An analysis of the interplay between affective and cognitive components of teacher identity among native and non-native EFL in-service trainees

Abstract

The present study aims to explore the affective and cognitive components teacher identity by examining the EFL teachers’ and in-service trainers’ attitudes toward in-service professional development training process at a private university in Turkey. The participants, who were selected through convenient sampling, consist of native and non-native EFL instructors; EFL in-service trainees (N=6) and teacher trainers; EFL in-service teacher trainers (N=2). The data was collected via semi-structured interviews conducted with the teachers and Behavior Observation Rubric completed by teacher trainers. In the first phase, EFL teacher trainees were observed in class and given post observation feedback by in-service teacher trainers, who completed the rubric evaluating the reactions of the teachers to four categories: (1) Attitude to feedback, (2) Response to feedback, (3) Behavior, and (4) Independent work. In the second phase, teachers were interviewed about their perceptions of the in-service training process; Interview data (qualitative data) were analyzed through content analysis, while descriptive statistics (frequency) was used to analyze Behavior Observation Rubric scores (quantitative data). The findings indicated differences between native and non-native EFL instructors (trainees). According to interviews, native EFL instructors felt more enthusiastic about professional development sessions compared to non-native EFL teachers due to several educational background, cultural differences and so on. This was supported by the results from the Behavior Observation Rubric, which revealed higher scores for native EFL instructors than for non-native instructors in terms of attitude to feedback, response to feedback, behavior, and independent work during the professional development; observation process. / Keywords: native vs. non-native EFL instructors, teacher identity, EFL in-service trainees