3.Discussion
The first part of the results highlighted the role of teaching experience in EFL teachers' sense of efficacy. Regarding experience, the "Low" group are those with less than two years of teaching experience who are mainly pre-service or student teachers that are known as novice teachers in studies of teachers' sense of efficacy (Hoy, 2000; Hoy &Spero, 2005; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2007). Their lower efficacy belief is attributed to stress and commitment to teaching (Hoy, 2000). Therefore, they need support and preparation to overcome unexpected classroom issues. Teachers in the "Mid" group (i.e. those with two to five years of experience) have been exposed to some aspects of practical teaching and its challenges. Although, this experience has improved their general sense of efficacy, their ability in Classroom Management seems to be still underdeveloped. It is concluded that Classroom Management is a broader notion and needs more experience to be obtained. The "High" group seems to be more established and resistant to change. Successful teaching experiences (Hoy &Spero, 2005), incremental increase in language proficiency, and familiarity with more pedagogical techniques could be the possible reasons for "High" group's higher sense of efficacy. Unlike sense of efficacy, teachers' perception of distinctive characteristics was not shown to be affected by their experience. Instead, their belief is apparently determined by characteristics (Borg, 2006) and the context of language teaching.
To explore these beliefs in the context of Iran, an open-ended interview was conducted and three sets of characteristics were coded and identified. The first set includes characteristics mentioned by both participants of this study and those of (Borg, 2006); hence, called "Similarities". Examples include relevance of English language teaching to real life, teaching culture and communication skills along with knowledge of English, importance of teacher-learner relationship, and higher error tolerance in English teaching than other subjects. The second set refers to the characteristics that are pointed out differently in the two studies. Unlike Borg's participants, Iranian teachers maintained that students awarded them a higher position than teachers of other subjects; that is they believed being able to speak and understand another language is highly appreciated by society. Furthermore, Borg's participants indicated that sometimes teacher training period is very short; while, Iranians believed that due to EFL situation in Iran, training process takes a longer time; because, either they study the subject at university for a few years or, as EFL learners in institutes they are exposed to formal teaching and subconsciously absorb how to teach English before taking teacher training courses. Another characteristic mentioned in (Borg, 2006) includes more creativity, flexibility, and enthusiasm of English teachers; in Iran, possessing these characteristics are among requirements of most institutes, rather than being an option. The point that language teachers do not teach facts was also mentioned by participants of the two studies. Borg's participants explained that exercises, materials and techniques could be employed by English teachers rather than just 'telling' the facts. However, Iranian teachers associated it with the issue of correct or incorrect. They stated that correctness of many utterances is relative and that level of formality and pragmatics play an important role in this case, whereas in many disciplines there is a clear borderline between correct and incorrect usage. Unlike Borg's participants, Iranian teachers were not found to be concerned about priority of native teachers, because almost all EFL teachers in Iran are non-natives. The last set of characteristics found in the study was not mentioned by (Borg, 2006) participants. They can thus be regarded as context-specific features, although future research might shed more light on them.
The findings revealed that first, despite being offered many job opportunities, participants did not consider teaching English as a permanent job unless benefits such as insurance is provided. Second, EFL teachers in Iran are regarded models of behaving, thinking, and dressing for learners; they attributed the reason to teachers' direct and un-translated connection with the world. Next, taking English classes has priority over other subjects i.e. it is considered as a need due to parents' awareness of the role of English in children's future success both academically and financially. Also, due to the necessity of interaction among learners, the number of students in each class is thought to negatively affect class management and the quality of teaching in EFL classes much more than other subjects. As the fifth characteristic, participants referred to greater attention needing to be paid to students' individual differences by EFL teachers than those of other subjects. The last context-specific characteristic mentioned was lack of intuition by EFL teachers. While teachers of other subjects can communicate naturally using their own mother tongue, EFL teachers present the content using a language that is not perfectly sensed by them.
4.Implication
This study started with a focus on the effect of years of experience on EFL teachers' sense of efficacy and their views about distinctive characteristics of English teachers. Regarding sense of efficacy, only one case of nonsignificant effect was observed for Classroom Management (between Low and Mid groups). It led to the conclusion that more training was needed to enhance teachers' ability in classroom management during the first five years of teaching. Due to non-significant effect of experience on teachers' perception about distinctive characteristics, the source of beliefs may lie in contextual and cultural factors, specialist knowledge of teaching, and their own experience as a student during school days. Results of the interviews are only representative of this study; more research is needed in different contexts to reach global set of distinctive characteristics and find more about contextspecific ones in each specific context.