ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Language, Culture and Diversity
Navigating classroom culture: Experiences of Self-initiated Expatriate English Language Teachers Working in a Higher Education Context
Provisionally accepted
Farah Kalmey*
Muhammad AL-Roomy- King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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The aim of this exploratory study was to understand how self-initiated expatriate (SIE) English language teachers deal and overcome cultural issues in their workplace. Utilising qualitative research method, the research explored the strategies SIE teachers adopt to navigate and get used to living and working in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the current paper also explored how these group of teachers dealt with and overcame cultural situations in their institution and classroom settings. For data collection, first a semi-structured interview was utilised to explore the lived experiences of these individuals. This resulted in the generation in-depth data about institutional and in-classroom cultural adjustment experiences. This was then followed up with a focus group discussion to elicit shared meanings and difference about how they copped with and navigated cultural issues within the precincts of their institution and classrooms. The findings yielded that English language teachers not only encountered cultural adjustment challenges in their new country but workplace too. In addition, they also faced cultural challenges within their classrooms which may affect classroom learning and pedagogy. These Commented [FM1]: You said the abstract should be made longer. We have 2 cultural hurdles included cultural sensitivity, teaching experiences, classroom teaching and need for orientations and inductions. Moreover, teacher student cultural differences may hinder pedagogical success in the classroom. The study concluded with several suggestions and recommendations for further research.
Keywords: Classroom culture, expatriation, higher education, international education, Saudi Arabia, teacher development, work adjustment
Received: 07 Sep 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Kalmey and AL-Roomy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Farah Kalmey
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