The professional identity of Iranian young-learner teachers of English: A narrative inquiry

• Iranian Young-Learner ELT is wrongfully dismissed as just an appendix to adult ELT. • English-to-young-learner teachers are treated as second-class citizens. • Teacher identity is constructed through positioning within professional communities. • Positioning can be impacted by dominant discourses/master narratives. • The kind of professional identity that teachers construct can impact their practice. Drawing on positioning analysis and the concept of master narrative, this narrative inquiry explored seven Iranian English-to-young-learner teachers' professional identities. It was conducted through examining the master narratives on the activity of teaching English to young learners (TEYL) and their impact on teachers' self- and other-positioning within their professional communities. The findings revealed that TEYL is dismissed as an appendix to ELT and oversimplified as the activity of teaching basic language to young learners without due attention to the important educational and pedagogical aspects involved in it. As such, young-learner teachers are treated as second-class citizens due to the dominant master narratives of TEYL being inconsequential and inferior as opposed to adult ELT. This treatment has created a discriminatory division, marginalizing young-learner teachers and challenging novice young-learner teachers' self-positioning as legitimate practitioners, and pushing them to consider for themselves a peripheral position at the margin of ELT. This study found such division to negatively impact young-learner teachers' professional commitment and practice. We discuss implications along with suggestions for further research.