Exploring Iranian Primary-Level EFL Teachers’ Perceptions toward Social Identity

Social identity plays a significant role in the professional life of teachers; however, the social identity of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers is an under-investigated research area in general and in the context of Iran in particular. This study aimed to explore Iranian primary-level EFL teachers’ perceptions toward social identity. To this end, phenomenological design was adopted. Participants included 15 teachers (7 males and 8 females) from private language schools of Tehran and Tabriz who were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Based on the results of the thematic analysis, five main themes were identified: social communication skills, professional development experiences, using collaboration, group activities, and negotiation strategies to understand students’ social identity, effect of social identity on teaching profession, and effect of social identity on teacher interactions. This study has some implications for primary-level EFL teacher educators and primary-level EFL teachers. Primary-level EFL teacher educators should use the findings to train pre-service teachers on the construction and reconstruction of their social identity. Besides, primary-level EFL teacher teachers should be attentive to the reconstruction of their social identity based on the insights taken from this study.