Afghanistan has recently witnessed the redefinition of its educational policies, particularly those related to language teaching. However, little is known about Afghan second language (L2) teachers and the challenges they might face in their professional identity construction. This study investigated the challenges of professional identity construction of Afghan L2 teachers. Scenario prompts and semistructured interviews were used to explore how the teachers responded to challenging situations and narrated their professional challenges. Data analyses indicated that the teachers responded to the scenario prompts in accordance with perspectives mirroring criticality in educational functioning by promoting learners’ awareness of sociocultural anomalies, resisting institutional inequalities, and gearing instruction to learners’ needs. Additionally, analysis of the teachers’ semistructured interviews revealed sociocultural, institutional, and pedagogical challenges, particularly the dominance of institutional barriers in sanctioning the teachers’ identity construction. The authors argue that Afghan L2 teachers need more assistance from policymakers and teacher educators to facilitate their professionalism and professional practice.

中文翻译：

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第二语言教师职业认同建设的挑战：来自阿富汗的声音

阿富汗最近见证了其教育政策的重新定义，特别是与语言教学相关的政策。然而，人们对阿富汗第二语言 (L2) 教师以及他们在职业认同建设中可能面临的挑战知之甚少。本研究调查了阿富汗二语教师职业认同建设的挑战。使用情景提示和半结构化访谈来探索教师如何应对具有挑战性的情况并讲述他们的专业挑战。数据分析表明，教师通过促进学习者对社会文化异常的认识、抵制制度不平等以及根据学习者的需求调整教学，根据反映教育功能关键性的观点对情景提示做出反应。此外，对教师半结构化访谈的分析揭示了社会文化、制度和教学方面的挑战，特别是制度障碍在批准教师身份建构方面的主导地位。作者认为，阿富汗 L2 教师需要政策制定者和教师教育者的更多帮助，以促进他们的专业精神和专业实践。