Relationship between Professional Identity and Reflectivity: A Case of Iranian EFL Teachers

Subject Areas :

pouria Aghaei ¹ , Mohammad Bavali ² , Fatemeh Behjat ³

1 - English Department, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran
2 - English Department, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran
3 - Department of English, Abadeh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadeh, Iran

Received: 2020-08-27 Accepted : 2020-12-27 Published : 2021-04-01

Keywords: EFL teachers, Teacher professional identity, teacher reflectivity,

Abstract :

EFL teachers’ professional identity is a multi-dimensional and complicated concept. It is influenced by many other issues in the educational context such as reflective practice. This study intended to explore the relationship between professional identity and reflectivity of Iranian EFL teachers. It also aimed to examine how high and low reflective teachers perceive the professional identity components. The participants were 89 EFL teachers teaching at three universities in Shiraz, Iran. Their selection was based on convenience sampling. The participants were asked to fill out two questionnaires including teacher professional identity questionnaire (Liou, 2008) and teacher reflectivity questionnaire (Akbari et al., 2010). Pearson product correlation coefficient revealed that there was a positive relationship between EFL teachers’ professional identity and reflectivity. Furthermore, the findings of regression analysis indicated that reflectivity could predict EFL teachers’ professional identity. Furthermore, the participants were categorized into two high and low reflective groups. Two groups were interviewed to examine the professional identity perceptions used by high and low reflective teachers. The thematic analysis showed that high reflective teachers used and implemented much more professional identity components in their teaching practice in comparison to the low reflective teachers.

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