Comparing Language Teachers’ Immunity in Iranian Private and State Schools

Language teacher immunity (LTI) as a defensive system in reflex to high-threatening disturbances profoundly impacts language teachers’ professional demeanor. Contextual factors could influence LTI development either towards adaptive/productive or maladaptive forms. Although teachers’ immunity in Iranian schools has been probed in a number of studies, the two different contexts of private and state schools have not so far been considered in the investigations despite their contextual distinctiveness. This study is an attempt to probe teachers’ immunity in these two contexts to identify the dominant type of LTI and the disturbances that might trigger them. Through a mixed-methods approach, the LTI questionnaire was answered by a total ۶۲ state and private secondary high school teachers; moreover, ten teachers were interviewed. The results indicated that the dominant LTI among state school teachers was adaptive while among private school teachers was maladaptive. Furthermore, some common disturbing factors in both contexts were identified, such as paltry payment for a highly demanding job and demotivated students. In contrast, some others were exclusively pertained to one context or were pointed in one context more severely and frequently. For example, the deficit in educational supplementary aids and inappropriate teaching materials caused more disturbance in the state schools, while short-time occupational contracts and job insecurity were more pressuring in private schools. The results of this study might help macro policymakers, managers of educational systems, and other EFL teaching stakeholders to increase the quality of language pedagogy by eliminating disturbing factors that might prevent teachers from constructing adaptive immunity.

کلیدواژه ها:

Adaptive Language Teacher Immunity ، Language teacher immunity ، Maladaptive Language Teacher Immunity ، private schools ، State Schools EFL