چکیده:
As a novel concept in teacher psychology, language teacher immunity is a strong indicator of how teachers thrive or survive in the face of adversity. Research on language teacher immunity is still in its nascent stage, and the present qualitative study tries to fill the gap in the existing literature. This study aimed to investigate the possible sources of immunity among Iranian EFL teachers, the impact immunity may have on teachers’ classroom practices, and intervention strategies EFL teachers suggested to influence the development of immunity. Based on interviews with 13 seasoned high school EFL teachers, we found that four main stressors, namely, personal-level, school-level, organization-based, and sociocultural stressors, were the sources of maladaptive immunity development. The only cause for the development of positive immunity in EFL teachers was altruistic motivation. It was further found that those EFL teachers with positive immunity kept functioning effectively in their classrooms, whereas teachers with maladaptive immunity set into a state of indifference towards their students and complacency without exercising agency. These teachers had surrendered in the face of a multitude of adversities they faced during their professional life. The findings also indicated that in order to influence the development of immunity formation process to gear it towards an adaptive one, teachers’ economic situation should be improved by increasing their salaries, praising and appreciating their efforts, organizing practical in-service teacher training courses, and supporting them at schools by principals and other educational authorities.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Immunity among Iranian EFL Teachers: Sources, Impacts, and the Developmental Path Research Article Mehdi Haseli Songhori1 Behzad Ghonsooly*2 Shahram Afraz3 Received: 2020-04-11 | Revised (2): 2020-07-31 | Accepted: 2020-08-01 Abstract As a novel concept in teacher psychology, language teacher immunity is a strong indicator of how teachers thrive or survive in the face of adversity.
The findings also indicated that in order to influence the development of immunity formation process to gear it towards an adaptive one, teachers’ economic situation should be improved by increasing their salaries, praising and appreciating their efforts, organizing practical in-service teacher training courses, and sup- porting them at schools by principals and other educational authorities.
In line with the above gaps, more scholars have addressed other gaps that exist in the area of teachers’ psychology such as the impact of perfectionism on the psychological states of EFL teachers (Mahmoodi- Shahrebabaki, 2016), the effect of culture on EFL teachers’ burnout (Saboori & Pishghadam, 2016), the impact of EFL teachers’ job (dis)satisfaction on their job performance (Soodmand Afshar & Doosti, 2015, 2016) examining L2 teach- ers’ hopefulness on their teaching commitment and motivation (Hiver, 2016a), and investigating EFL teachers’ demotivation in culturally specific contexts (Yaghoubinejad et al.
3) What are the most effective intervention strategies which positively influ- ence the development of the Iranian English language teachers’ immunity ac- cording to the Iranian EFL teachers?
All the participants were seasoned English language teachers (6 years to 30 years of experience) who were quite familiar with the high school settings and the motivating, demotivating, and stress-causing factors and the coping strategies that teachers use to deal with these factors.