Dyslexic Individuals’ Narratives on their Process of Becoming English Language Teachers

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of a narrative study with two pre-service English language teachers (PELTs) who have dyslexia. The main objective of the study was to understand how this condition of having dyslexia was present in becoming an English language teacher. The two PELTs participated in a life history interview as part of the data collection. By considering the main objective of the study, the researchers used the information collected to write the narratives and subsequently proceeded to interpret and analyze them. The findings show that dyslexia is as serious as any other disability, and it does generate rejection and lack of understanding on the part of teachers and other PELTs. Furthermore, negative feelings linked to the learning or teaching process are generated in PELTs with dyslexia, which leads them to hide their condition to avoid discrimination most of the time. However, findings also show that once negative feelings were overcome, PELTs turn their problem into an advantage, discovering themselves as more empathetic to those with special needs and making them more resourceful teachers. We conclude that although PELTs can turn their weaknesses into strengths, the role of teacher educators is also fundamental in the processes of identity construction; teacher educators might provide spaces and strategies to minimize the conditions that affect the performance of PELTs, both as language students and as language teachers.