Jahangiri, Fatemeh

Global Citizenship Education in EFL Setting in Iran: Analyzing Top Notch Series and Teachers’ Perception

AbstractThis study was an attempt to explore how education for global citizenship GCE isreflected in EFL courses in private language institutes in Isfahan Iran To this end portrayal of GCE in course books and the way Iranian English teachers perceive theconcept of GC and GCE were investigated The study consisted of a quantitative and aqualitative phase In quantitative phase content of Top Notch series which is widelyused as the main course book in EFL classes in Iran was analyzed based on Oxfam sCurriculum Guideline for GCE In qualitative phase semi structured interviews wereconducted with ten Iranian English teachers in order to investigate their perception ofGCE as well as their viewpoint about implementing GCE in EFL classes Participantswere selected purposefully among those teachers who were more experienced inteaching Top Notch books and agreed to take part in the study A mixed method designwas used to merge and synthesize two strands of data The content analysis resultsshowed that Top Notch books did not improve students knowledge and understandingof issues related to GCE However the books performed better in developing relatedskills and giving students the attitude and values of GCE The interview results showedthat the participants were uncertain about the concept of GCE The participants believedthat it is completely relevant to implement GCE component in EFL classes They alsostated that since issues related to GCE are interesting for the students can increasestudents motivation and help them learn English better The findings of the study mayencourage stakeholders to design courses for English teachers in order to develop theirknowledge and understanding skills and values and attitudes of GCE The results canalso be used in developing materials that have GCE related content Keywords Global citizenship global citizenship education textbook analysis teachers perception vii