Constructing Identity

In This Issue

Second Language Teacher identity (SLTI) has been a burgeoning area of research over the last decade or so within the field of language teacher education in general and second language education (including TESOL) in particular. Given that overall teaching effectiveness and teachers’ classroom practices partially rely on teachers’ understanding of who they are, personally and professionally, delving into the construct of teacher identity, how it is constructed, developed and shaped as well as the way it interacts with other teacher characteristics has attracted a good deal of research attention recently. This chapter first situates second language (L2) teacher identity within the broader context of second language teacher education (SLTE) and then reviews a sample of the latest research on the topic. It then briefly introduces the content of the rest of the book and highlights its outstanding features.KeywordsLanguage teachersLanguage teacher identityProfessional developmentTeacher educationTeacher identity development

This study investigates the development of teacher identity in a transnational context through an analysis of the voices of sixteen preservice teachers from Hong Kong who engage in interaction with primary students in an Australian classroom. The context for this research is the school-based experience undertaken by these preservice English as a second language teachers as part of their short language immersion (SLIM) program in Brisbane, Australia. Such SLIM programs are a genre of study abroad programs which have been gaining in popularity within teacher education in Australia, attended by preservice and inservice teachers from China, Hong Kong, Korea, and other Asian countries. This research is conducted at a time when the imperative to globalise higher education provision is a strategic factor in the educational policies of both Australia and Hong Kong. In Australia, international educational services now constitute the country’s third largest export with more than 400,000 students coming to Australia to study annually. In order to maintain Australia’s current global position as the third most popular Englishspeaking study destination, the government is now focusing on sustainability and the quality of the study experience being offered to international students (Bradley Review, 2008). In Hong Kong, the government sponsors both preservice and inservice English as a second language (ESL) teachers to undertake SLIM programs in Australia and other English-speaking countries, as part of their policy of promoting high levels of English proficiency in Hong Kong classrooms. Transnational teacher education is an important issue to which this study contributes insights into the affordances and constraints of a school-based experience in the transnational context. Second language teacher education has been defined as interventions designed to develop participants’ professional knowledge. In this study, it is argued that participation in a different community of practice helps to foreground tacit theories of second language pedagogy, making them visible and open to review. Questions of pedagogy are also seen as questions of teacher identity, constituting the way that one is in the classroom. I take up a sociocultural and poststructural framework, drawing on the work of James Gee and Mikhail Bakhtin, to theorise the construction of teacher identity as emerging through dialogic relations and socially situated discursive practices. From this perspective, this study investigates whether these teachers engage with different ways of representing themselves through appropriating, adapting or rejecting Discourses prevailing in the Australian classroom. Research suggests that reflecting on dilemmas encountered as lived experiences can extend professional understandings. In this study, the participants engage in a process of dialogic reflection on their intercultural classroom interactions, examining with their peers and their lecturer/researcher selected moments of dissonance that they have faced in the unfamiliar context of an Australian primary classroom. It is argued that the recursive and multivoiced nature of this process of reflection on practice allows participants opportunities to negotiate new understandings of second language teacher identity. Dialogic learning, based on the theories of Bakhtin and Vygotsky, provides the theoretic framing not only for the process of reflection instantiated in this study, but also features in the analysis of the participants’ second language classroom practices. The research design uses a combined discourse analytic and ethnographic approach as a logic-of-inquiry to explore the dialogic relationships which these second language teachers negotiate with their students and their peers in the transnational context. In this way, through discourse analysis of their classroom talk and reflective dialogues, assisted by the analytic tools of speech genres and discourse formats, I explore the participants’ ways of doing and being second language teachers. Thus, this analysis traces the process of ideological becoming of these beginner teachers as shifts in their understandings of teacher and student identities. This study also demonstrates the potential for a nontraditional stimulated recall interview to provide dialogic scaffolding for beginner teachers to reflect productively on their practice.

This study explores how the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools into language education can influence language teachers’ identity from an ecological perspective. To do so, 16 teachers were selected based on purposeful sampling and completed a narrative frame. To corroborate data, seven of them (based on the richness of their narrative frames) attended a semi-structured interview in which they discussed the integration of AI in their classes and how it impacted their identity. The semi-structured interviews were translated and transcribed and along with the narrative frames were analyzed by employing thematic analysis. The findings of this study revealed that AI integration in language education had a significant impact on participating teachers’ identity and shaped their identity at different ecological layers of micro-pedagogical, meso-institutional, and macro-societal. These findings may assist teachers and teacher educators in raising awareness about AI integration into language education and how it can construct language teacher identity.

Identity as a sociocultural construct plays a significant role in L2 learning and teaching, and is also a significant instrument to critical pedagogy and its primary goal of learner empowerment and social transformation. Teachers, along with learners, are agents of transformation and therefore the process of teacher identity formation and its impact on teaching practices are worth investigating. The existing literature seems to be mostly composed of studies on learner identity. This review article aims to contribute to the scarce literature on language teacher identity through discussion of how language teachers come to shape their identities as they engage in language teaching. The paper provides an overview of how different approaches define and explain identity by referring to the work of Bakhtin, Bourdieu, Vygotsky and Norton, looks at the factors influential in forming teacher identity, and lastly delves into language teacher identity. The review of sociocultural and poststructuralist approaches suggest identity is multiple, changing and in a state of flux rather than unitary, fixed and internally coherent. Identity in general and teacher identity in particular develops dynamically over time through continual relationship with others and interaction with context. Teacher identity helps with the organization of the teacher’s personal and professional life, and contributes to teachers making sense of their teaching experiences. Teachers negotiate meaning and create and tell stories of their lived experiences with others in a relational manner through identity formation process. It helps teachers’ emotional well-being and effectiveness in classroom if they are in control of defining their professional identities. This paper attempts to gain an insight into language teacher identity as a concept that significantly influences the language teacher’s pedagogic practice and is influenced by it, better understand the language teacher, and contribute to the improvement of language teaching practice.

A teacher's attitudes, knowledge, beliefs, and skills are referred as ‘professional identity' that affects students. Research has focused on knowledge and skills but, downplayed teacher's emotional intelligence. Studies states that teachers' emotional intelligence affects how student engage. There are a few studies on the relationship between emotional intelligence of teachers and student engagement. This study aims to assess the relationship of student engagement with professional identity and emotional intelligence of language teachers. This study is conducted on 30 language teachers and their respective current students. For this, standardized tools were used for the assessment of variables undertaken for the study. The data was analysed statistically. The findings states that professional identity and emotional intelligence of language teachers is significantly positively correlated with student engagement. So, language teachers who are emotionally intelligent and have a healthier professional identity engage students to a higher level.

The landscape of teacher education has recently experienced a significant transformation, shifting away from conventional constructivist methodologies towards more socio-culturally grounded and critical pedagogical approaches. This shift underscores the growing importance of exploring language teacher identity and underscores the imperative for in-depth research into its construction within teacher education programs. This evolution is vital not only to enable language educators to gain deeper insights into their students' ideologies but also to facilitate their understanding and cultivation of their own professional identities. Within the framework of critical pedagogy, pivotal concepts such as power, identity, and agency empower language instructors with the tools necessary to actively shape their own identities and effectively challenge the language ideologies held by their students. Consequently, it is essential to investigate how socio-cultural and political contexts influence the identities of language educators and how these educators can proactively mold their identities to meet the diverse needs of their students. Throughout this study, critical pedagogy serves as a lens for evaluating teacher education programs, highlighting how their incorporation can enhance the educational landscape. In light of the dynamic nature of education, particularly in evolving contexts, a critical language pedagogy perspective necessitates further research into the identity of language teachers within the field. This aligns with the assertion made by Kubota (2017), emphasizing the imperative of additional research concerning the identity of language teachers within the realm of critical language pedagogy.

Teacher identity has been considered among the most influential key factors in the realm of teacher education. Studies on teacher identity help teacher educators to find new and conducive approaches to develop teacher identity in different contexts. This study is a theoretical review aiming to accentuate the recent underlying concepts of teacher identity, language teacher identity, and language teacher cultural identity. To those ends, we scrutinize the related issues such as the different perspectives about identity; key concepts in teacher identity including teacher professional identity, teacher motivation and identity, teacher emotion and identity, and narratives and teacher identity along with non-native English language teacher identify construction and reflexivity and language teacher identity. Moreover, a review of the related theories about cultural identity has been done and presented to address the most referred theories of cultural identity. Finally, some concluding remarks about the theoretical underpinnings of language teacher cultural identity have been discussed.

This article explores the experiences of a Chinese language teacher in the United States and how she constructed and negotiated her professional identities during and after her teacher preparation in a U.S.‐based English as a second language (ESL) teacher preparation program. Using narrative inquiry to understand the participant’s experience and perspectives of her professional identities as both an ESL teacher candidate and a Chinese language teacher in the United States, the study identified two key transitional periods: moving from China to the United States and transitioning from a student into a professional career. Findings underscore the dynamic nature of language teacher identities as individuals find themselves in different English language teaching contexts. The study also shows how professional identities are constructed in discourse and shaped by native speaker ideologies in the English language teaching field. In addition, the study reveals the dearth of critical reflection of Asian ethnic English language teachers on raciolinguistic ideologies obscuring their raciolinguistic identities and the crucial role that school climate plays in shaping teacher identities. The study calls for teacher candidates to have opportunities for critical reflection on their language teacher identities and critical analysis of curriculum and experiences in language teacher preparation programs.

With the increasing studies on teacher identity, research on Language Teacher Identity (LTI) has become a hot topic discussed among domestic and international language education researchers. In recent years, research on LTI does not focus on some particular driving factor, such as nationality, career, gender, social class, and so on, but strives to take full consideration of the comprehensive effects of various factors and the significant implications of the research, such as the close relationship between LTI and social harmony. Therefore, research on LTI plays a significant role in the training of language teachers, language education reform, and long-term social development. This report is inspired by a research project on language teacher education. The source text is selected from TESOL Quarterly, a top academic journal on TESOL. The September Issue of 2016 commits to exploring the LTI research. As the preface of the issue, the source text seeks to feature articles in the issue into three themes and demonstrates the research background, current situation, and further development of three themes. This translation report aims to enhance understanding of translation theories, especially Text Typology, and improve the translator’s translation competence by adopting Text Typology to resolve problems in the translation.

Despite the widely acknowledged significance of teacher identity development in language teachers’ classroom practices and professional learning, little research has explored language teacher identity construction in vocational education and training settings. This study attempts to fill the lacuna by exploring six English for general purposes teachers’ identities development through navigation of critical-oriented teaching within a three-month teacher professional learning programme at one Chinese higher vocational college. Data were collected from professional learning conversations, classroom observations, and reflective practices. Data analysis revealed that participants’ identities flowed on the continuum of authority, agency and vulnerability through navigation of critical-oriented teaching during the teacher professional learning programme. The complex interrelationships of language teacher identity, agency and emotion indicate a non-linear pattern of language teacher identity development, suggesting that it is profoundly mediated by and mediates participants’ emotions and their navigation of critical-oriented teaching. More work is needed to explore the development of language teacher identity through navigation of innovative pedagogical practices within teacher professional learning programmes in vocational education and training settings.

The Douglas Fir Group Framework as a Resource Map for Language Teacher Education

This autoethnographic narrative inquiry explores the lived experiences and identities of a transnational English language teacher (educator). The aim of this research was to gain insight into my own transnationality, in order both to better inform my beliefs and practices as an educator, and to highlight the value of exploring transnationality as an important dimension in language teacher identity (LTI) construction. Drawing on autobiographical writing and art work as data sources, constant comparison and line-by-line analysis were employed to identify themes in the data, which were synthesized with relevant literature to further make sense of and theorize (my) transnational LTIs. Featuring theme-focused experiences from my life, findings are organized in a past-present-future structure, looking back at how my past identities can inform my present identities, and how these past and present identities are informing my future imagined identities. Major insights gained from this research into transnational LTI include: (a) social categorization, whether conferring high or low status, is a form of objectification, closely linked to the concept of (un)desire; (b) viewing emotions as signals of sites of growth can help to free us from emotional overwhelm; and (c) identifying and acknowledging our strengths can emancipate us from unjust power dynamics and empower others to do the same. Implications for language teacher education are discussed.

Introduction. The authors of the article investigate the formation of pre-service foreign language teachers’ professional identity in the conditions of higher professional education. Its relevance is confirmed by the increased requirements of the society for the personality of a specialist, by the urge for elaborating the internal confidence in his/her professionalism, the ability to build effective professional interactions, and to realise the need for self-expression in his/her profession, all of which are an indicator of high-quality professional training. Aim. The current research aims to provide the scientific justification for the effectiveness of the developed pedagogical technology of constructing the professional identity of students – pre-service foreign language teachers.Methodology and research methods. This study was grounded on the provisions of competency-based, personality-oriented, system-activity, axiological, anthropological approaches; the principles of nature conformity, humanisation, integrity, professional reasonability, activity, and independence; conceptual theoretical provisions of personality and its development in the process of education and professional training, theoretical and practical framework of using modern educational technologies, recent research on professional and pedagogical training of pre-service foreign language teachers and on using innovation technologies in the pedagogical process of vocational training. The study was conducted through the use of the following methods: theoretical analysis of literary sources, generalisation of existing scientific provisions, derivation and systematisation of new knowledge, questionnaire method, observation, experiment, and statistical analysis of the obtained data.Results and scientific novelty. Empirically, the authors have determined and formulated the pedagogical conditions for constructing the professional identity of pre-service foreign language teachers. There has been developed and tested the pedagogical technology that proved its effectiveness in ensuring the formation of students’ professional identity till the status of achievement, the development of three components of professional identity (cognitive, emotional, and behavioural), and the correspondent professional and personal qualities and skills.Practical significance. The materials of the study may form the basis for further advances in scientific investigations and bring advantages in psychological coaching during professional evolution of students and experienced foreign language teachers, who need to resolve difficulties associated with professional identity. The developed course on constructing the professional identity of pre-service foreign language teachers can be put into university educational process as part of training methods courses, student teaching placement, tutorial sessions, extracurricular activities on pedagogical excellence, qualification upgrade courses for experienced teachers and educators, methodical seminars, workshops, round tables, as well as into the process of handling the crisis conditions and professional burnout. This course can be included into the university curriculum as a special discipline to prepare teachers both of foreign language and of other school subjects.

This paper reports on our inquiry into how language teachers’ identities relate to their efforts to teach intercultural communicative competence. In the study, we collected data through in-depth interviews with and observations of 16 Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong’s international schools. The analysis revealed that the participants simultaneously embraced multiple professional and sociocultural identities related to intercultural communicative competence teaching. Specifically, the professional identities included a Chinese language teacher identity and a school staff member identity, while the sociocultural identity comprised a Chinese culture bearer identity, a multicultural identity, a cultural transmitter identity, a culture learner identity, and a cultural bridge identity. These identities were found to compete with or reinforce each other in mediating the participants’ efforts in relation to teaching intercultural communicative competence; different identities were often associated with different understandings of and approaches to teaching intercultural communicative competence. The findings suggest that language teacher educators need to recognise teacher identities as an important pedagogical resource when preparing language teachers for teaching in cross-cultural contexts.