reconstruction of iranian medical eap instructors professional identity

This study aimed to explore iranian medical eap instructors professional identity formation. it also aimed to design a conceptual model of iranian medical eap instructors professional identity. to this end, a purposive sample of eap instructors teaching at iranian medical universities was theoretically sampled based on the principles and procedures of grounded theory. the participants in this study were twenty medical eap instructors (fourteen females and six males). the data were transcribed and analyzed using grounded theory procedures in which open, axial, and selective coding were employed to extract the themes. the results revealed that the contextual factors of professional identity formation include: individual characteristics, professional expectations, a person s point of view toward the eap profession, and external factors. professional identity formation processes involve learning to teach, membership in the eap community, and job tensions. the strategies to encounter job tensions entail consultation with others and patterning, finding a solution by the person himself, job development, and facing stressful situations. the consequences of the contextual factors, processes, and strategies in forming professional identity are categorized as playing the role of a medical eap instructor and emotions resulting from tensions. membership in the eap community was identified as the core category of medical eap instructors professional identity.