Effects Of Working Conditions On Teachers Professional Identity As Revealed Through Their Narratives And Emotional Experiences A Case Study Of Primary School Efl Teachers By

Teachers all over the world play pivotal and multifaceted roles in their societies. They are thernmain actors in realizing educational objectives, aims and goals. They are often called upon in thernprocess of developing and transforming their communities. Yet, teachers are often expected tornshoulder all of these responsibilities without sufficient support. In Ethiopia, where teachers arernconsidered as ‘essential agents for positive societal change’, it is questionable to what extent theyrnare motivated and capable of accomplishing this national ideal under their present working andrnliving conditions.rnUsing this state of affairs and the teacher researcher’s own lived experiences as a pointrnof departure, this study set out to elucidate the effects of working conditions onrnprofessional identity of EFL teachers within the Ethiopian government, second cyclernprimary school system. Drawing on emotional and narrative experiences of individualrnteachers and descriptions of their entrenched professional perspectives, the study soughtrnto understand the dynamic and complex interaction between teachers’ workingrnconditions, emotions arising from these conditions, and professional identity.rnThe participants of the study are seven experienced EFL teachers drawn from fiverngovernment second-cycle primary schools in Adama and the neighboring towns. Thernresearch employed a qualitative research approach, drawing on Lazarus’ socialpsychologicalrnframework of emotion and Kelchtermans’ perspective of professionalrnidentity in order to interpret the critical incidents and day-to-day encounters of thernteachers. The research problem and the nature of the data sought prompted the use ofrntwo methods of data generation, namely, narrative interviewing and research journals.rnData gathered through narrative interviews were transcribed, translated to English andrncoded to facilitate the process of analysis and interpretation. The research journalsrnhelped to document the researcher’s personal observations of the participants’ behaviorsrnand of the research contexts and to supplement the interview data. Qualitative contentrnanalysis involving several stages was employed to analyze and interpret the data. Eachrnparticipant's transcripts were analyzed individually so as to maintain unique feelings andrniiirnexperiences of individual cases. Cross-case analyses were also made to discover sharedrnexperiences and commonalities.rnThe findings generally indicated a complex interaction between teachers’ workingrnconditions and their professional identity. The teachers revealed complex emotionalrnresponses, both in positive and negative terms, to challenges and opportunities embeddedrnin their professional and socialrnlandscapes. The findings illustrate that the teachers experience positive emotions whenrntheir various concerns and aspects of their professional identity are reinforced byrnintrinsic factors within their career. By contrast, they experience a range of negativernemotions when their concerns and professional identity are threatened predominantly asrna consequence of extrinsic influences of their working conditions. In spite of this, all ofrnthem have displayed a highly positive perception of teaching, a strong sense ofrnprofessionalism, and, for the majority of them, a tendency to stay in their profession. Onrnthe basis of the findings obtained and the conclusions drawn thereof, the study providesrnrecommendations for key stakeholders and highlights implications for further research.

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