BECOMING AN ACADEMIC RESEARCHER TEACHER - A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO EFL INSTRUCTORS’ MULTIPLE ROLE TRANSITIONS DURING THEIR PHD JOURNEY

Aug 24, 2026

This narrative inquiry explores how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructors become academic researchers during their PhD journey in Türkiye. The dissertation scrutinizes five instructors’ practices and beliefs about “working the dialectic,” focusing on opportunities and challenges across multiple role transitions and the process of becoming academic researcher teachers. Data include two rounds of semi-structured interviews, interviews with family members or colleagues, and additional sources such as voice messages and social media presence analysis. Narrative inquiry and multiphase content analysis show challenges affecting multi-role management and support mechanisms that help participants cope.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages445

Reading Time18 h 41 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Purpose and research focus

Data sources and participants

Analysis approach

Key findings and implications

BECOMING AN ACADEMIC RESEARCHER TEACHER: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO EFL INSTRUCTORS’ MULTIPLE ROLE TRANSITIONS DURING THEIR PHD JOURNEY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY FATMA TANRIVERDİ KÖKSAL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING APRIL 2023 Approval of the thesis: BECOMING AN ACADEMIC RESEARCHER TEACHER: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO EFL INSTRUCTORS’MULTIPLE ROLE TRANSITIONS DURING THEIR PHD JOURNEY submitted by FATMA TANRIVERDİ KÖKSAL in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Language Teaching, the Graduate School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Sadettin KİRAZCI Dean Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Nurten BİRLİK Head of Department Department of Foreign Language Education Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hale IŞIK GÜLER Supervisor Department of Foreign Language Education Examining Committee Members: Prof. Dr. Kenan DİKİLİTAŞ (Head of the Examining Committee) University of Stavanger Department of University Pedagogy Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hale IŞIK GÜLER (Supervisor) Middle East Technical University Department of Foreign Language Education Assoc. Prof. Dr. Betil ERÖZ Middle East Technical University Department of Foreign Language Education Assoc. Prof. Dr. Safiye İpek KURU GÖNENAnadolu University Department of Foreign Language Education Assoc. Prof. Dr. Betül BAL GEZEGİNOndokuz Mayıs University Department of Foreign Language Education I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: Fatma TANRIVERDİ KÖKSAL Signature: ABSTRACT BECOMING AN ACADEMIC RESEARCHER TEACHER: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO EFL INSTRUCTORS’ MULTIPLE ROLE TRANSITIONS DURING THEIR PHD JOURNEY TANRIVERDİ KÖKSAL, Fatma Ph.D., The Department of English Language Teaching Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hale IŞIK GÜLER April 2023, 423 pages This narrative inquiry aims at exploring the experience of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructors’ becoming academic researchers during their PhD journey in Türkiye. Thus, this dissertation specifically scrutinized five instructors’ practices and beliefs regarding “working the dialectic” and the opportunities and challenges they face in their multiple role transitions and in the process of their becoming academic researcher teachers (ART) during their PhD. With this aim, several data sources were utilized: (a) two rounds of semistructured interviews with the participants and one with their family members or colleagues, and (b) other sources of information (instant voice messages, social media presence analysis, researcher’s history with the participants) that helped the elaboration of the topic. The data were analyzed adopting narrative inquiry and multiphase content analysis. The findings revealed that there are several challenges that affect the management of multiple roles, and the existence of support mechanisms helps the EFL instructors cope with the challenges they face. It was observed that they utilize some coping mechanisms to function properly in all the roles they were cast in, and they enact agency during their multiple role practices, especially for teaching and research practices through which nomadic identity (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987) practices could be explored. Regarding academic research practices, it was found that there are different professional identity spaces available for or hoped by the participants. This study offers implications for EFL instructors planning to pursue a PhD assuming multiple roles, language school

FAQs

What does the study investigate about EFL instructors during their PhD journey?

It investigates the experiences of EFL instructors as they become academic researchers, emphasizing their multiple role transitions and the process of becoming academic researcher teachers.

What data sources were used to conduct the narrative inquiry?

The study used two rounds of semi-structured interviews with participants (plus one interview round with family members or colleagues) and additional information such as instant voice messages, social media presence analysis, and the researcher’s history with participants.

What did the findings reveal about multiple role transitions?

The findings show challenges that affect managing multiple roles, and evidence that support mechanisms help instructors cope. Participants also enact agency in teaching and research practices, linked to exploring nomadic identity practices.

Aug 24, 2026

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