the purpose of this study was to investigate how english language teachers in mashhad who teach students in the pre-university cycle perceived the impact of the efltee on their teaching. the target population was nearly all pre-university english language teachers in seven districts of mashhad in the scholastic year 2008/2009. a survey questionnaire which consisted of (36) likert type items, was used in order to collect the required data. the questionnaire was divided into two parts. the first part of the study aimed at measuring how the efltee affected english language teachers’ teaching in terms of four domains: activity/time arrangement, teaching methods, materials teachers would use in the classroom and content teachers would teach. the second part of the questionnaire, however, investigated the effect of other factors related to the efltee on teachers’ teaching or method selection in terms of four domains: students’ learning attitudes, teachers’ professionalism in teaching, teachers’ perceived external pressure in teaching, and perceived importance of the efltee. findings of the study indicated that both the efltee and the other related factors affected english language teachers’ teaching with a slight statistical difference in favor of the efltee washback effect. the results, also, showed that two types of washback existed in pre-university schools in mashhad namely: positive and harmful washback. in light of the results, the present study recommended that: 1) teachers’ should be provided with professional development opportunities, 2) teachers’ monitoring and evaluation policy should be reconsidered, and 3) efltee should integrate oral language skills as well.