Exploring Effective EFL/ESL Teaching Methodologies at Zawia University: A Qualitative Study of Faculty Perspectives

This qualitative study examines English language teaching practices among university faculty at Zawia University within the Libyan EFL context, with particular attention to how instructors negotiate pedagogical expectations under linguistic, institutional and socio-cultural constraints. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with twenty faculty members from diverse academic disciplines, the data were thematically analyzed to capture teachers’ lived classroom experiences, instructional choices and reflective perspectives. The findings indicate a gradual shift away from strictly teacher-centered and grammar-dominated instruction toward more communicative, interactive and student-responsive practices. However, this shift is neither linear nor uniform. Faculty members actively adapt global pedagogical approaches to local realities by prioritizing learner confidence, incremental language development and flexible use of available resources, including technology where feasible. The study further highlights the role of teacher reflexivity and contextual sensitivity in shaping classroom practice. By foregrounding the voices of non-native English-speaking faculty, this research contributes a contextually grounded perspective that challenges universalized models of “effective” language teaching. It argues for a more inclusive understanding of pedagogical effectiveness one that recognizes locally constructed, adaptive practices as legitimate responses to the realities of English language teaching in Libyan higher education.