Stakeholders’ Perceptions on EFL Teacher Professionalism: A Phenomenological Study at a Bachelor Programme in Nepal

Abstract

Teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in the twenty-first century has witnessed several changes, which have sparked tremendous changes in the teachers’ standpoints and the conceptualizations of professionalism. In this context, this study explored the stakeholders’ perceptions of EFL teacher professionalism. For this, the phenomenological research design was adopted. The study site was a Bachelor's Programme on a community campus in Nepal. The informants comprised the real stakeholders of the programme that comprised three EFL teachers, nine students, two administrators, and one member of the campus management committee. To collect the informants’ lived experiences, the researcher used an unstructured interview in a naturalistic setting. The results revealed that EFL teachers’ professionalism can be measured by their roles and skills; teacher-student relationships; and teachers as administrators and change agents. This implies that EFL teachers, like the teachers of other subjects, should be loyal, committed, accountable, and responsible as the success or failure of the autonomous programmes mainly depends on the teachers.