Language teachers as leaders: A case study of teacher leaders in the Arabian Gulf

Abstract This study introduces the construct of teacher leadership in the Saudi EFL higher education context. The key aims of this study are to understand the notion of teacher leadership from the EFL teachers’ perspective, to identify various leadership roles EFL teachers undertake in this context, and to explore challenges associated with teacher leadership practices in the hierarchical leadership structures of Saudi Arabian universities. The participants of the study were 12 EFL teachers who shared their perceptions of teacher leadership practices in the Saudi EFL context. Two data collection tools were used to gather qualitative data; semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaires. The data were thematically analysed using NVivo10 that led to four major categories and one key theme. The findings suggest that teacher leadership is a novel concept in the Saudi EFL context and teacher leaders operate in hierarchical leadership structures. Interestingly, their wide range of instructional and operational leadership roles are similar to the three historical waves of teacher leadership in the US school context. The impact of hierarchical structures on teacher leadership practices is evidently found as EFL teacher leaders encounter several challenges, such as heavy administrative workload and lack of autonomy. Nevertheless, their intragroup shared leadership practices help them overcome these challenges and contribute to organizational effectiveness.

Abstract: This study introduces the construct of teacher leadership in the Saudi EFL higher education context. The key aims of this study are to understand the notion of teacher leadership from the EFL teachers' perspective, to identify various leadership roles EFL teachers undertake in this context, and to explore challenges associated with teacher leadership practices in the hierarchical leadership structures of Saudi Arabian universities. The participants of the study were 12 EFL teachers who shared their perceptions of teacher leadership practices in the Saudi EFL context. Two data collection tools were used to gather qualitative data; semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaires. The data were thematically analysed using NVivo10 that led to four major categories and one key theme. The findings suggest that teacher leadership is a novel concept in the Saudi EFL context and teacher leaders operate in hierarchical leadership structures. Interestingly, their wide range of instructional and operational leadership roles are similar to the three historical waves of teacher leadership in the US school context. The impact of hierarchical structures on teacher Sayyed Rashid Ali Shah ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sayyed Rashid Shah works as an assistant professor of Applied Linguistics and TESOL at the Faculty of Languages and Translation, King Khalid university, Saudi Arabia. He has a doctorate in TESOL from the University of Exeter and masters in TESOL from Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He has 13 years of teaching and research experience as a TESOL professional. His research interests are; teacher learning and development, educational leadership and management, educational policy, and educational philosophy and theory.

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
Increasing educational demands around the world are compelling teachers to assume leadership positions and play their roles as teacher leaders. In leadership roles, teachers go beyond their classroom responsibilities, influence their colleagues and contribute to organizational effectiveness. The notion of teacher leadership has evolved in Western context since early 1980s; however, it is still a novel concept in the Arab world due to its bureaucratic, hierarchical and top-down management structures in educational institutions. As Saudi Arabian language institutes rely on foreign language teachers with Western educational backgrounds, their leadership roles may play a crucial part in achieving institutional outcomes. Therefore, this research study has explored the construct of teacher leadership from the language teachers' perspectives in the Saudi Arabian higher education context. Apparently, the identified teacher leadership roles are administrative, instructional and collaborative in nature. The inherent hierarchical structure has an impact on the teacher leadership practices as language teacher faces several challenges, such as heavy administrative workload, control and accountability, and lack of autonomy.

Introduction
The increasing professional demands of educational institutions have led to the rise of the phenomenon of teacher leadership, a "process by which teachers, individually or collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of school communities to improve teaching and learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement" (Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2009, p. 288). Although largely in western contexts, the process of teacher leadership empowers teachers to affect change in their schools and perform a variety of leadership roles. Going beyond their pedagogical responsibilities, teacher leaders think not only of the achievement of their learners but of the success of their schools as well.
Teacher leadership roles, such as curriculum coordinator, subject specialist, mentor and teacher trainers, are considered crucial to school development due to the teacher leaders' ability to undertake major tasks, influence changes and reforms, and serve as a bridge between the administrative leadership and fellow teachers. The main goal of the teacher leader roles is "to build and maintain a professional culture, a sense of social cohesion, and professional trust among teachers" (Wieczorek & Lear, 2018, p. 39). Their pivotal role in school functioning has convinced educational organisations around the world to assign leadership responsibilities and empower teachers to contribute towards the effectiveness of their organisations.
Although the significance of teacher leadership is widely acknowledged in general education, its presence in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) is scarce. Two most recent empirical studies by Greenier and Whitehead (2016) and Whitehead and Greenier (2019) have investigated this notion in ELT, which indicate a lack of research in this direction. The importance of teacher leadership in ELT is evident in the assertion by Underhill (2005) that a paradigm shift from hierarchical and traditional models is needed towards more horizontal and shared leadership models. Moreover, Liu (2008) suggests that, to meet global challenges in the ELT world and achieve professional excellence, every ELT professional should take a range of active roles and contribute to the success of their organisation and the ELT profession. However, there seems to be a lack of empirical research on how teacher leadership appears and what different roles English language teachers perform as teacher leaders in EFL institutions. Therefore, this exploratory study as part of a larger qualitative case study (Shah, 2016) contributes to the literature on teacher leadership in ELT by understanding the concept from the perspective of EFL teachers as teacher leaders in the Saudi EFL context.

Theoretical framework
The notion of teacher leadership has seen its rise since early 1990s (Barth, 1990;Diamond & Spillane, 2016;Wasley, 1991), and its various characteristics and forms have appeared in educational leadership and management literature (Gümüş et al., 2018). Teacher leadership was first introduced by John Dewey to suggest teachers' active participation in school governance. More recently, teacher leadership practices can be seen in 1980s-educational reform movement in the US which has continued to develop in three evolutionary waves (Silva et al., 2000).
In early 1980s, the first wave considered teachers, such as department chair, master teacher and union representative, with more formal roles and top-down authority. These roles implied power structures that affected teachers' and leaders' relationship. Moreover, rigid bureaucratic structures led to managerialism and constricted supervision of teachers and teacher leaders in a bid to "further the efficiency of school operations" (York- Barr & Duke, 2004, p. 260). ELT professionals during this time suffered from low job status in public education and many ESL teachers found it difficult to secure leadership positions (Sams, 2010).
The second wave of teacher leadership emerged to address the shortcomings of the first one, which "acknowledged the importance of teachers as instructional leaders" (Silva et al., 2000, p. 780). The pedagogical knowledge and skills of teachers opened vistas for them to take instructional leadership roles, such as team leaders, curriculum developers, professional development specialists and mentors. Although teachers' expertise was acknowledged in this wave, their positions were still considered the continuation of hierarchical roles (Silva et al., 2000).
The third wave that appeared in the 1990s is considered the emerging form of teacher leadership and is still evolving in educational organisations around the world. In contrast to the other two waves, this wave is focused on teachers' daily work as part of their leadership roles and aims to improve the teaching profession and contribute to institutional reforms through collaborative efforts.

Definition of teacher leadership
There is consensus among the scholars that an operational definition of teacher leadership in the field is still in an early phase of conceptual development (Poekert et al., 2016). Nevertheless, teacher leadership refers to "taking the initiative to improve practice, acting strategically with colleagues to embed change, gathering and using evidence in collaborative processes, contributing to the creation and dissemination of professional knowledge" (Frost, 2010, p. 210). For improved teaching and learning, teacher leaders often need to possess expertise in areas, such as curriculum development, professional development and evaluation. Swanson et al. (2011, p. 153) argue that teacher leadership is the blend of "knowledge, skills and dispositions demonstrated by teachers" to enhance the effectiveness of schools. Likewise, Bangs and MacBeath (2012) emphasise the core capabilities of teacher leaders and concisely define the concept of teacher leadership: Most typically it refers to teachers' individual agency, often with reference to classroom management and pedagogy but in some cases referring to wider collegial influence with colleagues, with curriculum development and policy-making within or across schools. As well as being cast as an individual activity, teacher leadership may also refer to groups or teams of teachers with a leadership remit for aspects of policy and practice. (p. 331) The definition by Bangs and MacBeath (2012) bears the features of transformational leaders who "enable their colleagues to do things that they wouldn't ordinarily do on their own to improve their professional practice" (Wasley, 1991, p. 4). This echoes with Murphy's (2007) interpretations that teacher leadership has an enabling factor that is seen in collegial influence from teacher leaders for enhanced professional practices. York- Barr and Duke (2004) further expound the notion by considering it: "the process by which teachers, individually or collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of school communities to improve teaching and learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement" (p. 287-288). The definition by York- Barr and Duke (2004) highlights the significant role of the context that contributes to learning and development of teachers as leaders. Studies show that contextual factors, such as school administration, can help foster teacher leadership in schools (Nguyen et al., 2019;Wenner & Campbell, 2017;York-Barr & Duke, 2004). Hence, the definitions by York- Barr and Duke (2004) suit the context of this study, as teacher leaders at the ELI lead within and beyond the classrooms and are not completely removed from classroom teaching. Furthermore, their leadership roles are assigned based on their pedagogical and professional expertise which enable them to influence colleagues and work together towards a common goal to achieve institutional outcomes.

Teacher leader roles
Literature on teacher leader roles is mainly from the US school context (e.g., Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2001;York-Barr & Duke, 2004) in which teachers perform a wide array of managerial and instructional leadership roles (Muijs et al., 2013). In line with the first and second waves of teacher leadership, these roles encompass department chairs, mentors, coaches, curriculum reformers, instructional leaders and subject coordinators in which teacher leaders aim to implement institutional policies (Margolis & Doring, 2012;Thompson & Wolstencroft, 2015). In a similar vein, York- Barr and Duke (2004) in their meta-analysis of literature on teacher leadership have identified four roles which are aligned with the first and second wave: teacher leaders as middle managers, curriculum experts, staff developers, and mentors of novice teachers. In more informal leadership roles, such as peer coaching, leading a new team, setting up action research groups and assisting in the development of school curricula (Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2001), teacher leaders work collaboratively to contribute to organisational improvement and professional learning of their colleagues. In the field of ELT, there seems to be limited research on teachers' perceptions of their leadership roles; therefore, this study will contribute towards filling that gap in literature.

Hierarchical structure as a barrier to teacher leadership
As teacher leadership promotes a culture of collaboration, it may be an uphill task in more traditional and top-down management systems. Literature illustrates that organisational structures and professional barriers can hinder teacher leadership in a school context as bureaucratic, top-down and hierarchical school cultures are obstacles to collaboration, learning and development (Murphy, 2007;Sanocki, 2013). Likewise, Silva et al. (2000) note that "organisational characteristics and structural components can adversely impact the work of teacher leaders" (p. 790). For example, in technocratic systems, professional barriers in the form of administrative workload, lack of autonomy and professional support and added responsibilities often result in teacher leaders' burnout, obstruct teacher leadership and make teachers feel isolated and less connected to their peers (Harris & Muijs, 2004). This isolation is mainly the upshot of teachers' resentment and their lack of trust in teacher leadership roles as teacher leaders are perceived as an extension of top management.
Bureaucratic structures often lead to control and accountability that make it difficult to reach a common goal and optimise the balance of formalisation, centralisation and standardisation in educational institutions (Tschannen-Moran, 2009). Consequently, organisations compromise efforts to create a collaborative professional work environment.
In the field of ELT, Shah (2014) indicates that hierarchical leadership structures impact pedagogical practices in the Saudi context. In his exploratory study, he found that top-down management model led to the EFL teachers' lack of collaboration, empowerment and interpersonal trust. In the Korean EFL school context, Whitehead and Greenier (2019) noticed that language teachers considered those in higher administrative places as authoritarian leaders, which would influence teachers' roles and perceptions as leaders. Since there is inadequate research on the impact of hierarchical leadership structures on EFL teacher leadership practices, this study will help bridge that gap in ELT.

Teacher leadership in ELT
Although teacher leadership has been widely recognised in general education, it has not received much consideration in ELT. There are a few studies that investigated the construct of language teacher leadership in school contexts. For instance, Greenier and Whitehead (2016) studied the influence of authentic leadership model on teacher education programmes. Their findings suggested that teachers were not conscious about the notion of classroom leadership; however, it was somehow embedded in several pedagogical practices and characteristics. Greenier and Whitehead (2016) attributed this phenomenon to the absence of teacher leadership component in teacher education programmes. Hence, they argued that an explicit model of leadership might help teachers to tackle the unique challenges of EFL teaching.
Kavakli and Arslan (2019) explored the perceptions of EFL teachers as educational leaders in Turkish EFL context. Through a mixed-method design, they gathered data that helped them identify a cluster of priority goals for teacher leaders' capacity building to achieve English language teaching and learning outcomes. The findings further called for a need of setting a basis for the development of teacher leaders to compete with global complexities in the field of ELT.
In a more recent exploratory study, Whitehead and Greenier (2019) looked into the concept of teacher leadership through EFL learners' perspective to understand what language teacher leadership involves in terms of teacher practices and characteristics in the Korean school context. Their findings suggest that EFL teacher leaders have a passion, rapport, purpose, and balance and flexibility as essential characteristics. Moreover, the Korean EFL learners perceive leadership distinct from the traditional views of leadership and see its impact beyond classroom practices.
The above-cited studies indicate that the ELT industry is growing day by day and managing language institutions and programmes have become essentially challenging for ELT professionals. Hence, to meet the challenge of twenty-first century education, the emergence of teacher leadership in ELT has become indispensable, particularly in hierarchical leadership structures. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to the body of knowledge by answering the following research questions: (1) How do English language teachers perceive the concept of "teacher leadership" and their leadership roles in the Saudi EFL context?
(2) How does "teacher leadership" appear in the Saudi EFL setting and which role-related challenges are associated with teacher leadership positions at the ELI?

Context of the study
Saudi culture is largely the combination of Islamic (religious) and tribal values or social traditions, which influence people's beliefs and dispositions at their personal, social and professional levels. The strict social codes of the tribes, together with historically influenced patriarchal family structures, are the key features of Saudi society. These codes influence social interactions which manifest a strong gender segregation sanctioned by the government and society. To ensure gender segregation, there are separate schools, universities and banks for women across the kingdom (Ezzi et al., 2014).
In Saudi Arabia, the influence of tribal culture can be seen in the functioning of educational organisations that are vested in hierarchical management models. The educational institutions aim to support and sustain gender divisions and power relations through gender-segregated educational institutions and differentiated curriculums for male and female students (El-Sanabary, 1994). Reflecting the patriarchal social structures, higher education institutions are controlled by the Saudi government through a hierarchical power structure. The top authority is the Council of Saudi Higher Education, which is responsible for regulating and supervising the HE system. The council, being chaired by the Saudi king, consists of the presidents of state-owned universities, members of the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, Labour, Economy and Planning, Social Affairs, Civil Services and Finance. The council directs HE policies at the national level, introduces rules and regulations, and approves the formation of new universities and programmes (Al-Eisa & Smith, 2013). The MHE ensures the successful implementation of these rules, policies and decisions, and supervises the progress of all the universities. These state-owned universities abide by the regulations of the council, which offers a framework for internal governance (General Secretariat, 2007). The hierarchical structure helps the council to control and administer the day-to-day business of the national universities. In line with the patriarchal social structures, all the universities' presidents and vice presidents are males, who oversee the affairs of both the men's and women's campuses.

The context of the English Language Institute (ELI)
This exploratory case study is carried out in the English Language Institute (ELI) of a state-owned Saudi Arabian university. In the Men's campus of the ELI, more than 8000 EFL learners enroll on the Preparatory Year Programme (PYP) each year. The language learning needs of these learners are met by more than 250 EFL instructors from 27 different countries who offer 18 hours of language instruction per week.
The ELI has a traditional top-down management model led by the Dean and six Vice-Deans, who oversee the administrative and academic operations in the institute. The teacher leadership positions are in the middle of the institutional hierarchy. Individuals in these roles are principally EFL teachers who connect administrative leadership with teachers at the ELI. These roles fall precisely into the teacher leadership categories identified by York- Barr and Duke (2004), which are academic coordination, curriculum development, professional development, quality assurance, tests and examination preparation, and teacher evaluation.
The potential teacher leaders are selected based on their leadership qualities, management experience, interpersonal skills, organizational skills, professional involvement, enthusiasm, knowledge of cultural sensitivity, flexibility, and background of ELT (Faculty Handbook). Faculty members and EFL students interact with the institute through 21 units that assist with issues pertaining to curriculum, professional development, schedules, examinations and attendance. Despite leadership responsibilities, teacher leaders at the ELI are not completely removed from classroom teaching as they teach a minimum of three hours per week as per the university policy. Based on the ELI appraisal scheme, these individuals possess excellent classroom teaching skills and enjoy the status of high-rank language teachers.

Research design
This study adopts a qualitative case study methodology to gain insights into how EFL teachers perceive teacher leadership at the ELI. This methodology suits the nature of the current research, as case study is "an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context … where multiple sources of evidence are used" (Yin, 1994, p. 13). Similarly, Cohen et al. (2011) refer to the nature of a case study: A case study provides a unique example of real people in real situations, enabling readers to understand ideas more clearly than simply by presenting them with abstract theories or principles. … contexts are unique and dynamic, hence case studies investigate and report the real life, complex dynamic and unfolding interactions of events, human relationships and other factors in a unique instance. (Cohen et al., 2011, p. 289)

Participants
Purposive sampling fitted the nature of this study and allowed me to seek in-depth information from experienced EFL teacher leaders who were in a strong position to give it (Cohen et al., 2011). Twelve male EFL teachers who were promoted to the leadership roles based on their professional and pedagogical expertise participated in the study. With their permission, all 12 interviews were recorded on a digital recorder and saved on a password-protected laptop with audio tracks labelled under their chosen pseudonyms. Eight participants responded to open-ended questionnaires which were saved under their pseudonyms' files. Due to social and cultural constraints, female EFL teacher leaders could not be approached and thus were not included in this study. To safeguard the trustworthiness of the data, the interview transcriptions were shared with the participants to double-check and modify the transcripts as needed.

Data collection and analysis
I considered qualitative methods to be the most appropriate data collection tools for this case study. According to Denzin and Lincoln (2003), qualitative approaches help researchers to capture the verbal descriptions, analyses and interpretations of the participants' views. A case study design within the qualitative research framework enabled me to explore the complex social phenomenon of teacher leadership in the real-life context of the ELI, where boundaries between the context and the phenomenon are not clearly defined (Yin, 2011). Keeping this in mind, I opted for semistructured interviews as a primary tool for gathering qualitative data which was complemented by an open-ended questionnaire. The open-ended questionnaire was mainly used to further explore unsaturated categories and give more depth to the data. However, I could not use other tools, such as document analysis, archival records, direct observation or physical artefacts (Yin, 2011), mainly due to the practical constraints of the traditional top-down bureaucratic system. The interview questions were generated in the light of my personal observations of leadership practices at the ELI and the key areas identified in the literature on teacher leader development.
The transcripts of 12 interviews and 8 open-ended questionnaires were analysed using Nvivo 10. For analysis, I adopted an eclectic approach by combining the guidelines given by Creswell (2012) and Saldaña (2009). The process of data analysis was completed in steps as follows: First, I did an initial reading of the transcripts to obtain a general sense of the data as suggested by Creswell (2012). This prepared me for the coding process of the data. Overall, the initial reading reflected the professional and academic backgrounds of the teacher leaders, leadership knowledge and the leadership roles they had performed over the years.
The second step involved a more thorough reading to code the transcripts, following the recommendations by Creswell (2012) and Saldaña (2009). In the first cycle of coding, the data were openly coded with no preconceived notions and there were 181 initial open codes. Most of the codes were descriptive in type. I did not follow Creswell's (2012) guideline to divide text into segments of information as the data were in NVivo 10; rather, I identified common patterns and assigned initial codes using NVivo nodes. Other repetitive patterns, passages, excerpts and consistencies were dragged into the same code which helped in organising the data "not just because they were exactly alike or very much alike, but because they might also have something in common-even if, paradoxically, that commonality consists of differences" (Saldaña, 2009, p. 6). For example, codes that described the "top-down management" had both positive and negative opinions of the interviewees; however, they had a similar subject. Consequently, the codes were refined and reduced to 119 open codes.
After the two cycles of open coding, in the second phase of the data analysis, 119 codes were subsumed under 18 broad categories which encompassed codes with identical concepts. For the purpose of this study, only four categories were chosen: the impact of bureaucracy, hierarchical structures at ELI, teacher leader roles and understanding teacher leadership. The entire coding process was iterative as I went back to the codes, refined them, renamed and reworded them to make them more representative of the interviewees' talk. As suggested by Saldaña (2009), the four categories were checked in the light of the research questions. The grouping of categories under the research questions made it easy to reflect on them and develop four overarching themes. This article includes one major theme "the nature of teacher leadership" whereas other themes have been published elsewhere.

Findings
The findings illustrate perceptions of EFL teachers about teacher leadership and their leadership roles at the ELI. The theme "The nature of teacher leadership" explains the notion of teacher leadership and teacher leadership roles from the perspectives of EFL teacher leaders.

The nature of teacher leadership
As the key aim of this study is to explore the concept of "teacher leadership" at the ELI, it appears to be a novel idea as more than half of the participants seem unaware of its definition and function. Ismael, with an MA in educational leadership, has no knowledge of the construct of teacher leadership and, although Harrison, Ibrahim and Khan, with post-graduate leadership qualifications, are aware of the term, they have never used it at the ELI. Likewise, Omar has identified it; however, he finds it inappropriate for bureaucratic organisations like the ELI. He said,

"I heard about teacher leadership, but my objection is that you can't have teacher leaders in this technocratic context, it's a kind of misnomer".(Omar)
In the light of his leadership background and experience, Khan perceives the construct of teacher leadership as a term that serves different purposes in educational settings depending on the leadership role and its requirements.
Teacher leader is a very broad term. In different contexts, it means different things, but generally teacher leader means one of the senior teachers who participates in all kind of managerial roles. He's the middle manager who's responsible for the curriculum delivery, testing and the supervision of instruction. (Khan) As the remaining eight participants had no knowledge of the term "teacher leader" or "teacher leadership", they were asked to read the definition by York- Barr and Duke (2004) and give their opinions. Sachin, Hamza and Rahat noted that the definition had similar features to the teacher leadership roles they performed at the ELI.

This definition is closer to our context as teacher leaders lead beyond the classroom and contribute to the community of EFL learners and teachers. (Hamza)
Interestingly, Moh, Natlus and Gray found the definition more or less similar to the leadership responsibilities they had at the ELI. However, Natlus points out that some of their roles bore more signs of "a manager than a teacher leader" due to their operational responsibilities. Since the roles fit very well with the definition, Rahat prefers the term teacher leader over academic coordinator.

I think teacher leader also has got a similar sort of role because he leads and is the leader of the teachers. What I understand from the coordination and that's the general understanding of the term is to be a facilitator and help teachers in the classroom and beyond. So, it's very much what we're doing here but a different term (teacher leader) is used, which is softer than the terms supervisor, manager and coordinator. It does sound a bit more politically correct. (Rahat)
Ibrahim considers teacher leadership the manifestation of one's strong academic background, varied professional experience and role-related skills. He does not perceive teacher leadership as an extension of bureaucratic structures; rather it is the individuals' knowledge and skills that earn them this position. He states:

Any teacher within a group could be a leader because he enjoys that position as a leader due to his knowledge, expertise, his intellectual level, his teaching abilities and research skills. So, this is his personal ability as a professional in the field that influences his colleagues, his seniors or his students. I believe that teacher leader positions don't come from the hierarchy or legal authority. It's not the administrative leadership. It's based on your knowledge as a teacher, your ability as a teacher, and the respect that you enjoy as a teacher in your workplace. (Ibrahim)
When a question was asked about specific roles that teacher leaders performed in various units, the participants mentioned eleven instructional and eleven operational roles at the ELI (Table 1). Gray, Hamza, Harrison, Ibrahim, Khan, Peter and Sachin consider their roles instructional in nature based on their expertise in a particular area, whereas five other participants deem their roles operational and managerial in nature. These roles have been categorised under three teacher leadership waves by Silva et al. (2000); however, these operational and instructional aspects fit well with the first and second waves of teacher leadership as summarised in Table 1.
The responses suggest that EFL teacher leaders have a wide range of operational roles and responsibilities, such as monitoring teachers' office hours, preparing teaching schedules and managing examination materials. On the other hand, EFL teacher leaders with instructional roles are responsible for jobs such as curriculum development, teacher supervision and mentoring of teachers. However, their jobs somehow bear managerial features too, as Peter explains:

The way I envision my role in the PDU is that of a professional development specialist, therefore, I should do things to help and encourage teachers to develop. However, there are administrative responsibilities that make it a significant aspect of my job. (Peter)
The data also suggest that five participants in operational positions go beyond their prescribed roles to influence others and achieve assigned tasks. For example, Natlus has two key roles-as facilitator and evaluator-but he mentions various other responsibilities as well:

My scripted role as a head of academic coordination unit is to give coordinators feedback on their tasks, offer them coaching, conduct end of the year evaluation of the instructors, communicate and explain the ELI and university's policies to the instructors, set common guidelines for the coordinators and monitor their performances as well as facilitate the administration in the implementation of ELI policies. (Natlus)
Khan believes that teacher leadership at the ELI is a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches in which teacher leaders aim to facilitate fellow teachers and administrative management by adopting more flexible approaches:

We're all middle managers and we realise that when we're dealing with teachers, a lot of bottom-up information is important which we convey to administration. We try to minimise the top-down approach. On the other hand, when we deal with higher administration, it's totally top-down. (Khan)
The above excerpt gives an important insight into the nature of leadership structures and practices at the ELI, which are further elaborated in the participants' views of the leadership model at the top. The participants identify a top-down management model at the ELI that is run by a group of individuals who command authority and control the system. Ten out of 12 Interviewees call it a "typical top-down", "hierarchical" and "bureaucratic system", that is deep-rooted in Saudi higher education institutions. The comments from Natlus and Moh exemplify this view:

It's a typical hierarchical and top-down management model. (Natlus)
The structure of the institution that I work at is highly bureaucratic and centralised. On top of that, the decisions that are to be made within our unit both on an academic and administrative level can come from various higher ups. (Moh) Ibrahim's description of the management structure contains elements of frequent collegial interactions and sharing of views between the teacher leaders and top management. Khan shares a similar opinion: The only thing is that the higher administration is flexible. They listen to your suggestions if they make sense to them. However, somebody with TESOL background has to educate them about the sensitivity of the job. (Khan) Khan's opinion shows that, although the top leaders are prepared to compromise, they might fail to understand the complexities of a language institute due to their lack of ELT background. Table 2 summarises role-related challenges that teacher leaders face at the ELI.
Unlike Ibrahim and Khan, the remaining 10 participants associate various issues (Table 2) with the hierarchical leadership system that make their roles difficult at the ELI. They believe that, due to the top-down policies, the workplace context does not encourage collaborative practices, as it prevents the unit heads from collaborating on professional matters. Gray summarises it nicely: There's a complete disconnect between the various units, purely due to the technocratic system. The heads of the various units should discuss and improve the system on their own. For example, the research people don't talk to the curriculum, no collaboration between the two. There's a sense of 'why put in so much hard work' when there's nothing from the leadership and there's no support from the management. (Gray) Moreover, the data reveal the lack of support and appreciation for teacher leaders that causes stress, anxiety and frustration. Ten participants voice such concerns.

The top management is the source of stress and they don't realise how stressful this job is.
There's no support, whenever they see you in person, they might appreciate you, but in policy they don't support you at all. (Rahat)

Difficulty Sources Mentioned
Lack of professional support 10 15 Control and accountability 9 13 Bureaucracy 9 12 Lack of autonomy 8 12 Lack of appreciation 10 10 Teacher resentment 9 10 The absence of collaboration among the units 6 6 Administrative workload 5 6 Box-ticking and paperwork 5 5 Earning teachers' trust 5 5 Influencing teachers 6 6 The data also illustrate the fact that due to sheer bureaucracy; teacher leaders lack autonomy which restricts their roles to operational duties. Sachin's view is representative of what seven other participants express.
We don't have power to make decisions as they're made by individuals at the top. We only follow their verdicts and implement the top-down polices. (Sachin) The stressful and demanding roles often affect the retention rate of teacher leaders at the ELI. While pointing out the element of stress, Khan mentions that teacher leaders usually fail to cope with pressure and leave their positions fairly soon.
A number of people who capitalised on these opportunities quit due to stress. So, there's a barrier, stress and confusion, once you pass that then you remain steadfast, you start learning, but some people quit before that time comes. (Khan) Notwithstanding the challenging professional environment for teacher leaders owing to their lack of decision-making powers, as they describe above half of them somehow manage to derive power from their positions in the hierarchy and exercise their authority to achieve organisational objectives. The comments from Ismael and Peter show how their hierarchical positions enable them to influence fellow teachers and implement institutional policies.

I can influence people and provide directions to my group because of my administrative role in the organisation. It's a kind of vertical position that I have colleagues who are working with me in this unit, are bound to follow my directions because of my position in the hierarchy. (Ismael)
In this culture, the position itself adds weight which helps you with your role. (Peter) The hierarchical leadership positions might have enabled teacher leaders to influence teachers and implement institutional policies; however, nine of them believe that such authority does not help them with gaining teachers' trust and bridging the gap between teachers and higher management at the ELI. Khan stated: In such positions, the biggest challenge is that when you speak on behalf of the administration, teachers see you as an enemy, as an alien, and compliance becomes an issue. If you cannot make them comply, then in the eyes of the top management you are incompetent. So, it's a difficult position really. For me TESOL practice or methodology wasn't a problem, winning teachers' confidence was a challenge. (Khan) This lack of trust often affects teacher leaders' relationship with fellow teachers. As Table 2 shows, nine participants experience resentment from fellow teachers. The extracts from Omar and Sachin's interviews denote this point:

It's very challenging. At times in the meetings heated debates and arguments will go on. Literally teachers would stand up and shout. (Omar)
There's a lot of resentment and resistance from teachers which isn't good for a healthy professional environment. (Sachin) Expanding further on this notion, Natlus explains that teachers often perceive coordinators and observers as a threat to their jobs, a phenomenon that makes teacher leadership roles difficult.
Teachers think that the coordinators' roles at the ELI is just like policing or spying on instructors, as their objective used to be finding out the weaknesses of the instructors and firing them. This is the general perception that affects our jobs. (Natlus) Despite teacher resentment, four participants strive to establish a collegial relationship with teachers at the ELI. They consider it important for motivating, influencing and mobilising teachers in a bureaucratic workplace to realise organisational goals. Like Natlus, Khan and Hamza, Harrison too indicates that a collegial approach helps him to get things done.
I like to motivate my fellow teachers and colleagues by asking them to remember the true success and joy of teaching students and help them see what a good future looks like. Additionally, I like to share ideas and strategies. This way, everyone feels empowered and they can share positive ideas, which eventually look good, not only on me as a leader, but on everyone as a whole team. (Harrison) Since they lack autonomy, they have to find other ways of influencing teachers that would possibly reduce the impact of top-down management. Natlus further elaborates this process in detail: You must have a special meeting with the instructors whenever you implement a new policy by the ELI as a manager. Although it's not a written policy but before its implementation you must take teachers into confidence. One should explain the nature, objectives and goals of the policy and give a rationale why such a step should be taken. This will help to avoid negative feelings of the general staff towards the administration and we can focus more on our tasks. (Natlus) The above extracts show that teacher leaders try to create a pressure-free environment for teachers to meet the expectations of the top management.
Despite the difficulties summarised in Table 2, eight participants notice a positive influence of the hierarchical leadership structure on their leadership roles. For example, this system helps Ibrahim to organise his professional work in a better way and assign tasks to teachers and group members in a systematic manner.
Basically, this top-down management system disciplines you more, this is what I've learnt from this system. It helps you when you're required to meet certain pre-determined objectives and delegate work. (Ibrahim) Similarly, according to Peter, "Hierarchical leadership model helps me in that I know exactly who I have to contact for any academic issue" (Peter). It also facilitates Hamza to have "clear roles and responsibilities and have a clear chain of command" (Hamza). Likewise, for Ismael the top-down management model proves crucial in meeting organisational objectives as it offers them a structure and plan.

The vertical structure of leadership helps organise and discipline the entire work at all positions. In view of completing my tasks and reporting to my supervisors and then to control and get things done on time, I've to seek report from my colleagues working under my supervision. I find this hierarchical management productive, efficient and results oriented. (Ismael)
However, four interviewees express their displeasure with the top-down management system. For instance, Omar calls it a "flop show". For Sachin "it's a double face thing, hypocrisy … an artificial setup". These aspects of the management model at the ELI make the teacher leaders' job more of a robotic nature as explained by Harrison: If you make anything bureaucratic as it is, broad levels of control and accountability, then the coordinators have a very clear job, they just proceduralise and do it. That responsibility just shows that they do what they are told to do. They don't look at the sense of right and wrong. They might-but if they considered it wrong why would they do it? (Harrison) The above extracts also reflect the impact of a technocratic system that contains the element of control and accountability. Moh points out how that distances the management from daily workings of the Institute: "This is not a favorable situation as the higher-ups don't really have a pulse on what's happening in the unit on a day to day basis" (Moh). Similarly, five participants indicate excessive administrative tasks, unnecessary box-ticking and workload that emanate from their operational duties and make their roles difficult: In Saudi Arabia. If you're in a leadership position, you must meet deadlines and you have to come up with ideas on the fly otherwise you'll be stuck. You've to keep records of everything on daily basis. (Harrison) It's quite hectic. There's so much to do and there's so much paperwork and documentation all done by the coordinators. (Rahat) The above extracts show that the hierarchical leadership model is a source of stress and bureaucracy; however, at the same time, it helps teacher leaders with strategic planning at the ELI.

The range of teacher leadership roles at the ELI
Teacher leadership, a commonly used concept in international literature, appears to be a novel idea in the context of this study, which is a contribution to the field of teacher leadership in ELT. Although the concept is new in the EFL context, the roles EFL teacher leaders identify in Table 1 have similarities, characterising the second wave of teacher leadership (Silva et al., 2000) as they are based on the individuals' professional and pedagogical expertise. The three waves of teacher leadership by Silva et al. (2000) is a useful lens to see how teacher leadership appears in the EFL context of this study. Moreover, the roles suggest that the three waves are not time or context-bound; rather they are still relevant in EFL settings with more hierarchical structures, i.e. Saudi EFL context.
The teacher leadership roles at the ELI are formal in nature, involving teacher leaders going beyond classroom instructions and contributing to the institute on a wider scale, that is, developing curriculum, preparing tests and teaching materials, and supervising teachers. Similarly, teacher leaders perform operational duties as head of the academic affairs, head of the student affairs and head of the quality assurance units, in which they are mainly responsible for policy implementation. These roles are similar to the first wave of teacher leadership (Silva et al., 2000) which focuses on administrative and managerial aspects of teacher leadership. Identical to the second wave of teacher leadership roles, such as, middle managers, mentors, curriculum developers and staff developers, have been reported by the EFL teacher leaders, which are also found in US school contexts (Thompson & Wolstencroft, 2015;York-Barr & Duke, 2004). However, the participants have organisational specific roles too, as head of the research unit, head of the E-learning unit and head of the student affairs unit, which are not found in the international literature on teacher leadership roles. In addition, all these roles are formal and there is no concept of informal leadership roles at the ELI, which makes this context different from the US and the UK schools where teachers often have informal leadership roles (Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2009) The teacher leadership roles (Table 1) at the ELI show that EFL teacher leaders perform a variety of instructional and operational roles. This diversity of roles is also evident in their day-to-day activities. For example, the head of the PDU or E-learning unit has instructional leadership responsibilities, whereas the head of the ACU performs a more operational role. This diversity in the roles can be linked to the difference in objectives and functions of the units that co-exist and play a different but vital role in the integration of the ELI. In nutshell, the presence of the three waves and how they facilitate the operation of the ELI show the intricate nature of EFL institutes based on hierarchical leadership structures; nevertheless, their presence at the institute makes it a unique case.
The participants' perceptions of their roles determine the nature of teacher leadership in the Saudi EFL context, which is similar to the existing literature on teacher leadership. As defined by Katzenmeyer and Moller (2009), the participants teach EFL classes and simultaneously perform their leadership roles in the hierarchy of the institute to achieve organisational objectives. The definition by York- Barr and Duke (2004) also shows similar characteristics but, according to them, the whole exercise is to enhance student outcomes, whereas the current study does not indicate whether the teacher leaders' aim is to improve learner performance. Thus, more research in this direction may help to demonstrate the impact of teacher leadership practices on EFL learning and teaching practices.

A hierarchical leadership model at the ELI
The participants' perceptions of leadership practices at the top and middle levels enable us to see how teacher leadership works at the ELI. The findings show that a typical top-down management model is in place that shapes leadership practices at the ELI. The organisational structure is highly bureaucratic and centralised with top-down policies that often hinder the functioning of teacher leadership.
Lack of autonomy, teacher resentment and lack of support for teacher leaders are overarching characteristics of the hierarchical organisation of the ELI that apparently reduce the effectiveness of EFL teacher leadership. Since teacher leaders lack decision-making powers and professional support from higher management, they cannot go beyond their scripted responsibilities; rather, they must follow a certain set of procedures. Owing to the negative influence of the top-down management system, it can be said that a more flexible leadership model at the top may expand its benefits to EFL teachers and students. Facilitating teachers and teacher leaders to become autonomous practitioners would benefit the institution and individuals to cope with external and internal challenges and focus on organisational effectiveness.
As accountability and task achievement become the key goals of a centralised system, individuals in leading positions exercise their authority to influence their subordinates and achieve organisational objectives. In the context of this study, accountability measures lead to teachers' anxiety and their apprehension regarding possible repercussions in case of failure to meet the expectations of their superiors. As a result, teacher leaders find it hard to bridge the gap between the top management and fellow teachers. These findings are in line with Sanocki (2013), and Tschannen-Moran (2009), who established the negative influence of bureaucratic structures on teacher leadership roles. Furthermore, the culture of mistrust and bureaucracy hinders collaboration among the units at the ELI, as heads of the units are not answerable to each other, but report to the vice deans.
The findings have revealed various administrative challenges that participants associate with teacher leadership roles at the ELI, as presented in Table 2. Administrative workload seems to be a common issue for the teacher leaders, where most of their time is consumed by paperwork, maintaining records and ensuring policy implementation. The range of administrative tasks at the ELI is indicative of increased accountability in Higher Education as excessive administrative responsibilities focus on standardisation, and leave little scope for exercising leadership within the roles (Tschannen-Moran, 2009).
Apparently, there is insufficient evidence in the literature that supports the positive influence of hierarchical leadership practices on teacher leadership roles. Nevertheless, it is indeed a rare feature of the ELI that, despite lack of autonomy and support, teacher leaders manage to operate effectively in a technocratic system. On a positive note, the existing power structure has guided the participants by offering them a clear structure, a plan and a strategy that facilitates their leadership roles. Moreover, it has channeled their roles and given them a clear line of action and raised their awareness of cultural and professional complexities at the ELI. This positive influence may appear surprising, but we can say that stern bureaucratic structures sometimes result in guiding employees and achieving organisational objectives. Nevertheless, the professional obligations of teacher leaders might have influenced their beliefs and prompted them to remain cautious and conscious of any possible consequences of criticising the top management.

Shared leadership practices at the ELI
Despite the top-down leadership model, the qualitative findings indicate the distributed or shared leadership approach among EFL teacher leaders in their respective groups, which is a feature of the third wave of teacher leadership.
Although their positions in the hierarchy offer them the power to influence others, the teacher leaders prefer a collegial relationship with group members and subordinates to achieve organisational objectives. This collaborative approach also reflects their professional cognisance of shared responsibilities that have facilitated their performance. As bureaucratic structures affect collaboration between the heads of the units, teacher leaders aim to build a trusting relationship with colleagues in their groups to maintain an amicable working environment.
In the context of this research, professionally sound teacher leaders have exhibited their ability to neutralise the negative influence of hierarchical leadership on their practices by adopting shared leadership models within their groups. Reliance on one another indicates that, irrespective of difference in social, political, educational and professional backgrounds, a group of individuals can have a shared purpose while working on a project. For instance, the team of academic coordinators has identical job descriptions; hence, their mutual collaboration helps them complete projects in a swift manner. Another interpretation of this phenomenon is that the pressure of accountability in the hierarchical leadership setup at the ELI coerces them to be more interdependent in their respective groups and leave no space for any professional setback.

Implications for teacher leaders in ELT
Since the 1980s, the concept of teacher leadership has commonly been used in western school contexts; however, it has not received much consideration in ELT (Whitehead & Greenier, 2019). In the immediate context of this research, which is an EFL institute, this study introduces the concept of teacher leadership to bring awareness among language teachers, teacher leaders in middlelevel leadership positions, administrative leadership, and policy makers about the significance of teacher leadership in ELT. Indeed, it contributes towards an understanding of how teacher leadership has served as a change agent in western as well as in other contexts in which individuals in such positions influence change, work in collaboration with colleagues and contribute to organisational outcomes. Since more research is needed to find these characteristics of teacher leadership in EFL/ESL contexts, this study has provided EFL teacher leaders with a foundation to see their leadership roles from a different perspective and align their practices with international standards. The teacher leadership roles found in this study are a new addition to the body of literature in general education as well as in ELT. In addition, current and prospective ELT professionals in teacher leadership roles may raise their awareness of the nature of teacher leadership and its rolerelated challenges in EFL contexts, and contribute to their leadership capacity.

Limitations of the study
Since the current study is context-bound, aiming to understand the factors that help EFL teacher leaders to develop their leadership skills at the ELI, a case study approach was deemed the most appropriate. Nevertheless, a more comprehensive study with narrative research method or a life history approach in other EFL/ESL contexts may assemble teacher leaders' diverse experiences in ELT which may be different from the current findings.
As this case study has utilised semi-structured interviews and an open-ended questionnaire, it can be assumed that the full potential of a case study design has not been exploited and a range of qualitative methods could have given more depth and richness to the data. Therefore, future research can consider the application of multi-methods case study design to explore teacher leadership development in similar contexts as the ELI, which may improve rigour in the data and reduce researcher's subjectivity.

Conclusion
The concept of teacher leadership has not been used by teacher leaders in the context of this study, but various features of teacher leadership are conspicuous in leadership roles at the ELI. For example, EFL teachers teach and lead simultaneously, influence their colleagues to achieve organisational objectives and help each other to learn and improve their leadership skills (Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2009;York-Barr & Duke, 2004). In addition, the three waves of teacher leadership described by Silva et al. (2000) help us see different facets of teacher leadership at the ELI. Interestingly, all three waves are evident in the teacher leaders' roles at the ELI. The combination of three teacher leadership waves plays a key role in organisational cohesiveness which makes this context a unique case in the ELT.
Although a top-down management system has its negative influences on educational institutions, it can be considered an effective way of management in large institutes such as the ELI where more than 250 EFL teachers work and follow a chain of command that helps different stakeholders to execute their assigned roles in a linear way. In addition, participatory leadership practices in the middle-level are feasible in a typical top-down management model which can aid teacher leaders to minimise the negative influence of top-down policies. As hierarchical leadership model dominates at the top, it can contribute to EFL teacher leaders' effectiveness in their leadership roles and, to an extent, assist them with the successful dispensation of their leadership responsibilities.