qualities of an effective english language teacher (eelt) from students’ point of view

crucial roles of teachers may affect students’ attitudes and motivations to language learning. to improve the field of foreign language teaching and learning we need to improve the qualities of efl teachers; hence, recognizing and identifying the qualities of effective efl teachers is essential. so this study attempted to investigate the characteristics of effective english language teachers based on four categories: english proficiency, pedagogical knowledge, organization and communication skills, and socio-affective skills perceived by male and female english students at islamic azad university of tabriz. a questionnaire which was based on four categories mentioned above was administered to 60 foreign language learners at this university. the collected data were statistically analyzed. the results indicated that students expect a good english teacher to have the ability to develop proper relationships with students, build students’ confidence, and maintain discipline in the classroom as the most important points. in terms of participants’ gender, there wasn’t any significant difference between the perceptions of male and female students regarding the characteristics of an effective english language teacher.