“My Religion Guides Me, Even as a Teacher”: Examining Religious Identities of English Language Teachers in Kuwait

This paper investigates the lived experiences of three Kuwaiti women as they construct and negotiate their professional identities as Muslim English language teachers in Kuwait. Building on the paucity of research surrounding religious identity and English language teaching contexts, positioning analysis and tactics of intersubjectivity were used to examine the teachers’ oral narrative accounts, highlighting the ways in which they navigate their professional teaching contexts within the underlying local religious ideologies. Findings show that while the three English language teachers share a common nationality, faith, and gender, they each engaged in different ways with their religious identities within their professional practice. The study concludes with implications for professional development and future research directions.