Gender, Beliefs, and Cognition: Gender Backwash on Iranian EFL Teachers' and Students' Appraisals

The present study delves deep into Iranian EFL teachers' and students' beliefs and cognition at the tertiary levels on the non/existence of gender partiality towards the opposite/same sex teachers and students. Conducting a survey method, two samples were singled out: 1) students (N=219); and 2) teachers (N= 30) who consented to fill in two separate piloted questionnaires. It was explored that both the teachers and the students believed in the existence of the gender partiality towards the opposite sex in Iranian EFL contexts at tertiary levels. The results of the study also evinced that most of the teachers believed in 'instinct tendency to opposite sex' as the reason behind the gender partiality on teachers' behavior towards the opposite-sex students while students believed that the reason for teachers' gender partiality toward their opposite-sex students is the students' appearance and behavior. The study demonstrated that 62.1 percent of the students consented that students have tendencies toward their opposite-sex teachers. It was also ascertained that teachers' cognition affects the way they behaved in their assessments and it has impacts on the way teachers make instructional decisions.