The Reflective Crucible: Negotiating Professional Identity and Agency Through a Synergistic CRP Model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD Candidate in ELT, Department of English Language Teaching, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

2 Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language Teaching, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

Abstract

This qualitative narrative inquiry probes into how engagement in a synergistic model of collaborative reflective practice (CRP), incorporating class-based, information and communication technology (ICT)-mediated, and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven reflection, influences the construction of professional identity and agency among novice and experienced English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in Iran. Established in sociocultural theory, the study engaged 30 teachers in a 9-month professional development (PD) initiative. Data from life-story interviews, digital logs, reflective essays, and observations were thematically analyzed. Findings show that the multi-modal CRP model worked as a transformative crucible for professional development. For novice teachers, the model offered critical scaffolding, diminishing initial anxiety and facilitating a shift from a fragile, survival-focused identity towards greater confidence, competence, and agentive decision-making. For experienced teachers, the process was remarkably generative; collaboration with peers and engagement with AI stimulated critical questioning of ingrained practices, propelling them towards the roles considered by transformative leadership and mentorship. The study concludes that technology-mediated CRP is basically a relational, context-dependent space where teacher identity is constantly constructed, highlighting the significance of designing integrated professional learning ecosystems that leverage the synergistic potential of human community and digital tools to support teachers’ identity and agency across the career span.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages at the University of Mazandaran. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

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History

  • Receive Date: 13 September 2025
  • Revise Date: 31 May 2026
  • Accept Date: 05 June 2026
  • First Publish Date: 24 June 2026
  • Publish Date: 24 June 2026

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