ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER AGENCY: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY IN A HIGHER EDUCATION CONTEXT

Date

2024-10-2

Author

Karataş, Pınar

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This narrative inquiry explores how experienced English language teachers in a higher education context in Türkiye exercise teacher agency in relation to teaching, professional learning, organizational processes, and social participation. The study also explores the perceptions of teachers regarding their professional roles and agency and the impacts of political, social and institutional factors on their agentic orientations. The participants comprise eight experienced language teachers and the data were collected through four semi-structured interviews with each teacher. Critical incidents, documents, ethnographic observations and field notes were used to triangulate the data. The content analysis revealed that agency across various domains was shaped by their personal histories and experiences in earlier figured worlds, including family, prior schooling, teacher education, and alternative certification programs, as well as by their aspirations and teaching philosophies. The study found that the designation of the institution as a research university introduced new priorities and various constraints, which affected the agentic orientations of teachers. Amidst neoliberal discourses, the teachers problematized practices and discourses that conflicted with their beliefs and values and constructed alternative realities to exercise agency. When they felt rendered invisible and their contributions were disregarded, they engaged in principled withdrawal and created liberating worlds outside the school. The findings suggest that teacher agency is multifaceted, multilayered, and fluid and thus cannot be reduced to merely tangible actions. The study offers implications for policymakers, teacher educators, administrators, teachers, in-service professional development programs, and researchers.

Subject Keywords

English Language Teacher Agency, Quality Assurance, Accreditation, English Language Teacher Education

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/111362

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis