Immunity from EFL lecturers' perspectives: Challenges and opportunities for professional development

This study aims to investigate the psychological immunity level of Turkish EFL instructors, and find out the factors that may impact their productive or maladaptive psychological immunity. The study also aimed to shed light on the perceived teacher immunity of EFL instructors in terms of professional teacher development, and the challenges and opportunities they may experience in their career. To achieve the aims of this study, a mixed method research design was administered to collect data in two phases. The quantitative research data was collected in the first phase by applying a 6-point Likert-type scale with 39 items to university EFL teachers actively working in the public and foundation universities located in the southern part of Turkey. In the qualitative phase, we asked 15 open-ended questions to 11 participants selected in a convenience sampling approach among teachers working in the public and foundation universities. The quantitative data revealed that 117 participant instructors are somewhere in the mid-point of halfway immunity with a 3.76 average point. The MANOVA test results demonstrated a statistically significant difference between immunity level and gender, degree, and the university type instructors work at. In addition, the qualitative data indicated that participation to professional development events, pursuing to be a lifelong learner in challenging times, and collegiality in academic life positively impact teacher immunity.