Novice EAP teacher identity construction: A qualitative study from Iran

Abstract

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers' job description involves contextual particularities that have roots in sociocultural and disciplinary dimensions. Such complexities may profoundly influence the identities novice teachers construct as they need to handle different dimensions of their career. However, there is little documented research on novice EAP teachers' identity construction. The present study reports on the identity construction of a novice Iranian EAP teacher (Alborz). Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observations and the associated stimulated recall sessions. Our analysis of the data revealed three major themes in relation to Alborz's identity construction: (1) tensions between claimed and constructed EAP identities, (2) content-related emotional conflicts, and (3) EAP teacher as an undervalued professional. Alborz experienced various conceptual, emotional, and agency-related conflicts that had roots in contextual parameters of EAP teaching in Iran, yet at each stage of his development, these conflicts intensified, diminished, and took different shapes. In particular, managing the connection between language and content was a site of struggle for Alborz as he had to adopt identities that clashed with his professional understandings and idiosyncratic descriptions of EAP instruction.