Disrupted English Language Teacher Identities: A Social Justice Perspective

Abstract

Informed by Huber's (2021) framework of critical ethnography from a social justice perspective, this study aimed to (a) figure out how language teachers struggle for equity embedded within their socio-cultural contexts of schooling; (b) examine the micro, meso, and macro-factors affecting their identities with the impact of dominating ideologies; (c) uncover how they position themselves in challenging such practices and constraints. This study employs an exploratory qualitative case study design and an inductive data analysis method to document the voices of two in-service and three pre-service English language teachers and two teacher educators as professionals in K-12 school settings in Türkiye. The study addressed how ideologies stemming from power, authority, and institutional structures shape their ongoing teacher identity formation. As a result, language educators referred to oppression stemming from imposed decisions, decontextualized in-service and pre-service teacher training practices, and limited space for decision-making. Bringing in a social justice orientation, this study documented language educators' ways of challenging the dominant ideologies and schooling practices. This research brought voices from various layers to provide a composite picture of the potential gap(s) between their practice contexts and initial and in-service teacher-training practices.