Exploring the Reasons Behind Iranian TEFL Graduate Students’ Academic Failure

Abstract

This cross-sectional study explored the reasons behind academic failure among Iranian students of teaching of English as a foreign language. Interviews were used to collect data from 56 graduate students (19 men and 37 women) and three officials of the university. Results indicated that four main factors led to the academic failure of the students, namely, (1) the student, (2) the professor, (3) the university, and (4) the source materials. Moreover, the results of chi-square tests indicated that no significant relationship existed between the gender and age of the students and their academic failure. Finally, a number of guidelines to prevent academic failure in this context are presented.