An Investigation on the Role of Education Level and Gender of Iranian Primary-Level EFL Teachers in their Perceptions of Their Professional Identity

Although professional identity is a fundamental aspect of any educational system, particularly in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching, little attention has been given to the professional identity of primary-level EFL teachers. Hence, investigating teachers' professional identity can alleviate some challenges they face as integral members of the education process. The aim of this study was to explore the role of education level and gender of Iranian primary-level EFL teachers in their perceptions of their professional identity using a descriptive comparative design. To this end, some randomly quotations of male and female and MA and PhD primary-level EFL teachers extracted in the study by Kazemi et al. (۲۰۲۵) were compared with each other. It was found that education level of primary-level Iranian EFL teachers does not play any role in their perceptions of their professional identity. Additionally, it was indicated that gender of primary-level Iranian EFL teachers does not play any role in their perceptions of their professional identity. This study has important implications for EFL teachers, EFL learners, and syllabus designers.

کلیدواژه ها:

Primary-level EFL teaching ، professional identity ، teacher identity