In an interview with Fararu, Dr. Mehdi Zolfaghari, the head of the Iran Language Institute, explained the programs and actions of the ILI in the last year and a half. Referring to the important and influential steps taken in the Iran Language Institute, the head of the ILI stated that the programs undertaken at the ILI will continue with full strength and initiative.
It has been almost a year and a half since your taking charge at the ILI. As an associate professor at Lorestan University, tell us about how you joined the ILI and chose it as your executive destination? What issues and problems did you face when you came to this language center that is almost a hundred years old?
The story started when I was working as the manager of the ILI branch at the province of Lorestan, and as part of the staff of the organization, I had full knowledge of the administrative, educational and research processes going on; thus, I was no stranger when I took over.
But the important point was the circumstances under which I took over the ILI. When I took office, the organization was suffering from many problems, including problems related to human resources, many of whom felt discouraged. A significant number of the office staff and also the teaching staff had left, and the ILI had proved unable to retain them. Many language learners were also leaving the ILI due to the problems related to the educational processes, the incompatibility of face-to-face and online education, etc.
In some branches, the desired physical space was not taken into account, because after the coronavirus pandemic era, there was still no preparation for face-to-face teaching there. It can be said that the ratio of online to face-to-face classes was 70 to 30, but by the grace of God, today this ratio has been reversed, and we have almost 80% face-to-face and 20% online education.
On the other hand, 257 employees of the organization had left during the years 1400 to 1402, so we were facing a shortage of human resources in some areas. In regard to the total number of active teachers we had available to hold classes in the spring semester last year, we had a shortage of teachers, while today we have the problem of providing classes for our teachers, because thanks to the efforts of our staff and the changes made in this process, the teachers' motivation to work at the ILI is higher than the past and more teachers are willing to teach in this institute.
The point that we tried to establish in the organization during this period was that if there is a problem, we should not leave it; we should fix it, even though it may require spending energy, time and money.
Reforming the grading processes at the ILI was one of the other actions that were taken. Our classes are sometimes crowded; there may be large number of students present. When a teacher has 6 classes, that means dealing with a significantly high number of language learners, so grading them will prove difficult, because the teacher may not be able to keep every students’ performance in mind; that's why we tried to improve these processes so that the learners can have as much class involvement and progress as possible. Moreover, soon we will be holding IELTS tests at the ILI as well.
Apart from universities and schools, the ILI is one of the largest educational institutions in the world, with more than 1 million students per year, a very high number for the non-university and non-school sector! How does it feel to be the head of the largest educational institute and what responsibilities have been assigned to you?
As you mentioned, the Iran Language Institute is the largest educational institute in the Middle East after the Islamic Azad University, which has international branches. Since I took over, we also tried to develop the international dimension of institute, so if we look at it this way, yes! We are indeed the largest cultural-economic organization in the country.
The most important thing is that we are a self-governing governmental organization. You know that the requirements of management in the public sector are very different from management in the private sector, and the fact that an organization with so many missions has been able to stand today due to the policies of various governments and ministries should be regarded as a great blessing and a great tribute to the former managers who have been able to maintain and develop it without any loss of quality or damage over time.
Therefore, we are definitely the largest educational institute in the Middle East and the largest educational institute in the field of foreign languages in Iran. But there is room for us to grow and develop. We do not have any restrictions in terms of online education. Today, even language learners from abroad enter our educational space. If we can overcome our currency issues and solve the problems caused by money transfer, we can even establish international branches.
Last year, on an invitation from the Ministry of Education of China, you visited Chna and participated in the Chinese Language in the World Conference. Several institutions and organizations are in charge of teaching Persian there, but you have entered this field as a specialist, and new measures were also supposed to be taken. Please explain about this.
During the trip to China, the largest foreign language teaching center in Beijing hosted the Second International Conference on Chinese Language Teaching in the World and invited the ILI as the largest language teaching institute in Iran. When I spoke about the capacities and capabilities of the ILI in that meeting, everyone was amazed. Figures such as 1,200,000 language learners per year, 7,000 teachers and 310 branches in a geographical area that exists in few places in the world, surprised everyone. This created capacities for us and our peer centers announced their readiness to cooperate with us in the development of languages such as Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc. The capacity that was presented in that conference surprised everyone and we shall endeavor to make the most of this opportunity that has been created for us.
The first point that we were able to convey to the Chinese side and get their agreement on was the production of Chinese educational resources. Chinese is a difficult and complex language, and the most important problem is having authentic teaching resources. The Beijing Foreign Language Education Center agreed to work with us to produce educational resources, and now our Chinese department has established such a collaboration with those institutions.
The next point was the use of native-speaking teachers. In order to provide this capacity and platform in Iran, preparations that include educational and cultural issues need to be made so that a Chinese teacher can live and teach in Iran. The most important thing is that the agreement has been made and the Chinese Language Education Center has agreed to over the expenses. If, God willing, this comes to fruition, we will use native-speaking teachers and teach our students Chinese based on internationally accepted methods.
The next point you mentioned was the Persian language. After all, if we are working in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Persian language is a language that we are proud of, and our history stems from this language, it is also our mission to develop this language.
The problem is the multiplicity of centers that are in charge of teaching the Persian language here in Iran. The first step was the need for coordination and convergence between these centers, which was also a difficult task and involved complex negotiations. Because if we look at it as a guild issue, we will never be able to get the permission to develop the Persian language teaching in the country.
We held an international joint meeting in February last year, with the Saadi Foundation, the Persian Language and Literature Academy, Azfa Centers of the Ministry of Science, Azad University, and associations and NGOs that operate in this field, which had global reflections and we agreed to develop and produce Persian language educational texts.
One of the measures that the ILI has taken in the last few years, and in my opinion has been less addressed, is the holding of international tests, an area for which, as of course you briefly mentioned, there is a huge market in our country. Please explain what courses and tests you are currently holding and in charge of?
Regarding international English exams, we offer exam preparation courses. We also have preparation classes for international exams involving languages other than English, such as DELF & DALF, DELE, TORFL, CELI, etc. Language learners who apply for these exams participate in our preparation courses, and this is the reason why they get good grades when they take those exams. Most of the applicants for these classes used to take part in our mainstream classes as well.
Another market we have identified is the simulated exams. Many people pay euros to participate in international exams, but they do not have the necessary preparation because they do not have the experience of participating in such an exam. Therefore, we have prepared simulated tests so that applicants can be placed in the real exam-like surroundings and test themselves, and if they do well enough, they can pay the fees for participating in the test. We started this with the IELTS test and then proceeded to other non-English tests. These tests were very well received.
Currently, given the standard exam halls we have, we can offer these exams on a monthly basis, and we even have to put limitations on registrations for them, or we shall have to devote all of our facilities to these simulated tests.
Another point that may be important for our audience is that we are trying to attain permission become an IELTS test center. We have conducted negotiations with the National Organization of Educational Testing and have talked with agencies in this field. We have also had negotiations with foreign institutions and hope to get their license and be one of Iran’s IELTS test centers. Then, applicants will not need to spend a lot of money, travel far away from the country and face risks. We know that there are many difficulties faced by those applying for this exam. Most of the applicants are not old enough to travel alone and have to travel with their families, and a heavy cost is thus imposed on the family.