A Bourdieusian analysis of the educational field and professional identity of EFL teachers: A hermeneutic phenomenological analysis

Abstract

Purpose

Informed by the Bourdieusian construct of the social field, the purpose of this paper is to explore how different aspects of the educational field and the sub-field of English language teaching in Iran influence diverse components of the professional identity of high school EFL teachers. To this aim, the impact of the power hierarchization structure, distribution of capitals and field autonomy, as important aspects of the social field theory, is investigated in relation to Iranian EFL teachers’ professional identity construction.

Design/methodology/approach

Van Manen’s (1990) hermeneutic phenomenological research method was adopted to analyze the data obtained through the semi-structured interviews and reflexive journals from 15 Iranian EFL teachers at high schools.

Findings

The hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of the data yielded to the extraction of one global, three organizing and six basic themes. The global theme was the educational field and professional identity. The resulting organizing themes were: first, autonomous field and teachers’ commitment; second, asymmetric power relation and teachers’ autonomy; and, finally, cultural capital and teachers’ motivation. This study revealed how the complex and multi-dimensional nature of the power relations between the field of education and power influenced the professional identity of EFL teachers.

Research limitations/implications

This dynamic representation of the inherent complexities of the educational context contributes to a more profound understanding of the role of the micro and macro contextual factors in formulating teachers’ professional identity. The implications of this study are further explained.

Originality/value

Hereby, the authors declare that all the procedures of data collection and analysis have been just done by the researchers.

Citation

Hashemi Moghadam, H., Adel, S.M.R., Ghaniabadi, S. and Amirian, S.M.R. (2019), "A Bourdieusian analysis of the educational field and professional identity of EFL teachers: A hermeneutic phenomenological analysis", Qualitative Research Journal, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 156-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-12-2018-0002