Novice EAP teacher identity construction: A qualitative study from Iran

Exploring Iranian EAP teachers’ well-being: an activity theory perspective

“…Additionally, we knew that EAP takes different forms such as English for general or specific purposes. We often faced the challenges that Iranian EAP teachers experienced and were aware of the contextual particularities as reported in previous research from this context (e.g., Atai et al, 2022;Atai & Nejadghanbar, 2017;Kaivanpanah et al, 2021;Tavakoli & Tavakol, 2018). This theoretical understanding was mixed with our contextual awareness of challenges in teaching EAP, which motivated us to explore how the well-being of EAP teachers is influenced by such a setting.…”

“…Attempting to prepare students for academic situations, a key participant in effective delivery of EAP knowledge is teachers. Basturkmen (2014) stressed the significant role of practice-oriented strategies and specialized knowledge in EAP teachers' professionalization (see Atai et al, 2022;Fitzpatrick et al, 2022). While EAP teachers contribute significantly to the growth of educational institutions (Atai & Nejadghanbar, 2017;Campion, 2016;Fitzpatrick et al, 2022;Kaivanpanah et al, 2021), their workplace environment can influence their roles, which consequently shapes their agency, identity, emotion, and their overall professionalism (see Bahrami et al, 2019;Ding, 2019;Fitzpatrick et al, 2022;Harwood, 2017).…”

“…Although the well-being of EAP teachers has not been studied focally, research has shown that context profoundly influences these teachers' emotional dynamics. For example, Atai et al (2022) explored the identity construction of a novice EAP teacher (Alborz) and found that the teacher experienced severe emotional fluctuations that negatively influenced his longevity, belonging to EAP instruction, and career growth. Moreover, Tavakoli and Tavakol (2018) mentioned the challenges of EAP instruction in Iran and found that negative emotions were a significant dimension that shaped the teachers' feeling well as EAP teachers.…”

“…We designed the questionnaire in an open-ended format because we asked them to list their responses. In designing the questionnaire, we drew on the body of knowledge in the Iranian context (e.g., Atai et al, 2022;Kaivanpanah et al, 2021;Tavakoli & Tavakol, 2018), which highlights the role of higher-order, institutional, and interpersonal factors shaping EAP teachers' professionalism. Using the questionnaire was important in gaining an overall understanding of how different contextual factors shaped Iranian EAP teachers' well-being.…”

“…teachers' emotions (e.g., Etherington et al, 2020), the concept of well-being has been under-represented in scholarship on EAP teaching, although research has persistently argued for widening the landscape of EAP teachers' work, with a special focus on how context mediates their professional experiences and the quality of life they experience in light of such contextual ties (e.g., Basturkmen, 2014;Du et al, 2022). Considering that research (e.g., Atai et al, 2022;Derakhshan et al, 2023;Kaivanpanah et al, 2021) has extensively shown the profound effect of contextual factors on EAP teachers' emotions, identities, and professional memberships, such factors could also influence EAP teachers' well-being as well. However, it is not clear how context shapes the teachers' wellbeing, especially in the Iranian context where factors shaping well-being could function more substantially (see Derakhshan et al, 2023;Ebadijalal & Moradkhani, 2022).…”