EFL Teachers Response to the Ecological Expectations of the Teaching Context at a Saudi University

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of a case study on EFL experienced teachers in the English Language Institute of King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The aim of the study is to investigate if the expectations of the environment affects the intentional activity and the agency of the teachers in their classrooms. The focal area of the study is to identify ways intentional classroom activity of the teachers have changed according to the expectations of the different agents within the mentioned EFL ecological context despite the contradiction of this change with the teachers’ cognition coming from their earlier education and practical experience. As for the research method, it is a case study where two semi-structured interviews were conducted with two experienced teachers. The results of these interviews demonstrate a positive correlation between the contextual expectations of the educational institution environment with all its constituents and the agency/the intentional activity of the teachers even if this intentional activity contradicts with the teachers’ former knowledge and practice. Further studies using varied research tools is required to investigate into how teachers’ practice is influenced by the expectations of the educational ecological setting.