Investigating Iranian In-service and Pre-service EFL Teachers’ Immunity

Teacher immunity as a defense system against the stresses placed on teachers and the disturbing experiences faced which result in emotional exhaustion and burnout, defines the process through which teachers develop defense mechanisms to reduce or block the damage imposed on their motivation and professional identities. This study aims to investigate the dominant immunity among Iranian English in-service and pre-service teachers. Accordingly, a mixed method study was designed to which, ۲۲۹ Iranian pre-service teachers, majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at two branches of Iranian Teacher Education University and in-service teachers, practicing in different high schools in Markazi province, were randomly selected and invited to this study (۷۷ in-service and ۱۵۲ pre-service teachers). Language Teachers Immunity Questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were conducted to collect the data. Considering the descriptive information and running Mann Whitney U test, it was revealed that "half-way immunity" and "adaptive immunity" were respectively the dominant types of immunity among both Iranian in-service and pre-service English language teachers, though the results led to the identification of three immunity types, namely, negative (maladaptive), neutral and positive (productive) types in general. This study can assist Iranian English language in-service and pre-service teachers in developing a robust, productive form of language teacher immunity.