Article Type: Research
Vol. 8, No. 2, 2021, 91-116
Developing and Validating an EFL Teacher Imposed
Identity Inventory: A Mixed-methods Study
Azra Gholamshahi
1
, Minoo Alemi
2*
, Zia Tajeddin
3
1
Ph.D. Candidate of TEFL, Department of TEFL, Faculty of Humanities, West
Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran,
azra.gholamshahi@yahoo.com
2*
Associate Professor of TEFL, Department of TEFL, Faculty of Humanities, West
Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran,
minooalemi2000@yahoo.com
3
Professor of TEFL, Department of English Language Teaching, Faculty of
Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, tajeddinz@modares.ac.ir
Abstract
Teacher-others relationship is one of the main features of teacher identity. As an aspect of
this relationship, in some educational contexts, teachers experience imposition in their
workplace. As there is no survey tool to measure imposed identity, the present study
developed a questionnaire based on the relevant literature and interviews with 44 EFL
teachers, resulting in a 45-item questionnaire which was disseminated among 450 EFL
teachers. An exploratory factor analysis of responses of EFL teachers yielded eight factors,
namely: (1) Instructional, assessment, and interpersonal expectations imposed by managers
and Supervisors, (2) Teacher professional responsibilities expected by stakeholders in the
institute and the family, (3) Restrictions imposed on classroom discussion topics, dress code,
and new technologies, (4) Suitability of teaching profession as perceived by the family, (5)
Teacher responsibilities as expected by learners’ parents, (6) Gender stereotypes imposed by
colleagues and the institute, (7) Learners’ and their parents’ instructional expectations, and
(8) Observational and gender perceptions imposed by supervisors and managers. This study
revealed the multi-dimensional nature of imposition in relation to which elements of identity
change and harmonize under the influence of individual, contextual, and socio-cultural
forces. The results of the study suggest that this scale is a reliable and valid measure of EFL
teacher imposed identity. The findings can help researchers understand in what ways identity
may be imposed and how it may change. Supervisors, institute managers, EFL teachers, and
stakeholders can find the results of this study beneficial considering the fact that identity
shaped and reshaped will certainly lead to a better EFL context for teaching and learning a
foreign language.
Keywords: EFL Teachers, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Imposed Identity Questionnaire
Received 26 February 2020 Accepted 02 June 2020
Available online 19 February 2021 DOI: 10.30479/jmrels.2020.12739.1578
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