Language Teachers’ Intercultural Identity in the Critical Context of Cultural Globalization and Its Metaphoric Realization

ABSTRACT

This study used questionnaires and interviews to investigate Iranian English language teachers’ intercultural identity and its metaphoric realization in the context of cultural globalization. While questionnaire findings revealed that the majority held first language cultural identity, factor analysis indicated teachers’ preference for American culture as representative of globalized culture. Interview data indicated teachers’ imagined direct exposure to the global village through the media. Metaphoric analysis revealed the conceptualization of local culture as closed home, which was valued by anti-cultural globalization teachers as protection while devalued by pro-cultural globalization teachers as a limitation. These findings have implications for expanding teachers’ intercultural identity.

KEYWORDS:

• English teachers
• intercultural identity
• cultural globalization
• metaphor

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zia Tajeddin

Zia Tajeddin is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Tarbiat Modares University, Iran, where he teaches doctoral courses in Discourse Analysis, L2 Pragmatics, and Second Language Teacher Education. He is the co-editor of Applied Pragmatics (John Benjamins) and sits on the editorial/review board of journals such as RELC Journal and TESL-EJ. His research interests centre on L2 pragmatics, classroom discourse analysis, teacher identity, and EIL/ELF. He has presented papers in international conferences and published papers in many journals, including Journal of Language, Identity, & Education, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Pedagogies, The Language Learning Journal, Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, RELC Journal, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, TESL-EJ, Language and Intercultural Communication, and TESL Canada Journal.

Susan Ghaffaryan

Susan Ghaffaryan is a Ph.D. candidate of TEFL at Allameh Tabataba’i University, Iran. Her main areas of interest include critical discourse analysis and interculturality.