Reflection, Resilience and Role Stress among Iranian EFL Teachers: A Mixed Methods Study

The present study was an attempt to discover the relationships among reflection, role stressors, and resilience. To this end, a mixed-method approach was adopted. In the quantitative phase, 122 EFL teachers completed three questionnaires namely English Language Teaching Reflection Inventory, Teacher Role Stressors Scale, and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. The results of the correlation indicated that there was a significant positive relation between reflection and resilience. However, the correlation between reflection and role stressors was found to be negative. Multiple regression revealed that of the five components of reflection, metacognitive and critical reflection were significant predictors of role ambiguity while only critical reflection could predict role conflict. Metacognitive and practical reflection was also found to be significant predictors of teachers’ resilience. In the qualitative phase, fifteen face-to-face interviews were conducted with the participants who had also taken part in the first phase of the study. Data were transcribed, coded, and thematically structured based on a grounded theoretical perspective. The two main themes which emerged out of the interviews confirmed that reflection leads to resilience through strengthening teachers’ professional identity while it also leads to resilience or stress through making teachers prepared and knowledgeable. The possible justifications of the obtained results as well as the implications of this study for teaching English and teacher education in the EFL context are discussed.