Work

English-Medium Instruction at a Finnish University: Lecturers’ Professional Identity and Occupational Stress

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: English-medium instruction (EMI) is a global phenomenon with accelerated growth in higher education, and with implications for EMI lecturers’ professional tasks and self-understanding. This study examines the professional identity of university lecturers with EMI duties in a non-Anglosphere country, and how their experiences of stress at work may influence their professional identity. Interviews were conducted with eight Finnish and eight international lecturers teaching in international master’s degree programs at a popular Finnish university. The interview transcripts were thematically analyzed using an a priori codebook informed by the main aspects of teachers’ professional identity, that is, self-image, self-efficacy beliefs, motivation, future perspectives, commitment, task perception, and job satisfaction. The analysis additionally included participants’ self-reported experiences and manifestations of stress at work in a preliminary survey. The findings indicate that participants’ professional identity negotiation involves all aspects generally acknowledged to constitute professional identity. Moreover, the findings suggest that participants’ perceived sources of stress dynamically affected their professional identity negotiation, and that these sources were more strongly connected to self-efficacy beliefs, task perception, and job satisfaction.

Source: Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning

DOI: 10.52598/jpll/6/2/2

Author: Sotiria Varis

Institution: University of Jyväskylä

Language: English

Topic: Second Language Learning and Teaching

Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Suomen Kulttuurirahasto