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Soozandehfar S M A, Dehghayedi M. Negotiating Institutional Power and Pedagogical Agency: Developing Professional Dynamicity in the Processual Construction of EFL Teachers' Transformative Identity. JCALS 2026; 3 (1) : 9
URL: http://cals.gonbad.ac.ir/article-1-88-en.html
URL: http://cals.gonbad.ac.ir/article-1-88-en.html
Department of TEFL, University of Hormozgan
Abstract: (27 Views)
EFL teachers’ professional identities evolve through interactions between institutional power, pedagogical expectations, and professional aspirations. This study employed Constructivist Grounded Theory to investigate identity transformation among 74 Iranian EFL teachers across diverse instructional contexts. Informed by Postmethod Pedagogy, Critical Pedagogy, and Sociocultural Theory, data were collected through interviews, focus-group discussions, classroom observations, document analysis, field notes, and analytic memos. Concurrent data collection and analysis involved constant comparison, theoretical sampling, and open, axial, and selective coding supported by MAXQDA. Critical Discourse Analysis informed the interpretation of institutional expectations, professional positioning, and pedagogical practices. Findings revealed that professional identity is an ongoing accomplishment emerging from the interplay between institutional power and pedagogical agency. The resulting grounded theory identifies professional dynamicity as the central process through which teachers negotiate, reinterpret, adapt to, and sometimes resist institutional expectations. This process involves institutional positioning, pedagogical negotiation, agentive adaptation, and transformative reconfiguration. Pedagogical agency enables teachers to turn institutional pressures into opportunities for professional learning, critical reflection, and identity reconstruction. The study advances understandings of teacher identity and professional development, highlighting the need for institutional environments that recognize teacher agency, accommodate professional aspirations, and support transformative pedagogical practices.
Article number: 9
Keywords: institutional power, pedagogical agency, professional dynamism, processual identity construction, transformative teacher identity, EFL teachers, constructivist grounded theory
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2026/06/3 | Accepted: 2026/10/7 | Published: 2026/10/17
Received: 2026/06/3 | Accepted: 2026/10/7 | Published: 2026/10/17
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