How do i see myself? What do I want to become? A study on english as an additional language teachers' identity reconstruction

Abstract

This text aims at presenting a piece of qualitative research that investigated the process by which some English as Additional Language (EAL) teachers were involved in (re) constructing their professional identity. Based on socio-interactionist perspectives, the study focuses on investigating some written and oral texts produced by a group of EAL teachers in southwest Paraná to see what these texts reveal concerning their professional identity. In relation to data generation and analysis, this study draws on data from three English workshops of an Extension Program which occurred from March 2012 to June 2013. In those workshops, concepts and ideas related to teachers' professional identity and subjectivity, teacher's social role in public schools, as well as teaching practices were widely discussed. Six in-service teachers attended the workshops regularly and produced oral and written texts of different genres, such as oral discussions and written autobiographies and reports. Some of those texts were, then, selected and analysed. Results show that a) the participant-teachers' identities seem to be fragmented and a life-long process; b) teachers see themselves in constant change and in professional development due to the changes in relation to the EAL teacher's role in public schools and to the EAL status in the world; c) the EAL teachers' life trajectories, including social positions (in family, school, work, and in other different social contexts), are essential in the construction of their professional and academic identities.