Participants

The data collection of the first phase of the study was purposefully limited to full-time EFL teachers who teach in English departments in teacher education programs at public universities in Iraqi Kurdistan. For the purpose of sample selection,

convenience sampling was employed to recruit the research participants. Based on this type of sampling 120 EFL teachers were selected, the rationale for their selection was that they possessed "certain key characteristics that are related to the purpose of the investigation" and they were "easily accessible" (Dörnyei & Csizér, 2012, p. 1). Table 1 to Table 6 show the individual characteristics of the participants.

58 4.2.1 Gender balance

As it is noticeable in Table 1, the gender balance of the participating teachers is not perfect. In the context of higher education in the region of Iraqi Kurdistan, it seems that teaching in teacher education programs is an overwhelmingly male profession, contrary to western countries where females dominated the teaching profession. The imbalance in the number of respondents might be a cultural reflection where women had less chance to prolong their education and become university teachers. As a

consequence, male teachers outnumber females in the Kurdish public university in Iraqi Kurdistan at the time the study was carried out. Table 1 shows that almost three-quarters of all the participating teachers (65%) are male, while only 35% are female.

Table 1. Distribution of the participants

N %

Gender

Male 78 65

Female 42 35

N 120 100

4.2.2 Education

In Iraq Kurdistan, Master degree is the basic requirement to become a teacher in Kurdish higher education institutions, and increasingly universities only recruit graduates with a doctoral degree. As it is shown in Table 2 below, majority of the participants (75.8%) are Master degree holders while PhD holders are 24.2% and 30 out of 91of the Master degree holders reported that they were working on doctoral degrees.

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One possible explanation for this situation is that up to 2011 there were five public universities in Iraqi Kurdistan, after 2011 and in particular after the road map to reform higher education, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research opened eight new universities. In order to provide the necessary numbers of teachers to teach in these universities, MOHE opened many different Master programs at home and sent students abroad to prolong their education. Therefore, it is not surprising to find out the number of participants with Master degree thrice more than PhD holders.

Table 2. Distribution of the participants according to Education

N %

Education

Master 91 75.8

PhD 29 24.2

N 120 100

PhD student 30

4.2.3 Academic title

In Kurdish universities, in terms of academic title, qualified teachers fall into four categories: Assistant lecturer, lecturer, assistant professor and professor. The MOHE regulated the academic title promotion in all the higher institutions in Iraqi Kurdistan. Master degree holder with limited requirements can be promoted to assistant lecturer. Assistant lecturers can be promoted to lecturers after two years of classroom teaching and publishing a minimum of two research studies in peer-reviewed journals.

Lecturers can be assistant professors after four academic years of teaching and publishing a minimum of three research studies in peer-reviewed journals. However,

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there is a much higher and stricter requirement if one applies for promotion from assistant professor to professor. Table 3 displays that the vast majority of respondents were assistant lecturers (54.2%) and lecturers (37.5%).

Table 3. Distribution of the participants according to the academic title

N %

Assistant lecturer 65 54.2

Lecturer 45 37.5

Assistant Professor 7 5.8

Professor 3 2.5

N 120 100

4.2.4 Teaching experience

As it is noticed from Table 4, the participating teachers were well experienced.

Majority of the respondents (103) had up to fifteen years of language teaching

experience while nine teachers had more than fifteen years of teaching experience, and small minority (8) teachers had up to two years teaching experience.

Table 4. Distribution of the participants according to teaching experience

N %

Teaching experience

up to two years 8 6.7

3-5 years 29 24.1

6-10 years 48 40

11-15 years 26 21.7

more than 15 years 9 7.5

N 120 100

61 4.2.5 Age

As it is shown in Table 5 below, seventeen of the participants were in 25-35 of their age, seventy-eight of them are between 36-45 years old, nineteen of them are between 46-55 and only six of them are older than 55 years old. The overall mean age of the participants is 39.

0 Table 5. Distribution of the participants according to age

Age 25-35 17 14.2

36-45 78 55

46-55 19 25.8

Older than 55 6 5

N 120 100

4.2.6 Teaching load

In Kurdish universities, based on the academic title, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, indicated the teaching loads of the teachers per week. According to the regulations, teaching loads fall into four categories: Assistant lecturer have to teach 12 hours per week, lecturer 10 hours per week, assistant professor 8 hours and professor 6 hours per week. However, the findings show a different result from the regulated categories imposed by the MOHE. Due to the lack of sufficient teachers in the departments of English languages, the teachers are obliged to teach more than they have to.

As it is noticeable from Table 6, the majority of the teachers in this study teach more hours than the recommended maximum load by the MOHE. As it is shown,

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assistant lecturers (41%) teach between 12 to 18 hours per week. Lecturers teaching load is 10 to 15 hours per week. Assistant professors teach 8 to 10 hours per week and professors teaching load is 6 to 9 hours per week.

Table 6. Distribution of the participants

Academic title Teaching loads per week/

hours

N %

Assistant lecturer 12 to 18 65 54.2

Lecturer 10 to 15 45 37.5

Assistant Professor 8 to 12 7 5.8

Professor 6 to 9 3 2.5

N 120 100