Farzad Rostami - Department of English Language, Baneh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Baneh, Iran
Mohammad Hossein Yousefi - Assistant Professor of ELT, Department of English Language, Bonab Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran
Davoud Amini - Assistant Professor of ELT, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

There have been some researches on the way teacher identities are (re)constructed; however, the study which investigatesthe improvement of the identity through the shift in language teaching has not been conducted. Thus the present qualitative study set out to investigate Iranian EFL teachers’ professional development who had been teaching either Arabic or Persian languages for more than six years prior to entering the English language teaching profession. Eleven Iranian in-service teachers took part in the study through purposeful sampling. For the purpose of the data collection, in-depth interviews, teachers’ narratives, and focus group interviews were used. The thematic analysis of the data through the Identity Theory (Burke & Stets, ۲۰۰۹) perspective revealedthree main themes: identity shift,identity development, and productive identity. The results indicate that teachers' professional learning requires rebuilding identity perception, and constructing a new identity will lead, in turn, to the professional development of teachers and their constructive learning. The present study contributes to the existing knowledge of teachers’ professional identity in that changes in the languages teachers teach will lead to reconstructing their professional identity in a positive wayand happen as a result of opportunities for professional development. The results have a number of implications for policymakers, teacher educators, and language teachers.

Professional Identity, Identity Shift, Thematic Analysis, Teacher Education, Teacher Development