A Transcendental Phenomenology into How Teacher Educators Address Social and Psychological Elements of Teachers' Professional Identity

Abstract

Addressing social and psychological elements of teachers' professional identities is crucially important to develop teachers’ knowledge and practice concerning social and psychological issues in their classes. Thus, this study was an attempt to investigate how Iranian EFL teacher educators addressed social and psychological elements in teacher education programs to develop teachers’ professional identities. To that end, a series of phenomenological interviews were conducted with four EFL teacher educators to delve into their past, current, and future practices. Moreover, the syllabi covered by the EFL teacher educators were analyzed as a verification of the data obtained through phenomenological interviews. Explicitation of data was done through using Moustakas's (1994) systematic approach to analyze the interviews. The thematic analysis of phenomenological interviews indicated that EFL teacher educators addressed the social elements in teacher education programs by introducing sociolinguistics, collaborative activities, social negotiation, social awareness-raising, and social and cultural engagement. Moreover, the findings indicated that teacher educators addressed EFL teachers' psychological elements through action research, critical thinking, autonomy-enhancing aids, and helping teachers understand emotional work values. It can be concluded that Iranian EFL teacher educators address social and psychological elements of EFL teachers’ professional identities through various approaches which have been discussed in the current study. Using approaches that can affect psychological and social elements of professional identity simultaneously is the implication of the current study that should be followed by the EFL teacher educators.