Unveiling the Metamorphosis: English Teachers’ Shifting Identity in the Context of Post-COVID-19 Distance Education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted various teaching and learning practices. Teachers worldwide had to adapt their instructional methods to teach from a distance, often without prior training. This abrupt transition resulted in significant alterations to their professional identities, which remain largely unexplored and uninvestigated due to the rapid changes during and following the pandemic. Therefore, this qualitative explanatory case study aims to investigate the development of professional identities among student, novice, and experienced English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on their possible selves, including their ideal and feared selves. Twelve participants, consisting of students, novice, and experienced EFL teachers, participated in semi-structured interviews as part of the study. The findings revealed that EFL teachers redefined their professional identities in response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, the teachers emphasized the importance of efficient technology usage and adaptability skills as their ideal selves while expressing fear of not utilizing technology effectively. © 2023 Optica Publishing Group.