External Factors Sustaining Indonesian EFL Teachers’ Professional Identity in the 21 st Century Era

Becoming more professional teachers is an indispensable thing that matters most in this 21st-century era as more fruitful learning outcomes attainment will be fully obtained by learners. This present small-scale qualitative investigation employed a library study approach to generate more reliable research results that can help Indonesian EFL teachers to cultivate a robust professional identity construction in the 21st-century era. For the data analysis processes, the researcher employed a library analysis method by reviewing the major research findings addressed by 20 previously-published professional identity studies published in Indonesian EFL teaching-learning settings. During the data analysis stage, the researcher concurrently utilized a thematic analysis approach to yield more understandable research results for the targeted research site. All these findings suggested educational institutions prioritize the continual development of Indonesian EFL teachers’ professional identity in order to bring about more qualified educational outcomes to all learners


INTRODUCTION
The demand for globalized educational enterprises has offered some extra load for educators to constantly improve their professional lives to transform into more high-quality teachers in the presence of diverse learners.Mahendra (2020) mentions that a higher degree of professionalism should be fully vested by educationalists attempting to become more qualified figures amid nowadays educational demands.
This aforementioned phenomenon is simultaneously inevitable in developing Asian countries, particularly Indonesia where teachers are urgently required to master the English language to prepare their learners for brighter prospective careers.This notion can be attributed to the theory of teachers' professional attributes as propounded by Tao and Gao (2017) avowing that it has been a central focus for worldwide EFL teachers to not merely transmit the targeted knowledge and skills to learners but also equip them with decent English language skills for the betterment of their future lives.
In concert with the abovementioned indispensable educational needs, it is worth arguing here that the degree of professional identity ingrained by Indonesian EFL teachers needs to be continually nurtured, magnified, and corroborated to enable them to deliver the target language teaching-learning instructions more meaningfully to the learners.Kubanyiova and Crookes (2016) believe that by sustainably maintaining the development of EFL teachers' professional identity, learners are more likely to undergo more meaning-making teachinglearning processes in a long-term manner.
Furthermore, the constant escalation of EFL teachers' professional identity can concurrently drive them to transfigure into more innovative, creative, and competent learning instructors since they are strongly willing to discover a wide array of novel skills and suitable pedagogical practices to be implemented in their specific learning vicinities.This advantageous value is closely interlinked with Xu (2014) propounding that the intensive nourishment of EFL teachers' professional identity can increasingly foster their current teaching motivation to continually rejuvenate their skills as well as pedagogical implications to bring about more supportive teaching-learning enterprises.
In contrast, all these aforementioned impactful values are not without varied taxing challenges.As teaching realm can be denoted as one of the challenging educational enterprises in which teachers frequently undergo a wide variety of impediments both inside and outside of the classroom walls.Diasti (2021) avers that the continual optimization of EFL teachers' professional identity development is influenced by various external and internal factors since they possess distinctive beliefs on how to cope with particular hurdles hindering their teaching journeys.

Pedagogy: Journal of English Language Teaching, (12)1: 42-58
Wijaya, K. F. | 2024 44 Speaking more specifically, professional identity connotes the multidimensional aspects of teachers' prior and present life dynamics where they reshape their teaching beliefs in accord with personal as well as communal beliefs.This conception is positively linked with Berger and Lê Van (2019) adducing that dealing with EFL teachers' professional identity is such a complex matter as this dynamic construction is overwhelmingly impacted by manifold factors such as personal, family, and social backgrounds.
Moreover, elevating Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity to a greater extent is not a regular case.Since the majority of the target language educators undergo a dramatic shift from becoming students into real teachers during their professional career journeys.Thus, it is undeniably essential for EFL teacher candidates to start forging their professional identity in their college life dynamics to prepare their readiness to confront the real-time educational complexities forming in later educational workplaces.This underlying premise is inextricably associated with Day (2018) asserting that by espousing EFL educators to hone their professional identity at the commencement of teaching faculty lives, they can highly become more professional, qualified, and well-organized learning instructors aiming to deliver their intended lessons in an orderly fashion.
To emphasize more specifically, the mission to embody all these aboveexplained positive values is not an effortless journey.There is always a vast range of reasons prompting Indonesian EFL teachers to depart from their current teaching vocation prematurely.It is worth pointing out that a huge pile of administrative tasks, heavy teaching loads, low salary, and increasing demands from other educational stakeholders can potentially induce burnout hampering the further robust growth of their professional identity.All these adversities are strongly affirmed by Clipa and Boghean (2015) stating that plentiful educational demands integrated with the constant pressure addressed by school institutions can be one of the strongest logical reasons for EFL teachers to cease their present vocation as educationalists.
Further, in line with the 21stcentury teaching-learning demands, Indonesian EFL teachers are synchronously obliged to promote a more positively-sound classroom learning atmosphere where all learners can strive and thrive together to achieve similar target language learning objectives.This demand does not only halt in this aspect for the parents expectantly hope EFL teachers to become more supportive learning facilitators for their children to transfigure into more excellent target language communicators.These arguments seem in line with Sardabi et al., (2018)  The first study was conducted by Apriliani (2020) revealed that the majority of pre-service Indonesian EFL teachers consent that intensive teaching practicum activities are urgently needed to better sustain their professional identity before facing the apparent educational lives as professional educationalists.In another study, Ashadi et al., (2022) discovered that the majority of Indonesian EFL teachers successfully surviving in their specific educational fields are those capable of maintaining their professional identity growth with personal beliefs as educators.
In the third study, Khoiriyah et al., (2022) highly advised globalized EFL teacher mentors to provide target language teacher candidates with collaborative teaching activities to improve their self-confidence, bravery, and motivation before facing the tangible teaching-learning dynamics.Pramesti et al., (2016) strongly encouraged Indonesian pre-service EFL teachers to constantly reflect on their teaching beliefs, practices, and performances to be more capable of imparting more meaningmaking learning activities for their prospective learners.In the last study, Pravita and Kuswandono (2021) uncovered that a predominant number of Indonesian pre-service EFL teachers have been more competent in designing well-Pedagogy: Journal of English Language Teaching, ( 12)1: 42-58 organized teaching plans and dealing with the school life complexities as a result of the apparent manifestation of educational responsibilities.Although these five previous studies have successfully strengthened the critical importance of placing professional identity at the fore of EFL teachers' teacher training and educational faculties, it is of prime importance for the researcher to conduct a more exhaustive investigation regarding the external factors sustaining Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity in the 21st-century era.By conducting this current small-scale qualitative study, the generated specific research results can potentially pave a new avenue for Indonesian EFL educational stakeholders and teachers to start prioritizing the sustainable growth of professional identity at the commencement of teaching journeys in an attempt to provide more conducivefriendly classroom climates for learners to elevate the designated target language competencies into the utmost levels.
Inspired by this major research objectivity, the researcher attempted to provide a reasonable answer to one proposed research problem as follows: (1) What are the external factors sustaining Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity in the 21st-century era?

METHOD
The researcher conducted this small-scale qualitative study by utilizing a document analysis method to unveil various renewable insights based on the review-related literature.To fulfill this major study aim, the researcher chose 20 pieces of literature delving more exhaustively into the importance of constructing Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity.By conducting this action, the researcher felt quite certain that Indonesian educational experts, practitioners, and curriculum designers are encouraged to value the indispensability of establishing EFL teachers' professional identity development to the utmost levels to progressively transform our target language learning enterprises.The chosen 20 prior literature ranged from 2016 to 2022 year.There are three major criteria prioritized by the researcher in selecting these 20 previous professional identity studies.These criteria can be discerned in the ensuing table.

Secondary school contexts
The researcher had two main reasons for choosing these 20 types of literature.Firstly, it was discovered that the majority of Indonesian EFL stakeholders frequently undervalue the crucial role of professional identity.Hence, the researcher expectantly hoped that the yielded specific results in this present study could address some renewable insights concerning this teaching professionalism attribute at the commencement of target language learning enterprises undergone by learners.Secondly, the researcher assumed that a vast majority of Indonesian EFL teachers conduct erroneous interpretations regarding identity and professional identity.Hence, by creating fine-tuned differences between these two essential constructs, the researcher strongly expected that Indonesian EFL teachers could juggle their identity and professional identity development to transform our current educational practices for a better purpose.In the data analysis stage, the researcher planned to conduct the opencoding strategy to create a more accurate clusterization concerning the research results generated by the 20 chosen literature.Afterward, the researcher continually reread, reflect, and rethink all these yielding specific findings to be grouped into some research themes.Data grouping is preferred to be chosen to generate more comprehensible, obvious, and robust research findings for worldwide readers.In the ultimate step, the researcher also attempted to explicate each research finding in the light of the subdivided themes to ascertain the credibility of this study.Added to this, the researcher conducted human validity by asking for more intensive assistance from his former lecturer to recheck the generated research results.This final-end process was held after the researcher finished analyzing, subdividing, and expounding all the research results.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, the researcher attempted to delineate each obtained data argumentatively in the light of prior relevant theories and findings to ensure the robustness of the research results.Practically speaking, these explicated research results were shaded under the specific themes to address more apprehensible and practical implications to be internalized by EFL stakeholders in varied teaching-learning settings.Concise research results summary of 20 professional identity studies can be seen in the succeeding lines.This subsequent summary table already covered the main research results shared by 20 professional identity studies published in Indonesian reputable journal article platforms.To promote more exponential development of Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity, it is worth keeping in our mind that external support derived from both teacher training programs and educational institutions is needed.This conception should have resided within Indonesian EFL stakeholders since the robust construction of professional identity can potentially generate more meaningful, contextual, and enjoyable target language enterprises for learners.When learners experience a higher degree of enjoyment during the teaching-learning enterprises, it is worth mentioning that more fruitful learning outcomes will await them.This first strand of findings is in agreement with the finding of Ahmad et al., (2018) strongly suggest educational institutions continuously fulfill Indonesian EFL teachers with authentic practices, skills, and mindset before commencing the upcoming teaching-learning dynamins resulting in the meaningfulness of learning outcomes attained by learners.
It is worth construing at the same time that Indonesian EFL teachers have incorporated a vast array of personal coping strategies while dealing with specific adversities in their teachinglearning arenas.Normally, they discover more efficient solutions to overcome various teaching-learning barriers, accept the educational challenges, inquire about assistance from other educational counterparts, and disseminate their personal experiences with trusted fellow educators.By operationalizing all these four above-mentioned strategies, Indonesian EFL teachers can relieve a wide variety of external pressure addressed by educational institutions, parents, and the government eventually resulting in the viability of serving the future generation's needs.This finding strengthened Cendra's ( 2019) study unearthing that in general, Indonesian pre-service EFL teachers implemented four coping strategies while being crammed with arduous educational dynamics namely mobilizing various effective teaching strategies, confronting the particular educational obstructions bravely, asking bits of help from other working companions, and conducting more mutual sharing events with other teachers.
Another valuable external support that can be incorporated by educational institutions to substantiate the nurturance of Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity is the support of an intensive teacher camp.With the accompaniment of this educational training agenda, it is strongly believed that Indonesian EFL teachers can be transformed into more insightful, innovative, creative, and qualified learning facilitators eager to promote a holistic learning environment in which all learners can strive and thrive altogether.This finding lends support to Hidarto and Christine (2021) highly advocate for educational institutions in Indonesia to hold teacher camp activities amid EFL teachers' hectic workloads to make them become more skilled, broad-Pedagogy: Journal of English Language Teaching, ( 12 Becoming more high-quality second language educationalists cannot be detached from teachers' willingness, capabilities, and mastery in fulfilling the targeted learners' learning needs.Simply stating, teacher training and educational programs are specifically demanded to not merely improve Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity but also to equip them with a complete set of knowledge along with pedagogical skills to be able to perform high-quality teaching learning dynamics. This argumentation is germane to Mulyani et al., (2022) unfolding that most Indonesian EFL teachers have transformed into more skilled, qualified, and dedicated learning facilitators in the presence of diverse-wide ranging learners due to the supportive teacher training programs where they can foster their target language as well as pedagogical competencies into the fullest potentials.Lastly, the successful formation of Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity is inextricably associated with their personal, cultural, interpersonal, and organizational aspects.
By pondering more profoundly on these four main professional aspects, both educational institutions and teacher training programs have to establish more solid collaborative networking in devising more facilitative teaching preparation activities to better assist our teachers to be more cognizant of the particular factors reinforcing or debilitating their professional identity.This conception can be tailored to the finding of Riyanti and Sarroub (2016)  The availability of positively-sound working vicinities should not be overlooked by educational stakeholders since it will determine the extent Indonesian EFL teachers dedicate their professional commitment and teaching endeavor.With this conviction, teachers will indisputably transfigure into more competent educators infusing a higher level of professional identity.This finding is strongly endorsed by Rosari (2021) finding out a predominant number of Indonesian EFL teachers highly desirous to showcase a higher degree of teaching commitment along with motivation are those constantly receiving highly-positive emotional and mental support from their educational institutions.A similar note also goes to the teacher training and educational programs in which all teacher mentors are essentially required to impart more cooperative, continual, and positive teaching practicum enterprises to elevate EFL teacher candidates' confidence, competencies, and target language-specific skills.
Added to this aforesaid requirement, Indonesian EFL teachers also need to maintain mutual relationships with each teacher candidate beneficial for the utmost development of their future professional identity.This aboveexplained conception seems to concur with Siahaan and Subekti (2021) reporting that a vast majority of Indonesian pre-service EFL teachers have consistently displayed gratifying teaching performances in the designated teaching practicum activities impacted by their mentors willingly address various intensive moral, emotional, and cognitive supports where the positive rapports among these learning community members are ensured.
In the same vein, it is worth accentuating here that the entire development of Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity is terrifically influenced by their current target language proficiency levels.Meaning to say that EFL teachers will not have ample opportunities to promote more meaningful teachinglearning activities and escalate their professional identity to the utmost levels unless they infuse advanced target language competencies.Therefore, it is Pedagogy: Journal of English Language Teaching, ( 12 In the end, the further hindrances to becoming qualified EFL teachers and inculcating a higher level of professional identity As the government together with educational regulations oftentimes impose Indonesian EFL teachers to commit bearing educational stuff contradictory to their current perspectives, personal, and professional identity, it is becoming progressively important for educational stakeholders to revolutionalize our regulations commensurately linked to teachers' teaching-learning circumstances, needs, and contexts.Thus, a significant degree of educational benefits can be surely achieved when these educational parties are committed to releasing this agentic action.A similar finding has been acquired by Wijaya (2022) informing that it has been high time for the government and educational institutions to erect more mutual collaborative networking with Indonesian EFL teachers to accurately Pedagogy: Journal of English Language Teaching, (12)1: 42-58 Wijaya, K. F. | 2024 54 interpret the comprehensive educational enactment to be actualized in the forms of more holistic and meaningful target language learning practices to preserve the continuity of professional identity development along with fruitful learning outcomes.

CONCLUSION
Above all, it can be safely concluded that the successful construction of Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity is terrifically affected by a wide range of external factors comprising teacher training programs, educational institutions' support, and the specific conditions of working climates.Concerning these two external factors, it is increasingly necessary for educational stakeholders in this archipelago to impart cognitive, affective, and moral support for Indonesian EFL teachers to elevate their professional identity levels, which no doubt, will be meritorious for the entire educational practices.Furthermore, there are always grounds for this present smallscale qualitative library study to be replicated for more comprehensive investigation results.Firstly, since this library study only heeds a more exhaustive investigation of discovering a wide variety of external factors that may invigorate or weaken Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity, there is still a pressing need for future researchers to investigate specific internal factors prompting further development of Indonesian EFL teachers' professional identity rewarding for educational stakeholders to invent more contextual teaching-learning regulations in the prospective events.Secondly, due to the limited number of literature integrated into this current small-scale qualitative study, future identical studies are welcomed to replicate this investigation with a broader number of EFL teachers' professional identity literature to yield more reliable, trustworthy, and practical research results for the betterment of this nation's educational systems.Apart from the above-elucidated shortcomings, this current small-scale qualitative study had provided some illuminations as well as intellectual empowerment for Indonesian EFL experts, practitioners, educators, and policy-makers to start prioritizing the central role of professional identity within our educational ecosystems by collectively collaborating, strategizing, and committing to devise varied facilitative teaching orientating on the maximization of tailor-made professional identity development and better-facilitated second language learning enterprises.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to address his deepest gratitude to Mighty God since this study would never have been accomplished without His wisdom, favor, and accompaniment.In addition, more exhaustive gratitude is also imparted to the former lecturer for dedicating his valuable time to recheck, reflect, and

The Indispensability of Teacher Trainings' and Educational Institutions' Supports in Sustaining EFL Teachers' Professional Identity
Pedagogy: