@yahoo.com) Akram Faravani2 English Department, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran [afaravani@yahoo.com](afaravani@yahoo.com) DOI: 10.35974/acuity.v8i1.2806 Abstract Recent advancement in educational systems have fostered the significance of language teachers’responsibilities to improve their qualities and competences since students’ development is directly related to teachers’ qualities and profession. The current study aims at finding the interrelationships between TEFL graduates vs. Non TEFL graduates EFL teachers’ Teaching Experience, Sense of Creativity, Sense of Mindfulness, and their Instructional Competency. 318 EFL teachers were selected through convenience sampling from different institutes. Participants filled three questionnaires of Teaching Creativity Quotient, Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and Instructional Competency Questionnaire by using both paper-based and online methods. To analyze the data, two models for interrelationships among the variables of the study for the two groups of TEFL and Non- TEFL graduates were proposed and tested using path analysis. The findings showed that the proposed model in TEFL group perfectly fit with the data. In non-TEFL group the goodness of fit indices was not within the acceptable range. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the two groups (TEFL and Non-TEFL teachers) regarding instructional competency. This study can be beneficial for teachers, learners, and supervisors. Keywords: Creativity, Instructional competency, Mindfulness, Teaching Experience. INTRODUCTION Recent advancements in educational system have fostered the significance of language teachers’ responsibilities to improve their qualities and competences since students’development is directly related to teachers’ qualities and profession (Katyal & Evers, 2004; Halili, 2019) . Accordingly, the importance of teacher education is highlighted. In this condition, teachers’ duty is not only to transfer the information and knowledge to students but also to increase their sense of creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and so on (Faravani & Ataei, 2015a) . Therefore, to achieve these goals, a teacher needs to have essential teaching competencies and qualities (Nair, 2016; Kansanen, 2004) . Working as a teacher is full of stresses; as teachers said, working in modern teaching environment is very stressful and this can result in teachers who are tired, depressed, worried, cynic and don’t consider themselves adequately efficient. In addition, stress and fatigue in teachers and their consequences (including low self-efficacy, lack of enthusiasm, and less effective teaching style) has negative effects on student engagement and their educational quality (Emerson et al, 2017) Teacher quality refers to some teacher-related characteristics that produce advantageous educational results which help teachers to have fruitful classes (Coachran-Smith, 2005; Nguyen et al, 2020) . Faravani and Ataei (2015b) mentioned some essential qualities for a good teacher. They believed that a teacher should be creative, talented, and skillful in teaching, and provides students with positive feedback, fosters their critical thinking, and builds up a suitable environment for learning. Therefore, it seems that creativity, mindfulness, and teaching experience can be categorized as teacher qualities, since these features can help teachers to provide an appropriate learning environment. In our complicated world, with no borders remains using modern technologies, a teacher should be aware of different cultures and have a global perspective, he should know modern and relevant teaching styles to go beyond borders. However, it is represented in li

FAQs

What does the study investigate between TEFL and Non-TEFL teachers?

It analyzes relationships involving teaching experience, creativity, mindfulness, and instructional competency among EFL teachers who are TEFL graduates versus Non-TEFL graduates.

How were participants selected and data collected?

The study used convenience sampling and collected questionnaire responses from 318 EFL teachers, using both paper-based and online methods.

What were the main findings about the proposed path analysis models?

The proposed model fit the data well for the TEFL group, while goodness-of-fit indices for the Non-TEFL group were not within an acceptable range.

Was there a difference in instructional competency between the two groups?

Yes. The results showed a significant difference between TEFL and Non-TEFL teachers regarding instructional competency.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào