The construction and exercise of teacher agency in English language teachers from Northern Mexico

The aim of the study was to identify how English teachers from public elementary schools in northern Mexico exercise their agency, and the factors that seem to explain such agency from their perspective. Based on the model from Priestley et al., a theoretical model to explain the development and exercise of agency was created to guide the research. A collective case study involving 13 English language teachers was conducted. Participant observations, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis were employed as data collection methods. The study found that teachers exercise their agency when adapting the curricular objectives according to their contextual situation. It was also found that teachers' agency is influenced by personal, institutional, and context-related factors. It was concluded that understanding what promotes and hinders teachers' agency could benefit the improvement of current theory of education in general, and of the professional improvement of English teachers in particular.