Hanafi Hanafi, Yudhi Arifani, Khoirul Anwar, Kristi Nuraini, Agus Wardhono, Sahiruddin Sahiruddin
Previous studies examining the incorporation of reading and writing skills into teacher professional development, particularly through narrative inquiry, have been underexplored. This article presents a narrative inquiry into university teachers’ experiences developing their instructional and research identities through impactful reading and writing activities. A complementary approach focusing on both the content and form of the narratives was employed. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with two teachers and an examination of their teaching portfolios and research publications. Narrative content analysis was conducted using the “emplotment” stage to construct reflective findings on how the lecturers’ experiences reflected their identity development as teachers and researchers. The narrative form was analyzed by re-narrating their stories, utilizing linguistic features, and identifying core events. Impactful reading articles immerse teachers in close textual analysis, fostering critical engagement with pedagogy and scholarly argumentation. Through this process, teachers refine their instructional strategies by internalizing evidence-based practices and integrating them into classroom routines. Such engagement also nurtures their research identity, as teachers begin to question, investigate, and reflect on their own practices in light of published studies. Regular exposure to academic discourse helps them adopt scholarly lenses, encouraging participation in professional conversations through teaching and research. Ultimately, these unique practices become a mirror and a model—shaping teachers as reflective practitioners and emerging researchers within the EFL/ESL field. Future researchers are encouraged to explore how sustained engagement with impactful reading articles influences the long-term development of teachers’ research identities and their active participation in scholarly communities within the EFL/ESL context. © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Universitas Muhammadiyah Jember, Indonesia; Universitas Muhammadiyah Gresik, Indonesia; Universitas PGRI Ronggolawe Tuban, Tuban, Indonesia; Universitas Brawijaya, East Java, Malang, Indonesia
