Abstract
Recent interest in teacher identity in general and language teachers’ identity in particular has shown that although identity research can be contentious, its examination can cast light on the process of teacher development. In fact, the role of identity in teacher development has been promoted as a key analytical framework. In this study exploring narratives elicited from interview data, I examine how a novice teacher develops more confidence in her role(s) as a teacher by recounting stories based both on her imagined identity as a teacher but also on her practical experience in the classroom. Along with the stories shared by the teacher, she intuitively reflects on her professional identity through the use of metaphors and anecdotes. These under-researched aspects of narrative inquiry are presented in the paper as symbolic discursive proxies that the teacher uses to carve out a space of self-definition within the teacher community of practice.
Highlights
It is important to mention that while Nur reports on some aspects of her teaching in the interview, I have not observed her actual teaching and all I know of her pedagogy is what she is able to report to me. Both in her teaching practicum as well as in her initial weeks of teaching in the same school, Nur closely collaborated with a senior teacher who helped introduce her to the new school environment, and offered advice on teaching
In this guided practice where the senior teacher acted as a mentor, the novice teacher becomes more aware of her teacher roles and coincidentally may become more mindful of the adjustments to make in her own teaching
While narratives constitute are a key element in recounting teachers’ subjectivities, experiences and insights, anecdotes and metaphors are important analytical tools to understand how teachers envision their imagined identities and how they conceive their roles in their communities of practice
Summary
Recent interest in teacher identity in general (Freese, 2006; Olsen, 2008; Riopel, 2006; Sachs, 2005) and language teachers’ identity in particular (Ben Said & Shegar, 2013; Cross, 2006; Farrell, 2011; Kanno & Stuart, 2011; Liu & Xu, 2011; Motha, 2006; Nagamine, 2012; Phan, 2007; Phan & Phan, 2006; Reis, 2008; Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013; Tan, 2013; Tsui, 2007; Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, & Johnson, 2005; Wu, Palmer, & Field, 2011) has shown that identity can be inherently complex and contentions (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009) it still generates critical interest as it casts light on the processes and mediations in teachers’. All will be seen subsequently, these discursive practices allows the novice teacher to initially voice her limitations and progressively situate herself with more confidence as a legitimate participant in her new community of practice Nur uses this narrative encounter, interspersing her recounts with anecdotes and metaphors, to establish and maintain joint enterprises, gain more confidence in her practice, negotiate meanings, and establish relations with others. 178), they needn’t be conceived of as a major inadequacy since identity – as already mentioned earlier – is conceptualized in this paper as coconstructed and contingent on external factors one being the research involved in this study Commenting on this idea, Menard-Warwick (2011) states: When I analyze teacher narratives from interviews, my analysis assigns certain identities to the tellers (English teachers, Californians, Anglo-Americans, etc.), while attempting to account for how the tellers represent themselves and others. It is important to mention that while Nur reports on some aspects of her teaching in the interview, I have not observed her actual teaching and all I know of her pedagogy is what she is able to report to me
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