Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective Reconfigurando los roles del profesorado de lenguas desde el una perspectiva feminista Imamatul Khair Sastra Lingua Indonesia, Indonesia 1 imamatulkhair@sastralingua.co.id 9 No. 29 Gist Education and Learning Research Journal. ISSN 1692-5777. No. 29 (July - December, 2024). pp. 9-36. 10 No. 29 Abstract The idea of teacher education has emerged to bridge the gap in questioning intellectual equality for both male and female teachers. Pursuing higher education in language professional careers which are understood as auxiliary jobs by male counterparts poses a big challenge for female teachers who were born and raised in a patriarchal community. This current study explored and interrogated socio-cultural contexts of learning and teaching by gender roles experienced by female language student teachers. It was designed as a narrative case study inviting three student teachers who currently pursued master’s or doctoral degree in the US to share their visual narrative experiences. The findings revealed any experience and aspiration of their language learning and teaching by oppression, stereotypes, and agency associated with female language teachers. Conclusions from this study will be helpful for student teachers to reconstruct their teaching philosophy and autonomy in family, school, and community settings. Keywords: Female language teachers, EFL learning and teaching, sociocultural theory, feminism Resumen La idea de la formación docente ha surgido para cerrar la brecha en la cuestión de la igualdad intelectual entre maestros y maestras. Continuar con los estudios superiores en carreras profesionales relacionadas con los idiomas, que suelen ser entendidas como trabajos auxiliares por sus colegas masculinos, representa un gran desafío para las mujeres docentes que han nacido y crecido en una comunidad patriarcal. Este estudio explora e investiga los contextos socioculturales del aprendizaje y la enseñanza a través de los roles de género experimentados por mujeres que estudian sobre la de enseñanza de idiomas. Se diseñó como un estudio de caso narrativo, en el que participaron tres estudiantes de magíster o doctorado en los EE.UU., quienes compartieron sus experiencias a través de narrativas visuales. Los hallazgos revelaron que sus experiencias y aspiraciones en el aprendizaje y la enseñanza de idiomas están marcadas por la opresión, los estereotipos y la agencia asociada con las mujeres docentes de idiomas. Las conclusiones de este estudio serán útiles para que las futuras docentes reconstruyan su filosofía de enseñanza y su autonomía en los ámbitos familiar, escolar y comunitario. Palabras clave: Mujeres docentes de idiomas, aprendizaje y enseñanza del inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL), sociocultural. Resumo: A ideia da formação de professores surgiu para reduzir a lacuna na questão da igualdade intelectual entre professores e professoras. Continuar os estudos superiores em carreiras profissionais relacionadas aos idiomas, que geralmente são entendidas como trabalhos auxiliares por seus colegas masculinos, representa um grande desafio para as mulheres docentes que nasceram e cresceram em uma comunidade patriarcal. Este estudo explora e investiga os contextos Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 11 No. 29 socioculturais da aprendizagem e do ensino por meio dos papéis de gênero experimentados por mulheres que estudam ensino de idiomas. Foi concebido como um estudo de caso narrativo, no qual participaram três estudantes de mestrado ou doutorado nos EUA, que compartilharam suas experiências por meio de narrativas visuais. Os resultados revelaram que suas experiências e aspirações na aprendizagem e no ensino de idiomas são marcadas por opressão, estereótipos e agência associada às mulheres docentes de idiomas. As conclusões deste estudo serão úteis para que futuras professoras reconstruam sua filosofia de ensino e sua autonomia nos âmbitos familiar, escolar e comunitário. Palavras-chave: Mulheres docentes de idiomas, aprendizagem e ensino de inglês como língua estrangeira (EFL), sociocultural. Imamatul Khair 12 No. 29 Gender representation in educational settings is a topic to address. Woman underrepresentation in such settings overlies on two factors: societal culture and organizational culture (ElAti et al., 2024). The dominance of man’s power in the society and gendered divisions in an organization have institutionalized the gender positions in the community and school. As a woman who was born and raised in a patriarchal culture, I observe the gaps in the legitimacy between men’s and women’s aspirations for career choice. Male supremacy, disempowerment, and stereotyping towards working women impede their career progress and promotion. Gender stereotypes and roles in Eastern culture warrant further investigation to reach equal opportunities for male and female educators, staff, and students at any educational level. Patriarchal environments restrict them to perform with good academic outputs and prosper intellectual and emotional well- being (Dlamini & Adams, 2014). Language teachers may be impacted by the patriarchal culture that places both women and men in a certain social degree. Patriarchal culture is a situation where “men hold power and are the central figures in the family, community, government, and larger society” (Saraswati et al., 2018, p. 3). The socially constructed norms in a patriarchal community are assumed to also influence the behaviors, expectations, and career goals of female teachers. Some studies (e.g., Basu & Kundu, 2022; Han, et al., 2020) have discovered female domination in a teaching position because men are more legitimated to have better income or remuneration from other career positions. Hence, female language teachers might experience microaggressions or subtle discrimination and stereotypes of their jobs culturally at the community and institutional level.    Gender stereotypes of female teachers and students have not been totally solved in schools that are surrounded by a patriarchal community. Hentschel et al. (2019) define gender stereotyping as generally characterizing someone with socially constructed attributes or features including agency and communality. For example, women’s roles in the textbooks are stereotyped using some representations such as having family or domestic roles and low-risk, less diverse, and less prestigious occupations (Islam & Asadullah, 2018; Rohmawati & Putra, 2022; Yonata, 2021). The woman representation in the textbook might affect the students’ perception towards their female teachers and female students of their social and career insights. Stereotypes about women’s role in educational hierarchies form patterns that are inherited and tacitly embodied (Maher & Rathbone, 1986). For instance, many educational institutions like universities exert power and authority that are often gendered in practice (Arquisola & Rentschler, 2023). Social and historical contexts that evolve around female teachers and learners are key dimensions to assist them in identifying opportunities and events to challenge women’s stereotypes. A film study scrutinizing the implication of patriarchal culture towards gender discrimination in Anne, character in Anne with an E, further notices that women who are aware of Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 13 No. 29 gender discrimination may come out with a strong self-actualization such as forming women-led ideology and empowerment, evaluating and innovating education, as well as being participative in the public agenda (Rahma, 2023). Therefore, analyzing these contexts calls for women of a gender-stereotypical interest from critical perspectives.  Nowadays, a lot of professional development opportunities are concerned about women’s roles in education. Scholarships available to Indonesian female English teachers can be alternative educational and leadership programs that open chances for them to improve their visibility in public domains. Teacher education can challenge the existing social structure that demeans women (Maher & Rathbone, 1986). Such programs may become efforts to criticize gender discrimination in curriculum design and school leadership roles. With the vast development of government- and foreign- based scholarship, few studies focus on exploring in-depth how Indonesian English teachers who pursue higher degrees use their academic degree merits to critically view the possibilities and obstacles of giving impacts on language education. It pushes female teachers to develop their personal self-esteem and occupational status as factors to change the traditional social structure (Basu & Kundu, 2022), especially regarding male-female proper work concerning language learning and teaching practices. Identifying teachers’ sociocultural learning and teaching context also provides an analysis of how teachers use these sociocultural affordances to conceptualize their beliefs about future learning and teaching goals.  Some studies have interrogated the role of student teachers’ narratives to identify their agency, identity, and beliefs (Kalaja et al., 2016; Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013; Sexton, 2008). This current study adds a novel discussion to locate the student teachers’ personal experiences in the milieu of family, community, and school from interpretive and feminist points of view. Therefore, this current study aims to understand the narratives of Indonesian female EFL student teachers’ sociocultural contexts and interrogate the ups and downs of language learning and teaching. To achieve the research purpose, this study intends to answer two research questions: 1. How do Indonesian female language student teachers describe their sociocultural contexts of language learning and teaching?   2. In what ways do Indonesian female student teachers’ sociocultural narratives inform their language teaching practices in the future? Imamatul Khair 14 No. 29 Literature Review Sociocultural Contexts of Learning and Teaching, Patriarchal Gender Role, and Feminism This current study uses three big conceptual frameworks to address female EFL teachers’ experience in learning and teaching. The article’s conceptual frameworks include sociocultural theory by Vygotsky extended by (John-Steiner & Mahn, 2003) and gender role in patriachal culture (Greenwood & George, 2016). Sociocultural contexts of language learners Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory emphasizes learning based on four vital factors: social source of development, various forms of participation, semiotic mediation, and genetic analysis dealing with historical contexts (John-Steiner & Mahn, 2003). Social sources of development put forth interdependence between the support given and language proficiency attainment. Another variable is child participation with parents, peers, and community members who have more experience using the language. Interaction and collaboration of more knowledgeable people will support a child with better understanding and skill of being independent learners (Neupane, 2022) and co-construction of their knowledge (Vuopala et al., 2019). The participatory factor facilitates the transmission and construction of knowledge more easily, reduces tendencies to exclude members with less authority and power, and fosters linguistic transaction and transformation in knowledge. Besides, various physical and non-physical semiotic mediation are associated with resources used to elucidate the internalization of language and conceptual thought construction. For the last sociocultural learning factor, Vygotsky uses genetic analysis to inspect sociocultural and historical conditions in a context affecting gender and social power, including interactions with peers and adults and access to resources. Sociocultural theory values the connections between individual and social processes to be successful in learning and development. However, there is a gap in the sociocultural theory as it does not consider socio-cultural factors such as gender, age, beliefs, and values to synthesize experiences in language development. Analysis of female language teachers’ lived experience is a basis for understanding the sociocultural factors that shape opportunities for learning and teaching.             Gender role in patriarchal culture As culture contributes to individuals’ upbringing, women born and raised in Eastern culture mostly experience silence and less chances to take control of their Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 15 No. 29 life because of their gender roles. Low gender equalitarianism is found among female children, parents, and husbands in South Asia where a patriarchal structure dominates (Gupta et al. cited in Greenwood & George, 2016). Women bear high social expectations to listen and take the orders of their fathers, husbands, in-law relatives, and adult children for their entire life. On the other hand, individual upbringing also depends on the family structure imposed by a patriarchal structure. Both male and female children have traditionally been placed at the bottom of the social hierarchy (Devine et al., 2021). Therefore, younger children might have less voice compared to the adults around them. In the same way, the community in Indonesia normally engenders socio- psychological attributes through gender roles. For example, men are associated with assertiveness, toughness, and competitiveness. Meanwhile, women are expected to be tender, soft, caring (Hofstede cited in Greenwood & George, 2016), and dismissive of male commands. From the lens of sociocultural learning, the sexist view may create big inequalities in giving opportunities for interaction and communication between women and men. It is evident in patriarchal schools, the valorization of men’s social power remains because of the system of social relations and masculinity (Haase, 2010). Haase’s research (2010) found that students fear and admire male teachers at the same time. Students in the research thought that male teachers’ voice scares them more than the experience of being hit by female teachers. The cultural context imposes a mental effect by gender disposition that is unequally true in a learning environment. The patriarchal schools portray that male teachers are considered to have stronger disciplinary culture through the language they use to show power, dignity, and social distance (Read, 2008). Comparing the expectations to bring to schools, families, and communities, feminine traits are imposed greatly to women; while they are also forced to follow “the regimented, authoritarian, and focused conformity over individual needs” (Maher & Rathbone, 1986, p. 274). The stereotyping of women’s traits has formed ‘differentness’ in cognitive abilities, structural limitations, accessibility to curriculum that inclusively consider personal goals, personal and professional power, and pedagogical styles not only in the family but also community and school. Method Research design A qualitative research inquiry was conducted using a narrative case study method to gather an in-depth understanding of female student teachers’ social and historical contexts of learning and teaching from the feminist perspective. This case study would open up the discourse of female teachers’ roles that are underrepresented in various Imamatul Khair 16 No. 29 settings of their life, such as family, community, and school.  A case study helps readers understand the information from the sources (Bhattacharya, 2017), and thus this current study is expected to gather rich data interpretation that illustrates a learner’s and teacher’s social and academic experience related to language learning. Since this study invited Indonesian female student teachers who are currently in a master’s or doctoral program, their narratives were key stories that can inform learning and teaching from feminist and constructivist perspectives. Narratives of this study were depicted in two forms: visual narratives and interviews that confirmed the teachers’ narratives. Narrative can discursively reveal how one makes meaning of being and becoming historically and contextually situated (Prior, 2012). Additionally, visually constructed narratives provide alternative ways to recall stories and make meaning more easily, aside from verbally sharing one’s experiences (Kalaja et al., 2016).  Positionality With my inquisitive aim, I assume that other female language learners might face similar challenges and privileges that I experience as a woman growing up in a patriarchal culture. Moreover, as I have built rapport with my female participants, it is easier for me to bring gender issues around language education. The idea of intersecting gender and education is inspired by Bhattacharya’s book (2017), which highlights the issues of the experience of people with their identities in societal structures. Bhattacharya also mentions that qualitative research can be aimed at interrogating the inequalities and marginalization of certain groups; hence, my research proposition challenges the status quo of being a female language teacher, which is frequently considered inferior to their male counterparts in a patriarchal society. Moreover, I have discussed future goals with some of the research participants related to their contributions to the society. The reason for women’s involvement in my research is that it takes the gender lens with a similar expectation from McKittrick’s (2021) critical race concern to fix and repair a sense of place for black people from subhuman to human positions. This study, therefore, is expected to reformulate public discourse about women as domestic servants to mistresses in their families, work, and community. Participants Three Indonesian female student teachers who are currently studying English language teaching and learning were invited to participate in this narrative case study. The participants were selected using purposive sampling to meet the inclusion criteria (i.e., master or doctoral student at an American university, having work experience of at least 1 year, speaking English as a foreign language, and receiving a scholarship for their degree abroad). Each of their narratives was a rare documentation of a Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 17 No. 29 teacher’s journey in the public domain. Therefore, the purpose of asking the teachers to draw their socio-cultural learning and teaching contexts could yield inspiring insights from the perspective of a learner and educator. All of the teachers were in the second year of their study program at three different American universities located in Ohio (midwestern US), Arizona (southwestern US), and Iowa (midwestern US). The representation of graduate students from these different locations may devise different narratives influenced by the university’s academic, social-historical, and spatial atmosphere of the university or town. One woman was in her 20s, and the other two were in their 30s. All teachers graduated with English-equivalent bachelor’s degrees at Indonesian Universities. One Ph.D. student teacher obtained her master’s double degree from an Indonesian university and an American University, and the other Ph.D. student teacher held a master’s degree from an Indonesian university. Only the doctoral student-teacher studying in Iowa was married. Because of the ethical considerations, all of the student teachers’ names were closed and labeled with different names. All of the student teachers specialized in different fields. Bintar was a master’s student in Teaching English as a Second Language; Ulil studied in a doctoral program of English as a Second Language; and Wardah studied in a doctoral program of Applied Linguistics and Technology. To participate in this current study, the researcher sent a consent letter to all participants. They were required to read a consent letter and sign it after they agreed.  Materials Data collection The primary data of this current study were collected through the elicitation of visual narratives by Kalaja et al. (2016), using drawings to explain the stories, feelings, and contexts from one’s experience. In addition, further interpretation beyond the primary data was gained through interviews.  Data from visual narrative frames were used to chronologically address the learning and teaching socio-cultural contexts of the female student teachers. After the narrative frames were collected, the researcher conducted a further step, an interview to delve into their experience. The whole research process including the data collection and analysis took place from February to May 2023. This study received an ethical approval from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (Number of ethic code:  #4241). Task In accomplishing the data collection, the student teachers were first asked to visualize their socio-cultural learning and teaching experience in the past, when Imamatul Khair 18 No. 29 becoming a student and a teacher in the Indonesian context. The prompt question given in the first take to help them start visualizing was “Draw your life as a female language learner and teacher in your family, school, and community in the past (childhood to career life). (You can use speech bubbles in your stories if necessary).” The teachers were then given a day to finish the first story. After they finished the first story, they were given another day to visualize the second story. In the second take, they were prompted using this instruction, “Draw the life you imagine as a language learner and a future language teacher after graduating from an American university. (You can use speech bubbles in your stories if necessary).” The narrative sheet provided for the teachers also contained another instruction, “you can visualize your stories in combination with writings” to provide greater flexibility in modes for teachers to express their ideas. The teachers were then asked to submit their narrative sheets to the researcher’s email. Following Kalaja’s et al. (2016) method, these drawings were called visual narratives that can inform the extensive experience within oneself as a language learner and teacher.   The next step was conducting an hour and a half of elicitation and informal semi structured interview with the three participants. Interview questions/probes were designed deductively from Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (i.e., source of development, participation, semiotic mediation, and genetic analysis) concerning a feminist perspective and teacher education by Maher and Rathbone (1986). In the elicitation, the teachers were invited to interpret the visual narratives they created. The elicitation stage lasted for approximately 40 minutes with interruptions from the researchers when further clarifications on some stories were needed. The follow-up questions were given to confirm vague events in their narratives. In a one-hour semi-structured interview, the teachers were then asked further to meet the research purposes. Data both from the elicitation and the interview were recorded and analyzed in the latter step.  Procedures Data analysis The visual narratives were documented and analyzed from Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and gender role theory.  The key aspects of the visual narratives included the socio-cultural learning and teaching contexts of being a female learner and teacher, as well as their vision of their future learning and teaching practice. For the sociocultural learning and teaching context, the pictures were categorized into four aspects of sociocultural contexts: a social source of development, socially and culturally shaped contexts, participation with peers and adults, and access to resources (John-Steiner & Mahn, 2003). The data analysis also took place by considering the feminist theory in Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 19 No. 29 education by Maher and Rathbone (1986), which states connections between feminism and teacher education. Meanwhile, to ease the elicitation and interview data process, all interview data were transcribed using a machine transcriber, and transcription results were cross-checked with the audio to clarify the data accuracy. Once the cross-check was done, the data were deductively analyzed using NVivo codes. The data were first coded according to three settings i.e., family, school, and community that entail the socio-cultural variables discussed earlier. The feminist perspective was examined through the student teachers’ current experience and future teaching and learning aspirations. Each case of the teachers was presented consecutively one by one, and the later discussion involved disconnections and connections between the teachers’ experiences. This process is a natural process of a case study which also aligns with what Maher and Rathbone (1986) argue about the perceived variety of women’s experiences. Results Social source of development and socially and culturally shaped learning From the story visualization, this study revealed some socio-cultural contexts the participants had faced. Bintar told her that she grew up in a village where she could not find ways to connect with the community where she lived. Although ‘village’ is often connotated with a strong community, as a female child, she did not find herself engaging with her peers and adults in the surrounding community. She informed me that she was not an outgoing person and thus preferred not to interact much with her neighbors. Additionally, in this community, people embraced the “silence is gold” philosophy where women were discouraged from voicing their opinions about the issues in their community in ways that men were not. Men possessed more social power than women, leading to less sociocultural and educational participation. Because of this, her interactions with the community were limited to a teacher’s student program in which she had to teach reading to her peers in the neighborhood (Figure 1 Box 4). Later when she grew up, she identified herself more exploring the world outside of her home.  So, my teacher seemed to know that Bintar likes reading. That made her ask me to help my friend read stories, learning how to read. So, I met my friend every afternoon. She is fortunately my neighbor, across my house. Like 50 or 100 meters from my house. (Bintar’s Image Elicitation)  Imamatul Khair 20 No. 29 Figure 1. Bintar’s Visual Narrative of Sociocultural Contexts of Learning and Teaching Wardah interacted with the surrounding community because she was involved in community gatherings and schoolwork. Wardah’s neighbor helped her complete language homework when she was in elementary school. She met a lot of community members because her father was the head of the neighborhood. As she worked at a university, she participated in religious gatherings in her community despite having less time to spend outside due to long work hours. Figure 2. Wardah’s Visual Narrative of Sociocultural Contexts of Learning and Teaching Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 21 No. 29 In Indonesia, neighbor. Mm. Not quite often, but I always join the religious activity, just that one, because most of the time I was tired after going back from work. Sometimes I had to work extra hours, going back at six or six already dark, everybody already inside of the home. So it’s really hard for me to talk unless, like, we have this specific event. (Wardah’s Interview)  Ulil had a continuum of interactions with her neighbors in her village. She interacted with her peers when she was young and connected with them in high school by joining mosque clubs. However, she began to spend less time with them as she went to college and worked. With limited interactions, she realized that she blindly followed any decisions made in her community. Growing up in a mostly dominated Javanese community, Ulil, who was still single, was aware of marriage-related expectations as her peers criticized her decision to pursue higher education in the US. However, she continued her decision as her family and colleagues supported her. Since junior high and senior high, I rarely interacted with the nearby neighbors, but with neighbors from different neighborhood, because my neighbors across my house were not on my age. However, I met with my peers from other neighborhood in youth mosque club when I was in high school which is near my house. As I worked far away, I rarely met them. (Ulil’s Interview)  Figure 3. Ulil’s Visual Narrative of Sociocultural Contexts of Learning and Teaching Imamatul Khair 22 No. 29 Dichotomized parentship: shaping child’s agency and familial connections Bintar’s language-learning journey was highly influenced by her family. Her parents encouraged her to learn a foreign language because they understood its significance. They, therefore, sent her to an English private course when she was in elementary school (Figure 1 Box 2). Bintar’s father, who was a former teacher, helped cover her learning costs, allowed her to read from his history book collection, and invited her to book exhibitions. Reading opened her eyes to a wider perspective on different cultures worldwide. Despite this, Bintar felt more connected to her mother than her father because of the cultural structure such as the gap in age and values between baby boomers and millennials. Bintar admitted that her decision to choose English education, later, was influenced by her perception of teaching as a feminine job. As she graduated from college, she developed her own ideologies and sense of learning autonomy despite the family culture in which a child must follow her family’s decisions. She decided to pursue her master’s degree in the US, although her family disagreed with her decision. This situation made her withhold information from her family. My father support is different from my mother. My mom or sister took me to the course. My father paid for my course fees. My father gave money to purchase books, and that’s his support in this stage (Figure 1 Box 2), funding my learning. However, when I was enrolled to junior high school, I took an English private course, and my father took me there because my mother worked at night. However, when I was in elementary school, my mom and sister took me to a private course. However, my parents support is equal just different in portion. My father then really supported me to go to a book exhibition (Figure 1 Box 3). He was a teacher, so he had a lot of books. My father allowed me to choose anything I want. From that moment, I started to become interested English. (Bintar’s Image Elicitation) Wardah’s family encouraged her to study English, and thus learning resources were more accessible to her. Her parents sent her to the most esteemed school in town and later to a private subject course at the end of senior high school. The resources helped her improve her English skill and social skills with her peers. Although her parents could not speak English, Wardah learned English differently. Her father bought music cassettes, CDs, and books, while her mom supported her with motivational stories. Working as a teacher, her mother encouraged her to get international experience and good compensation for teaching (Figure 2 Box 6), and her father let her participate in various community events and facilitated her public exposure to performing as a female communicator.   My mom is a schoolteacher. Since she was teaching Indonesian back then, she’s already retired now. But yeah, she wants me. She wanted me to have like this kind of international feeling, studying abroad, having much, much better opportunity in the future. This kind of like thinking that my mom had back then, I decided to say yes, even though I will struggle with the language because I didn’t really like English, I was about to choose. I really want Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 23 No. 29 to be like in math subject because math was my favorite, but in my junior and senior high school. (Wardah’s Image Elicitation) Her relationship with her parents was influenced by a religious vantage point. Wardah believed her duty to follow her mother was a part of the observance of her religion. Therefore, she chose the major that her mother had chosen for her. Unlike her relationship with her mother, Wardah faced tension when interacting with her father. Her mother was like a friend, who she shared everything with, but because her father was an introverted person, she engaged with him less. Because of these differentiated gender identities, she often stepped back from building intimate interactions with her father.  With an educated family background, Ulil, the first child in her family, had easier access to material resources and chances to learn with her parents. Her parents implicitly set family expectations because of their roles. She claimed her father, who was an engineer, was a source of knowledge because he gave her various reading sources and reading activities (Figure 3 Box 1 and 2), while her mother became her emotional support. Her parents sent her to a renowned school in town, and her father registered her for an English private course (Figure 3 Box 3). Her decision to pursue higher education in the US was also supported by her family who acknowledged that this was necessary for being a higher-ed educator.   When I was junior high, my father picked me from playing with my elder nephew and he said I was registered to ELT, an English private course. He did not say anything before , so I don’t know. I think maybe he considered the importance of English. (Ulil’s Image Elicitation) Ulil had built close relationships with her father since she was young. Her father was quite engaging in dialogues and discussions with her, especially when he accompanied her to school. Because she lived in a Javanese family in which a parent- child hierarchical structure exists, she still did not flexibly navigate her own voice to her parents. As a result, she tended not to express her opinion until she was asked to do so. Besides, she believed that her parents’ blessings are the prayer for her life; thus, she kept her will to herself to be not considered rebellious.   Punitive educational experience, peer help, and unspoken mind at school Although Bintar studied in a village elementary school, she could find literacy resources from her class teacher. Despite this, she had a traumatic experience in English learning in elementary school because of a reprimanding EFL female teacher (Figure 1 Box 1). As she moved to a more renowned middle and senior high school in town, she felt her agency and chances to connect with her peers were lower. Her Imamatul Khair 24 No. 29 peers were born and raised in more urban areas and thus had access to intellectual and economic affordances compared to her. As Bintar did not fit within the larger dominant elite (high-income and intellectual) student group, she only grouped with female peers who are from the same social status. To improve her English, Bintar had a student teaching position in an English club known as a dominated English club (Figure 1 Box 6).   Most of the time, Bintar faced the great challenge of representing herself as a village female English language learner (Figure 1 Box 5). She also felt this way when she studied at an American university. Although she considered teachers as a source of knowledge, it was not easy for her to voice out her aspiration to them because of the hierarchical relationship. She also had a similar experience as a freelance teacher at her university. She experienced pressure because of hierarchical work cultures such as a staff-leader relationship and job status. Otherwise, she was afraid of being fired if she voiced her criticism towards her leaders out loud.  First box is about a coercive teacher in elementary school. It tells us about the first time I learned English. I forgot how old I was at that time, maybe around 3 or 4 grade in elementary school. The English female teacher was irritable to us. When the bell rang, all of us was in rush to class. We know that she’s bad-tempered. Look, she walked to the class. We were in hurry to class. Because of this experience, I did not like English. Because of having a coercive English female teacher, I was afraid of learning English and making mistakes which makes me rebuked. If we did a mistake, she would be angry at us and criticized us. (Bintar’s Image Elicitation) Wardah claimed herself as an average language learner. She did not participate in many English learning events outside of her class because those were available only for good English-speaking students. In addition, she experienced academic burnout in middle school because her female teacher traumatized her by giving high-demanded testing items that went beyond her knowledge (Figure 2 Box 2 and 3).  Later in college, she met peers and professors that allowed her to improve her skills. She then decided to study in the US and found a discussion group that improved her language acquisition and assessment. As she worked as a lecturer, her ability to sharpen her skills was still limited because her female head department restricted her. Additionally, her chance to participate in professional development workshops was constrained because her husband, who worked at the same faculty, was prioritized over her.  Wardah’s learning participation with peers and adults at school was quite varied. Her teachers, as a source of knowledge, designed competitive teachings. Individual participation was promoted more than collaboration. However, she could still find ways to reach out to peers to practice her English in college. Her prior student experience left her anxious about her learning. She tended to not argue or keep her thoughts to herself. However, when she began working with a female peer, she found greater autonomy to criticize her language teachers who put too many demanding Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 25 No. 29 expectations on her and her peers. She also had a similar action when she experienced unfair treatment from the head of the study program at the university she worked. Her determination to raise her voice did not always make everything smooth, but she was aware to stand up for her rights as a language learner and teacher. Somehow it was, like, traumatic for me because that kind of like negative thinking that I had about English from that teacher remains forever. I hate English, to be honest, since I was like a student at junior high school as well as in high school. I keep kind of like trembling. I keep kind of like shaking. I just hated, like, sweating all the time and kept counting of the time. Like how many minutes left, just like, one minute. Oh, my God. Having that kind of experience wasn’t really nice, right? As a student, I really, really hated (English). (Wardah’s Image Elicitation) Ulil received better learning resources at an English private course and extracurricular programs than at formal schools. Her English teacher in high school noticed her interest in language and then asked her to participate in language debate competitions. She developed her English a lot in college as she could interact with peers who were proficient in the language.     When Ulil was at middle school, her female English teacher was demanding and punitive. Later in senior high school, she had motherly and compassionate English female teachers, but they still barely focused on group work to encourage peer collaboration. However, in college, she met active mixed-gender peers through group work and collegial support where her male peers were generous in sharing their language knowledge and practice with her (Figure 3 Box 5 and 6). Ulil believed she learned in a culture legitimizing a teacher’s power over students. At the university she worked, she faced many cultural and professional communication issues. Hence, she felt inferior and never expressed her opinions to her teachers. She developed other ways of voicing her thoughts, such as talking to colleagues at her level or those in lower positions. Working in a place influenced by Javanese culture, her colleagues still perceived that Ulil as a single teacher could have worked harder than the married teachers. She experienced a stereotypical assumption about marital status and work performance in that situation. My English female teacher in junior high was coercive although she was physically good- looking. She gave a lot of homework and punished us for not doing it. At that time, I thought I would not mess up with her because she was punitive. (Ulil’s Interview)  At some points, I sometimes got some aspirations to say to my colleagues. I thought the problem should be solved this way, but it was not able to be solved right away or I could not talk about it right away to the person. So, I shared my thoughts to my close colleagues or someone in the lower position. For example, I would not say my aspirations to the rector since I could reach out to the study program secretary. (Ulil’s Interview) Imamatul Khair 26 No. 29 Safe, equitable, and aspirational teaching for contextual and participatory learning Bintar hopes to be a good teacher who can create a safe and nonjudgmental learning space to encourage students’ active participation in expressing opinions and respectfully evaluating themselves and others. She expects to build a good rapport and collaborate with her students by solving language problems without being concerned with the power hierarchy (Figure 4 Box 1). Creating a supportive learning culture becomes her future goal to eliminate the inequalities between male and female students, in addition to providing good facilities such as the Internet, computers, books, and educational tools. She hopes to establish multilingual teacher collaboration at her institution and build connections between authentic community issues and English education to stand for social justice. Figure 4. Bintar’s Visual Narratives of Future Teaching and Learning Aspirations I want my class to allow students to be active and comfortable. I do not want to be a coercive teacher like my former English teacher. I do not want judgment on my students, so they are safe to express their opinions and make mistakes. They also need to be supported by good facilities. It’s important for language teaching. For example, technology, speaker and internet, and what’s that? Computer. They must be in class. It is useful for teachers. I want to build a close relationship with my students like supporting each other. For example, if I do not know the answer, my students should understand me. We can find the answer together. That’s what I imagine myself as a language teacher. (Bintar’s Image Elicitation) Wardah illustrated her future learning and teaching as a call to action against her unpleasant learning and teaching experience. She wants a fun creative learning class Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 27 No. 29 to support students with any learning needs, thus not leaving others behind. She wants to use her expertise in corpus instructions to help students have logical reasons to identify language structures. She intends to apply collaborative learning to offer vibrant learning spaces. She wants to grow the autonomy and communication skills of her students by applying universal groupings, hands-on learning, and the use of technology such as OmeTv. Based on her experience, she theorizes that good teachers and good peers will result in a good learning process. She envisions her students actively engaging regardless of their gender. She also hopes her department will have an equal-gender student placement mechanism for teaching practicum.  Figure 5. Wardah’s Visual Narratives of Future Teaching and Learning Aspirations Reflecting again back to the experience that I had, I definitely want my student be happy. English definitely like motivate them and make my student feel happy all the time. I want to involve game like I as like on the second picture on the second box I have like Jenga vocabulary for whatever the game discussion and things like that. I just want to make my student feel happy and kind of like being supportive, supporting each other. Do not make one of the student left behind because I didn’t really like the feeling at all. And I want. I want to cry because, like my experience with English was not that good. (Wardah’s Image Elicitation) Ulil brought aspirations about how important collaboration is in teaching and research. She wants to mingle with a community and bring her authentic experience to class while teaching English (Figure 6 Box 4 and 5). She also hopes to reach out to her students’ families and invite them to see their children’s learning. To give equal learning opportunities, she wants to assign students to mixed-gender student groups and give them the same scoring system and differentiated instruction if necessary.  Imamatul Khair 28 No. 29 Figure 6. Ulil’s Visual Narratives of Future Teaching and Learning Aspirations Although literacy practices are not necessarily related to the English subject I taught, I can still learn and bring the experience from the travelling or the community. They would contribute to how I teach English to the student, specifically on the social practices, despite indirectly teaching the English language. For my language teaching, what I could bring from here (US) is how to develop myself and my teaching competence.  That will indirectly relate to the quality of language teaching in my future class. (Ulil’s Image Elicitation) Discussion For the first point, this study demonstrates Indonesian female EFL teachers’ experience influenced by different sociocultural contexts of various settings.  The participants’ interaction with peers and adults in the community is influenced by academic and religious factors, patriarchal support, and the child’s introverted personality. Muslim women participate in mosques for several reasons, including learning about Islam, praying, socializing, engaging in community activities, and obtaining emotional support and connection (Nyhagen, 2019). In addition, limited interaction with the community due to work reasons might have something to do with the participants’ individualistic ideals as a result of Western interference in the form of neoliberal capitalism, which can be detrimental to traditional communal life (Hirmer et al., 2022). Results on father’s social support align with research that mentions that the political stage in the patriarchal culture is the world of men (Wayan & Nyoman, 2020), leading to subtle silence culture stereotyping women as passive (Sakallı Uğurlu et al., 2021). Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 29 No. 29 Moreover, all participants received their parents’ encouragement of English learning in many ways despite the dichotomy of the father and mother roles. This is related to the fatherly patriarchy, which manifests man dominance in most aspects of family life (Pierik, 2022), and man’s responsibility for more economic or material power than mothers (Krumhuber et al., 2022). This suggests that fatherly patriarchy embeds gender-stereotypic beliefs and idealized roles for fathers and mothers (Koenig et al., 2011). However, man dominance found in all cases demonstrates power-sharing to widen female family members’ knowledge. Overall, success trajectories also depend on different forms of parental support a child receives (Al-deen, 2019).    Self-stereotyping on teaching as a feminine job may influence how the self is construed with specific gender descriptions (Krumhuber et al., 2022) such as female children proper for expressive attributes (warm, caring, and nurturing) (Hentschel et al., 2019). The participants’ parents thought promising international exposure, a stable job, and academic promotion in teaching career, but these depend on intrinsic, extrinsic, and altruistic motives that contribute to positive or negative people’s perceptions of teaching (Başöz, 2021). Regarding freedom to speak, all participants tend to withhold from expressing their opinions to their parents because of religious factors, familial hierarchy, and ethnic culture. In relation to this, patriarchy is connotated with power, family relations, social hierarchy (Pierik, 2022), and religiosity in different religious groups such as families (Perales & Bouma, 2019). Gaps in the conversational topic, perceived gender role of parents, age, and generational values influence the outcome of power relations (Pierik, 2022) in family. Legitimizing men’s power in families may continue creating social distance between fathers and daughters (Haase, 2010).    Pursuing a higher degree in a Western university is an example of autonomy against gender stereotypes that men have more self-oriented traits (e.g., ambitious, independent, dominant, and success-oriented) (Sakallı Uğurlu et al., 2021). Autonomy and ideology development in college may result from peer interaction and access to learning resources that shape the key personalities of female language learners. As most participants access Western learning resources, they may intersect with Western ideologies about women’s emancipatory rights for social inclusion (Koburtay et al., 2023).    From the lens of learners’ experience, all participants had a discouraging learning experience with intrusive EFL female teachers despite considering them a source of knowledge. This situation may suggest how coercive female teachers challenge the authoritarian regime of the schooling system, in which male teachers receive more referral to power and control (Bayever, 2021; Robinson, 1992). Thus, the current finding might lead to questioning the boundary of femininity between the attitudes of EFL male and female teachers in disciplining students.   Imamatul Khair 30 No. 29 The participants’ prior teachers might pose teaching beliefs, experience, and intercultural competencies which may interrupt the ability to adjust and localize EFL materials to be more participatory (Munandar & Newton, 2021). Since the introduction to critical cultural awareness commonly begins at the college level, EFL teaching in college may touch on cultural realities rather than focusing on grammar only in middle-senior high school (Kusumaningputri & Widodo, 2018). Besides, students’ basic knowledge and experience may be a challenge for high school EFL teachers to exhibit communicative learning strategies and thus mostly use teacher- centered teaching (Muliyah & Aminatun, 2020). Isolation and marginalization of voice that the participants faced at school is caused by different social statuses, academic competitiveness, and gendered working culture. Low socio-economic status and low academic self-efficacy could lead to students’ disconnection from school  (Ahmadi et al., 2020). Female leadership in Indonesian higher education is hindered by a stifling bureaucracy, insufficient resource allocation (Arquisola & Rentschler, 2023), and lower job status (Markey et al., 2002). It aligns with Harlo’s study in which women’s voice is more sounding than men’s but quieter only when addressing their voice to the supervisor or more powerful offender (Harlos, 2010). At this point, multidimensional individual, group, and institutional factors concern the participants about their actions, voice, and access to resources and interactions.   Marriage in patriarchal culture is viewed as an ideal household expectation (Pierik, 2022), but it may create anxiety for independent women (da Silva Perez, 2022). Concerning marital stereotype among the participants, a study in Turkey discovered that single-working women are associated with being hardworking and ambitious, while married working women are entitled to be hardworking for caring for domestic activities and work (Özkan, 2011). This situation offers a broader perspective on stereotypical differences on married and single Indonesian EFL teachers. In response to the second question, the participants aim to benefit themselves and their community. Good teachers regardless of their gender should have personality competence, pedagogical competence, social competence, and professional competence (Sakkir et al., 2021). The participants also want their teaching to adopt social justice, authentic learning, and critical literacy by considering accessibility to facilities (e.g., books, the internet, and other educational tools). Similar proper facilities and authenticity in learning are resources envisioned by foreign language teachers in Finland (Kalaja et al., 2016). Most participants consider mix-gender grouping inside and outside class to create a collaborative and friendly learning environment. This study concludes that mix-gender grouping seems to impact female and male students’ success, reduce gender disparities, and curtail the negative influence of gender stereotypes on a particular group of sexes (Almasri, 2022). Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 31 No. 29 Conclusion Capturing different experiences of female teachers uncovers the gap and inequalities in language education at different levels (family, community, and school). The presence of women in community setting deals with the purpose that want to achieve in the community. Religious attainment may bridge the gap in social inclusion between men and women in a Muslim dominated patriarchal community. Parents’ support, in addition, is prominent in the learning and teaching of Indonesian female EFL teachers. Parents’ support is differentiated by gender roles in the family, such as emotional support from the mothers and material and instrumental support from the fathers. The stereotypical thought of teaching as a feminine job still exists, although it is also viewed as valuable in terms of a promising career. The teachers tend not to raise their voices to parents because of complex interplaying factors i.e., religious factors, familial hierarchy, and ethnic culture. This also relates to their stage of developing their own ideologies and autonomy of learning and teaching, which mostly occurs after college, possibly due to peer interaction and access to wider resources. This study also reveals an anomaly in how the participants’ female EFL teachers perform attitudes crossing the boundary of femininity. Besides, school as a learning and teaching place poses a subtle stereotypical perception of marital status and privilege of single female EFL teachers. Not wanting to repeat the same oppressive and stereotypical experience, the EFL teachers envision their future teaching as safe and non-judgmental. The current findings shed light on female EFL teachers’ learning and teaching experience that may pose transformative language education practices in the future. Since this study accounts for female teachers’ experience from being a child, a community member, learner, and teacher, it portrays the present, past, and future of their growth in each setting. However, since this study is a case study, it only includes three teachers’ visual narratives of socio-cultural contexts. To see the extensive findings of sociocultural contexts on female EFL teachers’ learning and teaching, further studies need to include a larger number of participants from different regions of Indonesia. Besides, future research can examine the influence of colonialism and neoliberalism on the sociocultural context of learning and teaching to see the changes in women’s scholarship from different points of view. Conducting comparative studies on both male and female teachers’ sociocultural contexts will also add to future research’s novelty. Moreover, although visual narratives provide alternative ways of presenting experiences using visuals, future research may come with different research methods to address the concerns and strengths of participants, researchers, the community, and beyond. Imamatul Khair 32 No. 29 References Ahmadi, S., Hassani, M., & Ahmadi, F. (2020). Student- and school-level factors related to school belongingness among high school students. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 741–752. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2020 .1730200 Al-deen, T. J. (2019). Agency in action: Young Muslim women and negotiating higher education in Australia. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 40(5), 598–613. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2019.1576120 Almasri, F. (2022). The impact of e-learning, gender-groupings and learning pedagogies in biology undergraduate female and male students’ attitudes and achievement. Education and Information Technologies, 27(6), 8329–8380. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-10967-z Arquisola, M. J., & Rentschler, R. (2023). Gendered in-role behaviours of Indonesian university leaders: Experiences and voices. Cogent Education, 10(1), 2170106. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2170106 Başöz, T. (2021). “I’ve Decided to Become an English Teacher”: Pre-Service EFL Teachers’ Reasons for Choosing Teaching as a Career. Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi, 29(5), 813–821. https://doi.org/10.24106/kefdergi.860727 Basu, A., & Kundu, A. (2022). Feminisation of the Teaching Profession and Patriarchy. International Journal of Educational Sciences, 36, 8–18. https://doi. org/10.31901/24566322.2022/36.1-3.1205 Bayever, T. (2021). Gender Inequities in High School Discipline Practices [Master’s Thesis, California State University San Marcos]. https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/ downloads/44558k98w Bhattacharya, K. (2017). Fundamentals of qualitative research: A practical guide. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. da Silva Perez, B. (2022). Sexual surveillance in Paris and Versailles under Louis XIV 1. In L. Skouvig (Ed.), Histories of surveillance from antiquity to the digital era: The eyes and ears of power. Routledge. Devine, D., Bolotta, G., Samonova, E., Sugrue, C., Sloan, S., Symonds, J., & Capistrano, D. (2021). Becoming ‘brilliant’: Generationing education and development in rural Sierra Leone. Childhood, 28(2), 262–278. https://doi. org/10.1177/0907568220981159 Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 33 No. 29 Dlamini, E. T., & Adams, J. D. (2014). Patriarchy: A case of Women in Institutions of Higher Education. Perspectives in Education, 32(4), 121–133. https://doi. org/10.38140/pie.v32i4.1888 Greenwood, R. A., & George, R. (2016). An Exploration of Cross-Cultural and Gender Differences in East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Haase, M. (2010). Fearfully powerful: Male teachers, social power and the primary school. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 18(2), 173–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/1468 1366.2010.488043 Harlos, K. (2010). If you build a remedial voice mechanism, will they come? Determinants of voicing interpersonal mistreatment at work. Human Relations, 63(3), 311–329. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726709348937 Hentschel, T., Heilman, M. E., & Peus, C. V. (2019). The Multiple Dimensions of Gender Stereotypes: A Current Look at Men’s and Women’s Characterizations of Others and Themselves. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://www.frontiersin.org/ articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00011 Hirmer, S., Leonard, A., Conforti, S., & Conforti, C. (2022). Perceived value interviews and socio-economic survey data for communities in rural Uganda. Data in Brief, 40, 107734. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2021.107734 Islam, K. Md. M., & Asadullah, M. N. (2018). Gender stereotypes and education: A comparative content analysis of Malaysian, Indonesian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi school textbooks. PLoS ONE, 13(1), e0190807. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0190807 John-Steiner, V., & Mahn, H. (2003). Sociocultural Contexts for Teaching and Learning. In I. B. Weiner (Ed.), Handbook of Psychology (p. wei0707). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/0471264385.wei0707 Kalaja, P., Ferreira, A. M., Aro, M., & Ruohotie-Lyhty, M. (Eds.). (2016). ‘Dreaming Is Believing’: The Teaching of Foreign Languages as Envisioned by Student Teachers. In Beliefs, agency and identity in foreign language learning and teaching. Palgrave Macmillan. Koburtay, T., Abuhussein, T., & Sidani, Y. M. (2023). Women Leadership, Culture, and Islam: Female Voices from Jordan. Journal of Business Ethics, 183(2), 347–363. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05041-0 Koenig, A. M., Eagly, A. H., Mitchell, A. A., & Ristikari, T. (2011). Are leader stereotypes masculine? A meta-analysis of three research paradigms. Psychological Bulletin, 137(4), 616–642. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023557 Imamatul Khair 34 No. 29 Krumhuber, E. G., Wang, X., & Guinote, A. (2022). The powerful self: How social power and gender influence face perception. Current Psychology. https://doi. org/10.1007/s12144-022-02798-5 Kusumaningputri, R., & Widodo, H. P. (2018). Promoting Indonesian university students’ critical intercultural awareness in tertiary EAL classrooms: The use of digital photograph-mediated intercultural tasks. System, 72, 49–61. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.system.2017.10.003 Maher, F. A., & Rathbone, C. H. (1986). Teacher Education and Feminist Theory: Some Implications for Practice. American Journal of Education, 94(2), 214–235. Markey, R., Hodgkinson, A., & Kowalczyk, J. (2002). Gender, part‐time employment and employee participation in Australian workplaces. Employee Relations, 24(2), 129–150. https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450210420884 McKittrick, K. (2021). Dear science and other stories. Duke University Press. Muliyah, P., & Aminatun, D. (2020). Teaching English for Specific Purposes in Vocational High School: Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices. JET (Journal of English Teaching), 6(2), 122–133. https://doi.org/10.33541/jet.v6i2.1756 Munandar, M. I., & Newton, J. (2021). Indonesian EFL teachers’ pedagogic beliefs and classroom practices regarding culture and interculturality. Language and Intercultural Communication, 21(2), 158–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2 020.1867155 Neupane, Binod. (2022). A Review of Sociocultural Theory and Language Teaching. International Journal of Research in Academic World, 1(15), 85–89. Nyhagen, L. (2019). Mosques as Gendered Spaces: The Complexity of Women’s Compliance with, And Resistance to, Dominant Gender Norms, And the Importance of Male Allies. Religions, 10(5), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rel10050321 Özkan, B. (2011). Proverbs and Idioms in the Context of Gender in Turkish. Journal of Turkish Studies, Volume 6 Issue 3(6), 1133–1147. https://doi.org/10.7827/ TurkishStudies.2653 Perales, F., & Bouma, G. (2019). Religion, religiosity and patriarchal gender beliefs: Understanding the Australian experience. Journal of Sociology, 55(2), 323–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783318791755 Pierik, B. (2022). Patriarchal power as a conceptual tool for gender history. Rethinking History, 26(1), 71–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2022.2037864 Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective 35 No. 29 Prior, M. T. (2012). “I’m two pieces inside of me”: Negotiating belonging through narraties of linguistic and ethnic hybridity. In Identity formation in globalizing contexts: Language learning in the new millenium (pp. 22–47). Rahma, Haifa. (2023). The Implications of Patriarchal Culture toward Gender Discrimination Behavior in Anne With An E Movie Series. CaLLs, 9(2), 275-294 Read, B. (2008). ‘The world must stop when I’m talking’: Gender and power relations in primary teachers’ classroom talk. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29(6), 609–621. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425690802423288 Robinson, K. H. (1992). Class‐Room Discipline: Power, resistance and gender. A look at teacher perspectives. Gender and Education, 4(3), 273–288. https://doi. org/10.1080/0954025920040306 Rohmawati, S., & Putra, K. A. (2022). Occupational Gender Stereotypes in Indonesian Secondary School English Language Textbooks. VELES: Voices of English Language Education Society, 6(1), 160–175. https://doi.org/10.29408/veles.v6i1.5334 Ruohotie-Lyhty, M. (2013). Struggling for a professional identity: Two newly qualified language teachers’ identity narratives during the first years at work. Teaching and Teacher Education, 30, 120–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.11.002 Sakallı Uğurlu, N., Türkoğlu, B., Kuzlak, A., & Gupta, A. (2021). Stereotypes of single and married women and men in Turkish culture. Current Psychology, 40(1), 213– 225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9920-9 Sakkir, G., Dollah, S., & Ahmad, J. (2021). Characteristics of a good EFL teacher: Indonesian EFL students perspectives. JURNAL NALAR PENDIDIKAN, 9(1), 52. https://doi.org/10.26858/jnp.v9i1.20323 Saraswati, L. A., Shaw, B. L., & Rellihan, H. (Eds.). (2018). Introduction to women’s, gender & sexuality studies: Interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches. Oxford University Press. Sexton, D. M. (2008). Student Teachers Negotiating Identity, Role, and Agency. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(3), 73–88. Vuopala E, Näykki P, Isohätälä J, & Järvelä S. (2019). Knowledge co-construction activities and task-related monitoring in scripted collaborative learning. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 21, 234-249. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1016/j. lcsi.2019.03.011 Wayan, K. Y. I., & Nyoman, S. (2020). Political Phenomenon of Women in Culture Patriarchy in Gianyar, Bali. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute  (BIRCI-Journal): Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(3), 2158–2164. https://doi. org/10.33258/birci.v3i3.1148 Imamatul Khair Yonata, F. (2021). Gender Role Stereotyping in Indonesian Primary School English Textbooks. Journal of English Education, 6(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.31327/ jee.v6i1.1456 Author Imamatul Khair is a language researcher and director at Sastra Lingua Indonesia, the Center for Translation, Editing, Interpreting, Language Testing and Training. Imamatul focuses her research areas in bilingual education, EFL, school community and programs, as well as youth participatory action. Imamatul has authored several articles including “Realities and Impacts of Teaching Approach and Method in Bilingual Classroom in Indonesia” (Parole Journal, 2022), “Going Back Home: Activism Youth Role and Dream” (Khaira Press, 2020), and others. She is currently initiating language programs with research evidence using multiliteracy landscapes as the foundation at Sastra Lingua Indonesia. She earned her master’s degree in Bilingual, ESL, and Multicultural Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she studied with a Fulbright scholarship. She also received a Prestige Fellowship from the university with outstanding records. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0503-2250 36 No. 29 Reconstructing Female Language Teacher’s Roles from a Sociocultural Perspective