An investigation of Turkish foreign language teachers' perception of professional identity

This research has been conducted to find out Turkish EFL teachers' perceptions of teacher professional identity (TPI) in relation to their commitment to 'student needs', 'school issues', and 'personal growth and development.' This research also attempts to explore whether there is a significant difference in terms of Turkish EFL teachers' perception of TPI according to gender, age, type of school they work, undergraduate programs, and years of experience. Finally, research aims to find out whether there is a meaningful relationship between teachers' perception of overall TPI and sub-domains of TPI. The data in the research were gathered from 200 Turkish EFL teachers working in primary, secondary, and high school in the city of Adıyaman. In this mixed method research, Teacher Professional Identity Scale and semi-structured interview questions were used to collect data. Descriptive, inferential, and correlational statistics were used to analyze the relevant data. The results of the study have unearthed that Turkish EFL teachers have a very strong professional identity and they are committed to personal growth and development, student needs, and school issues, respectively. Moreover, it has been found that female teachers have a stronger identity and are more committed. Significant differences have been established that age and years of experience also affect teachers' perception of professional identity and their level of commitment. Finally, the correlational analysis has displayed there is significant and strong positive correlation between teachers' perceptions of overall TPI and sub-domains of TPI (commitment to student needs, schools issues, and personal growth and development). Key Words: Teacher identity, professional identity, teacher commitment, types of commitment