Groen, Janet ElizabethSewell, H. DouglasBarrantes Elizondo, Lena2020-05-072020-05-072020-04-28Barrantes Elizondo, L. (2020). Professional Agency of Costa Rican University EFL Teachers on Regional Campuses: A Life History Narrative (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112002This study explored how the rural working contexts of Costa Rican adult educators teaching in postsecondary education interact with their condition as non-native English-speaking instructors to inform their professional agency. In this study, professional agency refers to the engagement of adult educators in making choices, influencing others, and taking stances on their work and professional identities in negotiation with their individual characteristics and social context. Data for the study come from a narrative inquiry into the complexities involved in being a university teacher in a regional campus through life history interviews, a researcher’s reflexivity journal, and supplementary documentation. Nine English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university teachers constituted the participants in this study. The data from the study were analysed and organized by following the three-dimensional, temporal-relational perspective on teacher agency offered by the ecological approach. In that view, findings were organized in relation to the past, present and future. Findings suggest that elements of the past gave teachers a broad repertoire of responses to engage and act and mainly included participants’ rural and institutional belonging and how non-native English-learning experiences inform their teaching practices. The present dimension of participants reported beliefs and the affective factors behind non-nativeness, classroom agency and institution structure, the role of their relationships, and a strong sense of commitment. The projective dimension of professional agency in this study were frequently rooted in a weighty sense of accountability for students’ and the community’s economic, social, and academic development. The need for academic professional development and empowerment through community projects stood out in participants’ stories.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.life history narrativeprofessional agencyhigher educationEnglish as a foreign languageEducationEducation--Language and LiteratureEducation--Teacher Trainingdoctoral thesis10.11575/PRISM/37805