Exploring Professional Identity of English Language Versus Science Teachers at Iranian Junior High Schools

Professional identity is a multidimensional variable researched using quantitative and qualitative methods. However, very few studies have adopted a comparative perspective on the issue. Having this gap in mind, the researchers explored the representations of the Iranian high school teachers of English and science about building their professional identity and analysed their identities built during their education and work. This study adopted both quantitative and qualitative design as the method. It included a survey of the participants professional identities and a comparison of the variables based on their majors. The qualitative phase was established on a biographical narrative method and relied on autobiographical interviews. The quantitative analysis results showed no significant difference between the English teachers and science teachers in terms of professional identity. The qualitative analysis confirmed that autobiographical narrative is appropriate to investigate teachers professional identity and gave us a better understanding of individual and community identity through experiences and events that reflected the complexity of the teacher s professional being. It was concluded that a teacher s professional identity is dynamic, which pedagogically implied the significance of a teacher s academic background and training and its contribution to identity development.