EFL Teacher Stress in Saudi Higher Education: A Critical Narrative Research

Abstract:

This study examines how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers experience and respond to workplace stress within Saudi higher education. Whilst existing literature appears to foreground individual resilience, this research addresses a perceived gap by exploring how institutional conditions might shape teacher well-being and professional trajectories. Employing a critical narrative research design, data were collected from 15 EFL teachers at four Saudi state universities through semi-structured interviews and reflective journals. Findings, analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, suggest that workplace stress is predominantly institutional and systemic in nature. Dominant stressors appear to include policy instability, administrative opacity, and constrained autonomy. The research indicates that these pressures result in emotional and physical costs that may spill over into personal life and could diminish pedagogical motivation. Furthermore, whilst teachers employ personal coping mechanisms these efforts appear to be largely insufficient in the absence of robust institutional care.  

The study argues that teacher well-being should be viewed as a core condition for realising the educational objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 national reforms. It suggests for institutions to formally integrate well-being indicators into quality assurance and accreditation processes. Finally, future research can implement action research design to address specific stressors and wellbeing initiatives. This approach aims to bridge the gap between diagnosing systemic strain and implementing sustainable, teacher-led institutional reforms that value EFL teachers’ wellbeing. 

 ________________________________________________________________________________

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/34945232961505?p=UEoDcphTGm27h2IV6j

Meeting ID: 349 452 329 615 05

Passcode: Rk6Xn77h