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. 2021 May 31;7(6):e07193. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07193

Self-reported teaching effectiveness and job satisfaction among teachers: the role of subject matter and other demographic variables☆

Karim Sadeghi 1,∗, Farah Ghaderi 1, Zahra Abdollahpour 1
PMCID: PMC8188051  PMID: 34141943

Abstract

The pivotal responsibility of educating and nurturing students in any society is on the shoulders of teachers, whose knowledge, affection, and commitment exert a great influence over students' lives. Therefore, attending to teachers' emotional state and satisfaction with their profession is crucial. This study was therefore undertaken to investigate the relationship between Iranian English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and their teaching effectiveness. The relationship between these teachers' job satisfaction and their demographic background (e.g. teaching experience and gender) was also scrutinized. Using convenient sampling, 173 English and nonEnglish teachers were selected to participate in this research. In order to collect data, Kulsum (2000) Teacher Effectiveness Scale and Lester's (1987) Teacher Job Satisfaction questionnaire were used. The results revealed a positive correlation between teachers' job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness and this held true for both English and nonEnglish teachers. For policy makers and stakeholders in education, this study underlines the significance of addressing teachers' needs and their challenges to promote their job satisfaction.

Keywords: English teachers, Job satisfaction, nonEnglish teachers, Teaching effectiveness

English teachers, Job satisfaction, nonEnglish teachers, teaching effectiveness

1. Introduction

Teachers are usually regarded as students' role models and shape their future. Consequently, attaining desirable pedagogical outcomes is dependent upon having the most motivated, satisfied, and effective teachers.

Many research studies substantiated that teachers' instructional performance affects students' learning and academic success (e.g., Usop et al., 2013). The life-changing influence of an effective teacher in enhancing students' learning and the overall improvement of the educational system attests to the necessity of attending to teachers' performance in the classroom and the possible factors related to their teaching effectiveness. Identifying factors correlating with teachers' performance in the classroom is thus deemed essential.

In any organization, contended and satisfied employees will be supportive of their colleagues and superiors and will assist them when needed; therefore, satisfied employees will have higher productivity and job performance which will consequently lead to the success of the organization (Bakotić, 2016). Teachers as the main human assets of the educational system are no exception in this regard. According to Lopes and Oliviera (2020), teacher job satisfaction is a determiner of the effectiveness of not only the teacher him/herself but also that of the students, the school environment and the educational system at large. The repercussion of teachers' job dissatisfaction could be the heavy costs of selection, training and recruiting new teachers. Satisfaction with one's job is increasingly becoming important in any workplace. Employers and supervisors should recognize that happier and more satisfied employees are more likely to have higher motivation and productivity at work. According to Ruhl-Smith and Smith (1993), satisfied teachers seemed to have better working relations with their supervisors and colleagues. They further identified responsibility, recognition, and achievement as some other contributory factors to teachers' job satisfaction.

One might expect that teaching would be recognized as an important and high-status job, as it has a major influence on the lives of students and requires training and acquiring significant skills; however, it seems that it is not always the case. It appears that most teachers, in particular in Iran, are not satisfied with their profession, mainly to a lower salary and believe that they are not relatively well-paid. Given the crucial role of payment in career choice, low payment might be an important factor contributing to teachers' job dissatisfaction.

In the current study, the research questions were designed to scrutinize the possible associations among both English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness in the Iranian context. The relationship between the teachers' personal and demographic information and their job satisfaction was also investigated. Before presenting the study, we first attend to the key concepts underlying this research as well as providing a brief review of the relevant literature.

1.1. Job satisfaction

The concept of job satisfaction is a difficult notion to define and there are significant differences in the provided definitions. There is a wide range of research conducted on job satisfaction (e.g., Ferguson et al., 2012; Petrovski and Gleeson, 1997) and several definitions of this construct have been put forward by authors (e.g., Locke, 1976; Spector, 1997). In spite of a confusion regarding the sources of job satisfaction and how it can be measured, there is some consensus on the definition of job satisfaction as “an affective (that is, emotional) reaction to a job that results from the incumbent's comparison of actual outcomes with those that are desired (expected, deserved, and so on)” (Cranny et al., 1992, p. 1). Job satisfaction is also defined as “how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of their jobs” (Spector, 1997, p. 2). Bloom (1986) defines job satisfaction as a combination of the attitudes, evaluations, or an individual's emotional responses toward the many facets of his/her particular job.

All of these definitions highlight the significance of the individual's feelings. Satisfaction with one's job might result in their personal growth, whereas dissatisfaction might bring about feelings of non-fulfillment and defeat. In early job satisfaction investigation, an individual's needs were in the forefront of research, but now the importance seems to be on conditions of the individual's mind.

As pointed out by Day (2000), teaching in general is regarded as a demanding and complex profession and in order to sustain enthusiasm, interest and energy for teaching, teachers need to sustain their own personal commitment to the profession with which they are typically associated. According to Zambylas and Papanastasiou (2004), teachers' job satisfaction is basically the satisfaction while teaching and the association between the teachers' requirements and their desires. Many research studies corroborated that satisfied teachers are more likely to be motivated and committed to their students and the school (e.g., Barnabé and Burns, 1994; Magee, 2013; Menon and Reppa, 2011). Teachers with higher levels of job satisfaction have also been reported to have higher teacher enthusiasm and self-efficacy (motivations) that are key factors in affecting teachers' well-being and instructional behavior as well as being influential in students’ learning, motivational and emotional outcomes (Bruic and Moe, 2020). Given the significant role of motivation in enhancing teachers' performance in the classroom, one of the important variables which is posited to be associated with teachers' job satisfaction is their teaching effectiveness and instructional performance.

1.2. Teacher effectiveness

Throughout history, investigators have been examining the very best teaching and educational practices. Several terms have been applied in order to describe and define the best teaching practice such as ‘good’ teaching as proposed by Watkins and Zhang (2006), ‘excellent’ teaching as introduced by Chen et al. (2012), ‘highly qualified’ teaching as originally used by Darling-Hammond and Youngs (2002), and ‘good and effective’ teaching as initially proposed by Van de Grift (2007). Even though the disparity in terminology is unavoidable, all of the aforementioned research studies address relatively the same set of the best teaching and educational practice modules.

Teaching effectiveness, which basically refers to instructors' behavior affecting students' outcomes and learning (Sammons et al., 1995), has been regarded as a main element determining students' achievement at school. Generally, teachers' educational behavior can be regarded as effective when it has an important impact on learners' outcomes such as academic achievement and engagement (Scheerens, 1997). That is to say, the quality of students’ learning can be strongly dependent upon their teachers' success and effectiveness. However, Brophy and Good (1986) claim, teacher effectiveness is a matter of meaning. To associate teacher effectiveness with producing achievement on different tests only is a misconception.

Moreover, Brophy and Good (1986) argue that mostly the provided definitions of the construct of ‘teacher effectiveness’ take in accomplishment in socializing learners and promoting their emotional and personal growth along with accomplishment in nurturing their mastery of formal curricula. In other words, most definitions of teacher effectiveness include teachers' ability in building up a good rapport with students and socializing with them and attempting to foster their personal and emotional development in addition to success in promoting and developing their mastery of formal courses of study.

2. Literature review

Studies on the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance have produced controversial results and as suggested by Singh and Tiwari (2011), employees who are satisfied with their job might not necessarily be productive performers due to a lack of motivation and commitment; and as maintained by Soodmand Afshar and Doosti (2016), there also might be employees whose job dissatisfaction might not affect their job performance due to such reasons as "altruism, dedication, and conscience" (p. 100).

In a longitudinal study, Duckworth et al. (2009) identified the role of positive trait on teaching effectiveness. To this end, 390 novice public school teachers took part in the study by completing different measures of optimistic explanatory style, life satisfaction and grit before the school year. Moreover, the academic achievements of learners were used as a yardstick to measure the participants' teaching effectiveness. The findings of their investigation indicated that at the end of the school year all the aforementioned positive traits, namely, optimistic explanatory style, life satisfaction and grit were individually predictors of the participants' teaching effectiveness. Moreover, the results of the study indicated that taken together, only life satisfaction and grit remained statistically significant predictors of the participants’ teaching effectiveness. The researchers concluded that positive traits such as optimistic explanatory style, life satisfaction and grit should be considered in the selection and training of educators.

To understand the link between teacher effectiveness and job satisfaction in Kenya, Ogochi (2014) recruited 130 teachers based on a stratified random sampling technique. The participants of the study had to complete two research instruments. The majority of school educators in Kenya were male. Most of the teachers had professional qualifications of either a Diploma or Degree in Education. The findings of the study indicated that job satisfaction level among the participants of the study was very low. However, the results concerning teacher effectiveness indicated that the degree of instructor effectiveness was primarily good. The researcher stated that it is because the majority of the participants expressed that they efficiently did their responsibilities. Finally, the results indicated that there was not any relationship between job satisfaction of teachers and their effectiveness.

In the same vein, Huang et al. (2013), conducted a research study in order to examine the possible impacts of lecturers' or higher-level teaching staff's job satisfaction on their teaching effectiveness. In so doing, the researchers interviewed different lecturers or educators that were selected based on simple random sampling to take part in the study. The selected participants mainly held higher positions at three specific Taiwan-based vocational and technological universities. The findings of the study revealed that teachers' and lecturers' job satisfaction had a statistically significant positive impact on teaching quality assurance.

Moreover, the findings of the study showed that teaching quality assurance had a statistically significant positive effect on the participants' teaching effectiveness. Additionally, the results of the study indicated the participants' job satisfaction had a statistically positive effect on their teaching effectiveness. The researchers concluded that teaching quality assurance had no more than a partial mediating impact and, as this study suggested, was not the only silver bullet for improved teaching effectiveness that essentially can be attained by boosting the educators’ job satisfaction.

In a similar study, Usop et al. (2013) aimed at exploring the association between teachers' job satisfaction and their working performance, and to this end, the researchers made use of survey questionnaires distributed among 200 elementary teachers from public schools in the Division of Cotabato City. The results of Pearson correlation revealed a positive relationship between teachers' job satisfaction and their working performance. Also, Ostroff (1992) investigated the relationship between job satisfaction, other job-related attitudes such as commitment, adjustment and psychological stress and organizational performance. Utilizing questionnaires, the researchers collected data from 13,808 teachers from the States and Canada. The results of this investigation which was conducted at an organizational level revealed a strong relationship between teachers' job satisfaction and their working performance. The results further uncovered a high correlation among teachers' job satisfaction, other job-related attitudes, that is, commitment, adjustment and psychological stress and school effectiveness.

While there is a plethora of research focusing on teacher job satisfaction and the factors affecting job (dis)satisfaction in various contexts (for example, Sahito and Vaisanen, 2019, reviewed published research in 21 developing countries to identify factors affecting job satisfaction; and Brezicha et al., 2020 analysed data from 29 countries on the relationship between involving teachers in school decision making and their job satisfaction), there are not many studies specifically concentrating on the link between perceived or reported teacher effectiveness and job satisfaction. Accordingly, as it is clear from the literature, notwithstanding the crucial role of teachers and their effectiveness in the success of students and the overall educational system, there still much remains to be known about the relationship between teachers' job satisfaction and their teaching effectiveness and to the best of the researchers' knowledge, no studies have investigated this issue comparing English with nonEnglish teachers. Accordingly, this study was planned to bridge this gap in the literature. Furthermore, as the literature is silent on the difference between English and non-English teachers in term of job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness, we assume null-hypotheses for the relevant questions. Therefore, in order to scrutinize the issue more deeply and test the relevant null-hypotheses, the following research questions were formulated:

  • 1.

    Is there any significant relationship between English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and teaching experience?

  • 2.

    Is there any significant difference between male and female teachers in their job satisfaction?

  • 3.

    Is there any significant difference between tenured (public school) and contractual (English institute) teachers' job satisfaction?

  • 4.

    Is there any significant difference between English and nonEnglish teachers in their job satisfaction?

  • 5.

    Is there any significant relationship between English and nonEglish teachers' job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness?

3. Method

3.1. Participants

This study was quantitative in nature as we posed specific research questions at the start of the study, elicited numerical data and used statistical techniques for analysing the data. More specifically, the study was of survey type and used both correlational or associational and ex-post facto designs. The research was conducted with a convenience sample of 173 Iranian English and nonEnglish teachers. 104 English teachers working in private language centers (n = 53) and public high schools (n = 51) and nonEnglish teachers (n = 69), all teaching at public schools participated in the current research. The age range of the participants was 22–53. The sample consisted of 48 female and 56 male English and 31 female and 38 male nonEnglish teachers. English teachers' length of service ranged from 1 to 29 years and nonEnglish teachers' teaching experience ranged from 1 to 30 years. NonEnglish teachers taught varying subject matters (e.g., mathematics, chemistry, Islamic education, history, and physics). The study was approved by ethical/research committee of English department at Urmia University. All the participants were informed about study aims and regulations and provided their consent for participation. The detailed information regarding the number of participants selected from each city and school/private language centers is presented in Table 1. Table 2 demonstrates the sociodemographic information of the participants.

Table 1.

Number of English and NonEnglish teachers selected from each city (N = 200).

City Public high school Private language center
Khoy (N = 35) 25 (11 English 14 non-English) 10
Andimeshk (N = 55) 40 (17 English 23 non-English) 15
Urmia (N = 68) 53 (22 English 31 non-English) 15
Tehran (N = 42) 21 (12 English 9 non-English) 21
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Table 2.

Sociodemographic information of the participants (N = 173).

Gender Major Workplace Tenure status
Female (N = 79, 45.66%) English (N = 104, 60.12%) English institute
(N = 53, 30.64%)		 Tenured (N = 120, English = 51, Non-English = 69. 69.36%)
Male (N = 94, 54.34%) NonEnglish (N = 69, 39.88%) Public high school
(N = 120, 69.36%)		 Contractual (N = 53, 30.64%)
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3.2. Instruments

In the current study, Lester (1987) Teacher Job satisfaction Questionnaire was employed to measure the participants' job satisfaction on a five-point Likert-type response format ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The participating teachers answered 66 items which measured nine facets of teachers' job satisfaction, namely, supervision, colleagues, working conditions, payment, responsibility, work itself, advancement, security, and recognition. Some example items were as follows:

Strongly agree Disagree Neutral agree strongly agree
57. Teacher income is less than I deserve 1 2 3 4 5
58. I try to be aware of the policies of my school. 1 2 3 4 5
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For the purpose of measuring teachers' effectiveness, Kulsum (2000) Teacher Effectiveness Scale was used. The participants were asked to answer the 60 items on this scale through rating themselves from 1 to 10. 1 denotes the lowest and 10 denotes the highest teaching effectiveness.

The first section of this questionnaire was designed to be answered by supervisors and principals. Due to the principals' reluctance to fill out this section, also in order to tailor the questionnaire to meet the requirements of the current study's context, this section was excluded from this questionnaire. The following items are some examples from the teaching effectiveness questionnaire:

Questions scores
2. I plan my lessons well in advance 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3. I do motivate my students for learning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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To cater for nonEnglish teachers' needs, both questionnaires were professionally translated into Persian and were tested in a preceding pilot study. The reliability coefficient for Teacher Effectiveness Scale and Lester's Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire was calculated using Cronback's alpha and were estimated to be 0.76 and 0.84, respectively. Moreover, the validity of the instruments employed in the current research was established by three field specialists who agreed that the items in the questionnaires could appropriately tap the intended constructs. Although the questionnaires employed in the study enjoyed initial face validity in terms of expert reviews, there was no information provided by original developers on the construct validity of these scales; we recommend accordingly that future researchers establish the construct validity of these scales first so that elicited data become more relevant and claims can be more defendable.

3.3. Procedure

The research employed convenience sampling, and, once the participants' anonymity was ensured, both translated questionnaires were distributed to English teachers working in English language centers and high schools and to nonEnglish teachers in Urmia, Khoy, Andimeshk, and Tehran, Iran. 200 questionnaires were handed out to the participants (60 were filled out online and 140 were delivered in person). Due to the number of the items, the participants were given three days to return the questionnaires. Most of the participants did the questionnaires in about 25 min. A few questionnaires were not filled out completely and were excluded from analysis and 173 questionnaires met the requirements for final analysis. The data was processed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 16). An independent samples t-test was employed to investigate RQ4, whether English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction was different due to the subject matter they taught (i.e., English vs. other nonEnglish majors). For the purpose of comparing English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction in terms of their gender (RQ2) and their employment status (i.e., contractual vs. tenured, RQ3), a Mann-Whitney U test was utilized. To probe into the relationship between English/non-English teachers’ job satisfaction and teaching experience (RQ1), and teaching effectiveness (RQ3), a series of Spearman correlations were also employed. Non-normal distribution of scores was the reason for using Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman correlations.

4. Results

RQ1: English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and teaching experience

This study was an attempt to find out whether there was any relationship between English and nonEnglish teachers' teaching experience and job satisfaction. Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics; and correlation results are presented in Table 4 and Table 5.

Table 3.

Descriptive Statistics for English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and experience.

Variable Mean SD Range
English teacher' Job satisfaction 228.04 38.9 255.00
 Experience 10.30 8.36 29.00
NonEnglish teachers' Job satisfaction 229.87 29.64 171.00
 Experience 19.05 7.89 30.00
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Table 4.

Correlation results for English teachers' job satisfaction and experience.

Job satisfaction Experience
Spearman's rho job satisfaction Correlation Coefficient
Sig.(2-tailed)
N		 1.000
.
104		 .040
.688
104
Teaching experience Correlation Coefficient
Sig.(2-tailed)
N		 .040 .688 104 1.000
.
104
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Table 5.

Correlation results for nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and experience.

Job satisfaction Experience
Spearman's rho job satisfaction Correlation Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed) N		 1.000
.69		 -.004
.971
69
Teaching experience Correlation Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed) N		 -.004
.971
69		 1.000
.69
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As Table 3 indicates, the job satisfaction scores of both groups are very similar and the difference is non-significant but non-English teachers are more experienced compared to English teachers.

As Table 4 represents, there is almost no relationship between English teachers' job satisfaction and experience (r = 0.040, sig > 0.05).

Similarly, as shown in Table 5, there is no significant relationship between nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and their teaching experience (r = -.004, sig > 0.05).

RQ2: Difference between male and female teachers in their job satisfaction

The distribution of scores for job satisfaction in the male group was normal (sig>0.05) but the distribution in the female group was not normal (sig<0.05). Therefore, a non-parametric test was employed to compare the two groups in terms of their job satisfaction. In so doing, a Mann-Whitney U test was run. As shown in Table 6, the mean rank of female group is higher than that of the male group (90.2 and 83.4, respectively). However, in order to ascertain whether this difference is significant, Table 7presents inferential statistics.

Table 6.

Mean ranks for male and female group.

Groups N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks
Job satisfaction males 94 83.43 7842.00
females 79 90.21 7036.00
Total 173
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According to Table 7, there is no significant difference between male and female teachers in terms of their job satisfaction (sig>0.05). Therefore, it can be concluded that teacher job satisfaction levels are independent of gender, as far as this research is concerned.

Table 7.

Test Statistics for male and female groups.

Job satisfaction
Mann-Whitney U 3377.000
Wilcoxon W 7842.000
Z -.889
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .374
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a. Grouping Variable: Groups.

RQ3: Difference between English and nonEnglish teachers in their job satisfaction

This study also investigated the role of subject matter in teachers’ job satisfaction. To this end, an independent samples t-test was run, the results of which is presented in Table 8.

Table 8.

Independent Samples Test for English and non-English majors.

F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Std. Error Difference
Job satisfaction 4.341 .039 -.331 171 .741 -1.83073 5.52908
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According to Table 8, there is no significant difference between English and nonEnglish major teachers' job satisfaction (sig>0.05).

RQ4: Difference between tenured (public school) and contractual (English institute) teachers’ job satisfaction

Owing to the fact that the contractual teachers’ scores on job satisfaction scale were not normally distributed (sig<0.05), the non-parametric test of Mann-Whitney was employed to find the difference between tenured and contractual teachers in their job satisfaction. The results are presented in Table 9.

Table 9.

Mann-Whitney U test for the type of employment.

Employment
Mann-Whitney U 2905.500
Wilcoxon W 10165.500
Z -.715
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .474
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a. Grouping Variable: Groups.

As Table 9 indicates, there is no significant difference between contractual and tenured teachers’ performance on job satisfaction scale (sig>0.05). Therefore, it is concluded that type of employment does not make a difference in the job satisfaction of teachers.

RQ5: English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness

The main goal of the current study was to investigate the relationship between English/nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and their teaching effectiveness. To this end Spearman correlation was run for the data set. Descriptive statistics and correlational results are presented in Tables 10, 11 and 12, respectively.

Table 10.

Descriptive statistics for job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness among English and nonEnglish teachers.

Variable Mean SD Range
English teachers' job satisfaction 228.04 225.00 38.9
effectiveness English teachers'
 401.13
 108.29 469.00
NonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction
 229.87
 29.64 171.00
NonEnglish teachers' effectiveness 423.80 117.57 387.00
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Table 11.

Correlations between job satisfaction and effectiveness among English major teachers.

Job satisfaction Effectiveness
Spearman's rho Job satisfaction Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .628∗∗
Sig. (2-tailed) . .000
N 104 104
Effectiveness Correlation Coefficient .628∗∗ 1.000
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .
N 104 104
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∗∗. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 12.

Correlation results for nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and effectiveness.

Job satisfaction Effectiveness
Spearman's rho Job satisfaction Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .288∗
Sig. (2-tailed) . .017
N 69 69
Effectiveness Correlation Coefficient .288∗ 1.000
Sig. (2-tailed) .017 .
N 69 69
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∗. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The table indicates that job satisfaction levels of both groups of teachers are very close but non-English teachers seem to be more effective (based on self-reports). To understand whether there are any meaningful relationships between reported teaching effectiveness and job satisfaction of each group, the following tables are in order.

Table 11 indicates that there is a statistically significant relationship between English teachers’ job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness; in other words, the more satisfied in their jobs English teachers are, the more effective their teaching is. This relationship is not causal, however; that is, it is also possible that more teaching effectiveness leads to higher rates of job satisfaction.

According to Table 12 too, it can be interpreted that there is also a positive significant correlation between nonEnglish (sig<0.05, r = 0.28) teachers' job satisfaction and effectiveness.

In short, concerning research questions 1–4, this study could not establish any associations among English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and their teaching experience; nor were there any differences found between teachers in terms of gender, type of employment (tenured vs. contacted) and subject matter (English vs. non-English) as regards to jobs satisfaction levels. Indeed all non-hypotheses for questions 1–4 were confirmed. As for the last and main research question of the present study, the results revealed a significant and positive relationship between the participants' job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness. This finding held true for both English and nonEnglish teachers. In other words, the relevant null-hypothesis for research question 5 was rejected, paving the way for accepting the alternative hypothesis that teaching effectiveness and job satisfaction are strongly correlated for both English and non-English teachers.

5. Discussion

The findings of this study revealed no associations among teachers' work experience and their job satisfaction; neither for English nor for nonEnglish teachers. This finding is not in accordance with previous research studies by Sari (2004), Ma and Macmillan (1999), and Skaalvik and Skaalvik (2009) who all found a negative correlation between length of service and teachers' job satisfaction. This means that, in these studies, as teachers gained more experience, their satisfaction with their profession decreased. Nonetheless, studies undertaken in other contexts (e.g., Ferguson et al., 2012) found a positive relationship between teachers' length of service and job satisfaction. Although many studies justify the negative correlation between teaching experience and job satisfaction as an indication of exhaustion encountered by more experienced teachers which results in their job dissatisfaction (e.g., Maele and Houtte, 2012), it can also be speculated that the other way round may be more logical; that is, those teachers with a longer service of teaching are older and more experienced in coping with job stressors, working demands and challenges (Oshagbemi, 2000). The context-specific nature of this research finding can explain the fluctuation in the results of these studies. For Iranian teachers of English and nonEnglish majors, other factors such as their mental health status, payment, managerial support, and social status might be more important contributors to their satisfaction with their job than experience per se.

Moreover, the result of Mann-Whitney U test revealed that there is no difference in English and nonEnglish teachers’ job satisfaction with regard to their gender. This is in congruence with studies by Menon and Athanasoula-Reppa (2011), Naderi Anari (2012), and Skaalvik and Skaalvik (2009), who found gender to be unrelated to teachers' job satisfaction. Nevertheless, the findings of the present study were not in agreement with those reported by Ghazi and Maringe (2011), who concluded that there is a significant difference between male and female teachers in their job satisfaction level.

This study also aimed at investigating the role of teaching English or another subject matter in job satisfaction. To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first attempt to look into teachers' subject area (English vs. nonEnglish) and job satisfaction. In the present study, satisfaction with teaching profession was found to be unrelated to teachers' major (English or nonEnglish) as shown in Table 3 above. This result suggests that the subject area of teachers is not a crucial factor in teachers' job satisfaction compared to other factors such as teachers' payment, school environment, their psychological well-being and others.

The results also showed no significant difference between job satisfaction of teachers working in public school and private institute, an observation which is not in line with the results established by Chughati and Perveen (2013), who found teachers working in public schools (tenured) to be more satisfied with their profession than private school teachers (contractual).

The investigation of the relationship between English teachers' job satisfaction and their teaching effectiveness revealed a positive significant relationship between these constructs and nonEnglish teachers similarly demonstrated a positive and moderate relationship between job satisfaction and their effectiveness. These findings are consistent with those obtained by Huang et al. (2013), who concluded that job satisfaction has a positive significant effect on teaching effectiveness. The findings also lend support to the study by Toropova et al. (2021) whose survey with Swedish eighth grade mathematics teachers found that more efficacious teachers had more levels of job satisfaction; however, their observation that female teachers were more satisfied in their jobs is not substantiated in this work. This contradiction in findings can largely be due to differential contextual factors that exist in the context of our research where female teachers generally do not have an equal voice, authority as well as freedom compared to their male counterparts.

The findings of the present study are also supported by a study conducted by Soodmand Afshar and Doosti (2016), who discovered that there is a difference between satisfied and dissatisfied teachers in terms of their job performance and asserted that the main cause of this difference is teachers' overall level of job satisfaction. In other words, satisfied teachers had better job performance and higher effectiveness than their dissatisfied counterparts. The findings of the present research also lend support to the results gained by Ostroff (1992), who found a strong relationship between teachers' job satisfaction and their job performance. This finding reveals the essential role of job satisfaction in improving teachers' effectiveness as satisfaction with one's job creates confidence, loyalty and increases motivation (Tietjen and Myers, 1998); this consequently leads to better performance and high productivity at work, which in turn leads to better learning, which is the ultimate aim of all educational enterprises.

In a review of literature of 70 published studies on teacher job satisfaction in 21 developing countries (including Iran), Sahito and Vaisanen (2019) identify several factors that contribute to job satisfaction and recommend against others that lead to dissatisfaction, most of which are valid in the context of the current study. Among recommendations to boost teacher job satisfaction are: promotional opportunities, fair remuneration, support from colleagues and the community, teacher empowerment, and friendships; and among inhibitors of job satisfaction identified in their review are: an autocratic management style, mistrust, a non-transparent system, a work-life imbalance, an ineffective teaching/learning environment, and unavailability of resources. Similarly, using multilevel regression and commonality analysis of U.S. data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013, Wang et al. (2020), identified three major categories of factors (student-related, school-related and teacher-related) contributing to job satisfaction, with school-related factors having the largest and student-related, the lowest share. More specifically, some of the major predictors were: low achievers, behavioral problems, classroom discipline climate, school location, school autonomy for instruction, experience, teacher self-efficacy, teacher-student relationship, teacher cooperation, and effective professional development. To these can be added the lack of interest and motivation in the job (in the case of the participants in this study) since teaching has been the only option they could secure, an easy option in the past, which is nowadays out of reach and a big desire even for PhD holders, due to the fierce completion among prospective teachers and the limited positions on offer. We need to emphasise that the results reported here are specific to the context and participants investigated at a given point in time. In other words, if this study were to be repeated with other teachers working in different regions of the country or in different contexts (private sector for example) as well as at a different time (considering that the data for this study were collected some 4 years ago since when the things may have changed substantially), different observations could be possible. Issues of time, context, changing economic and political condition of the country and the like play an important role, and the results can also vary from a group of teachers to another. The reported findings should accordingly be interpreted in this light and not considered generalisable, noting that all these can vary not only within one country but more so from one country to another.

The results of this investigation, as well similar studies reviewed above, illuminate the fact that teachers' dissatisfaction with their profession might pose a great barrier to effective teaching and consequently might impede students' learning; therefore, the findings of this study can be a useful frame of reference through which educational authorities, school principals, and policy makers can put an effort to reduce factors contributing to teachers' job dissatisfaction, attempting to increase their well-being and productivity. Unsatisfied and unhappy teachers might escape their responsibilities and may show little concern in school matters and students' needs. This consequently can negatively affect students' academic achievements and the quality of the educational system.

The findings of this study also have important implications for more experienced teachers in that they can provide novice teachers with emotional and professional support through making beginning teachers more comfortable at work and assisting them in their teaching by imparting their knowledge and advice. Support from other experienced colleagues improves the likelihood that teachers who are in their first years of teaching will stay in their job; that in turn might reduce teacher burnout and increase teacher job satisfaction.

6. Conclusion

The present research strived to investigate the relationship between English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and their teaching effectiveness. It was also an attempt to inspect the teachers' background, such as their gender, employment status, subject matter, and their teaching experience and to explore their relationship with the teachers' job satisfaction. The study found that none of the teachers' background charactristics were associated with their job satisfaction. The results also revealed a positive relationship between English and nonEnglish teachers' job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness.

When conducting an academic research, being restricted in many ways is unavoidable and every study, no matter how well it is constructed, has some limitations which need to be acknowledged. Although the present study has yielded some important findings, its overall design was not without flaws. The current study raises some caveats and limitations as follows:

Relying on questionnaires as the main data collection tool was the major limitation of this investigation. Such a tool does not provide in-depth information on teachers' job satisfaction and their effectiveness. Similar studies need to be supplemented with other data collection tools such as interviews with teachers and authorities, observations and other measures of performance indicators than self-reports in order to have more comprehensive findings. Research has shown that teachers do not necessarily carry out what they assume to be doing in the classroom (Sadeghi et al., 2020).

As for pedagogical implications, in order to boost job satisfaction and consequently to increase teaching effectiveness, teachers are recommended to enter the profession only if they are highly motivated and have a talent and an intrinsic motivation to pursue a teaching job. Otherwise, they might risk the threat of quitting the profession in their early years. Educational authorities are recommended to place the material and moral needs of teachers first if they would like the education system to yield fruit. In addition to providing teachers with the required material support, authorities need to offer technical support in terms of in-service and continuing professional development opportunities and encourage teachers to engage in reflective practice. For these recommendations to work, there is a need for an educational context free from social, economic and political problems affecting teachers' and students' lives. And finally, the general recommendation for policy makers is to prioritise education including the needs of teachers and students if they long for a bright future and a utopic society since all major world problems can only be solved by a well-educated generation.

Declarations

Author contribution statement

Karim Sadeghi, Farah Ghaderi, Zahra Abdollahpour: Conceived and designed the experiments; Performed the experiments; Analyzed and interpreted the data; Contributed reagents, materials, analysis tools or data; Wrote the paper.

Funding statement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data included in article/supplementary material/referenced in article.

Declaration of interests statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

No additional information is available for this paper.

Footnotes

☆

Note: This is part of a larger study parts of which have already been published in TEL journal (Abdollahpoor et al., 2017). The data and analyses reported in this work are however original.

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Data Availability Statement

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