This book investigates the complex realities faced by international English language teachers in Saudi Arabia's higher education system. It examines how these educators navigate their professional lives, including their interactions with institutions, classroom dynamics, and the validation of their identities and pedagogies. Drawing on extensive empirical data from a multi-year, multi-site project, the authors explore the on-the-ground challenges related to speaker status, language, ethnicity, nationality, race, religion, and sociocultural factors.

The book offers a deep dive into the lived experiences of international TESOL teachers, providing a nuanced perspective on their professional challenges and adaptations within the Saudi Arabian higher education landscape. It moves beyond simplistic notions of language and identity, engaging with complex factors such as ethnicity, religion, and emotion labor to theorize the limits of negotiability in multilingual academic settings. The research is grounded in extensive empirical data, suggesting a robust and detailed analysis for scholars in sociolinguistics and TESOL. This work is positioned to contribute significantly to ongoing debates about multilingualism and teacher professional identity.