How We Came to Be: Inquiring into Teacher Identity Construction of Indonesian ELT Graduate Students

In This Issue

Pre-service English teachers still need to gain the competence to develop authentic materials with Islamic values, reflected by their low perceived readiness. To reveal their readiness, this study was conducted by using narrative inquiry. The data were gathered from the storytelling of pre-service English teachers pursuing master's degrees at IAIN Kediri. Participants in this study were one male and one female student with teaching experience. The data were analyzed by using thematic analysis. The data showed that the pre-service teachers believed the readiness to develop digitalized authentic materials with Islamic values could have been more optimal. It is because of the existing instructional materials provided by the government, their lack of confidence as new teachers, and their limited autonomous access to their classes as a new teacher. English textbooks provided by the government are only general English. So, it makes the teachers follow the materials instead of developing authentic materials with Islamic values that are fundamentally needed by students studying in Islamic institutions, such as modifying the materials from books to reflect Muslim activities. Therefore, the pre-service teachers must expose themselves to integrated materials books and digital materials with Islamic values.

Research examining teachers’ professional identity in the online context has recently increased; however, there have been few attempts (if any) to design a scale to assess foreign language teachers’ professional identity integrated with technology use in the flipped context. There have also been no extensions to the professional teacher identity model for flipped language teaching incorporated with psycho‐emotional factors. The current study first developed and validated an instrument for English teachers’ professional identity of technology integration in the flipped context (ETITF) to fill in the research gap that the majority of existing instruments for teachers’ professional identity have not considered the characteristics of technology integration in the flipped teaching environment in the subject area of English. Additionally, this present research also attempted to extend the professional teacher identity model by investigating the influence of the psycho‐emotional factor, namely, perceived anxiety of flipped teaching on professional teacher identity coped with technology in the flipped context by English teachers. Grounded by the identity theory and technology acceptance model, 233 in‐service English teachers from mainland China served to explore the constructs of the ETITF and the model extension with perceived anxiety. Results of exploratory factor analysis, first‐order, and second‐order confirmatory factor analysis supported a three‐dimension scale with 15 items: task perception (TP), motivation (M), and teacher self‐efficacy (SE). The results of the study revealed that the ETITF is valid and reliable that could be used by researchers, educators, and education institutions to gain a greater understanding of English language teachers’ professional development and can serve as a tool to support the procedures of developing teacher identity integrated with technology in the flipped context with specific items related to English teaching. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that task perception significantly predict English teachers’ motivation, while motivation showed positive influence on in‐service teachers’ self‐efficacy. This developed tool of ETITF and the extended professional identity with technology incorporation model may contribute to the development of flipped language teaching, which may provide implications for English educators and researchers to facilitate teachers’ effective technology integration in flipped English teaching.

Professional development and professional identity of English language teachers have usually been explored separately in the research agenda. However, there might be a nexus of relationships between professional identity and professional development in the context of English language teaching. This study, therefore, explored how professional identity might contribute to professional development of English language teachers. To this end, 60 English language teachers from inner, 60 from outer, and 60 from expanding circle of language use were sampled to fill in a questionnaire which was constructed and validated by the researchers. The study concluded that language teachers’ professional development could be theorized on a development of past-present-aspirational identity. It was also found that language teachers’ professional identity could be improved through development of interpersonal relations, system of knowledge and belief, and intrapersonal identity that would be considered as sub-identities of English language teachers’ professional identity.

Introduction This study aims to examine the interplay between EFL Teacher’s Professional Identity and EFL Student’s Grit in Libya with a particular focus on how students’ language grit is affected by teachers’ professional identity. Methods The study employed language grit and teacher’s professional identity scales which were utilized to gather data through an online questionnaire administrated to 282 respondents (240 students and 42 teachers) from two government universities located in Aljabel Alakhder, eastern Libya. The link between students’ language grit and the professional identity of English language teachers was examined via Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results The results revealed no significant positive association between students’ language grit and English language teachers’ professional identity. Such results indicated that English language teachers’ professional identity was not one of the original sources of students’ language grit. Conclusion The findings suggest that future educational initiatives could concentrate on enhancing teacher training and professional development and curriculum design to more effectively promote students’ perseverance in language learning. In addition, incorporating humanistic and contextually aware teaching methods may cultivate more enduring motivation and engagement among language learners in Libya.

PurposeSince a teacher's identity is the result of ongoing discussion, explanation, negotiation and justification, famous education quotes were integrated into a language teacher practicum in a teacher education program in the northwest university in Taiwan. This study aims to explore the influence of discussing education quotes on 10 English as a foreign language student teachers' professional identities. This study also aims to discuss the following research questions.Design/methodology/approachThis case study focused on 10 student teachers' identity construction in a practicum class under one advisor. According to Merriam (1998), a case is a “thing, a single entity, a unit around which there are boundaries” (p. 27). The case was a practicum and the unit of analysis was participants' identity construction.FindingsFirst, reading and discussing famous quotes was a useful “discourse” and “language” for student teachers to construct and negotiate their identities. Second, through the integration of reading and discussing quotes, participants revealed more professional identity in knowledge and expertise, particularly in English instruction in the post-test.Research limitations/implicationsThis study examined the influence of discussing educational quotes of 10 students’ professional identity. However, given the nature of the study, there were some limitations. First, although the small sample size offered rich data through observation, artifacts and pre-and post-tests, it restricts our ability to generalize the results.Practical implicationsThis study is highly practical (i.e. learning by discussion) and strongly interactive among the participant in a professional and social context. The conceptual framework in Figure 1 presents a theoretical framework supporting reading and discussing quotes as the discourse for the student teachers for their professional identity construction. Social context and relationship shape their professional identity (Izadinia, 2013). Student teachers spent much of their time with their cooperating teachers and administrators in their cooperating schools. In order to foster student teachers’ professional identity construction, it is recommended that student teachers should be encouraged to read and discuss educational quotes with teachers and administrators in their cooperating schools as a mean of professional dialogue and learning.Social implicationsIn this study, it was argued that educational or English teaching quotes could be used as viable, effective and appropriate materials in documenting student teachers' professional identity construction out of their classroom practice in their practicum. The findings of this study derived from the nature of 10 student teachers' professional learning via discussing famous education sayings, and professional learning took place during the practicum.Originality/valueMost of the studies reviewed above were small-scale and qualitative case studies. Some involved only one or two single cases (e.g. Antonek et al., 1997; Calandra et al., 2006; Camp, 2013). Only a few studies were analyzed and explored based on theoretical frameworks (e.g. Chasteen, 2015). No explicit references were made to any theoretical frameworks in most of the studies. This study included both qualitative (observation and artifacts) and quantitative data (pretest and posttest) to explore the influence of discussing education quotes on 10 student teachers' professional identities and reflective practices.

This research is a critical and reflexive inquiry into the beliefs and practices, and the identity work, of the ‘intercultural teaching’ of English language teachers in two Indonesian universities. It is concerned with the ways in which teacher beliefs and understandings of the English language, of culture, interculturality and of pedagogy mediate the discourses, classroom practices and professional identity of these teachers. I have undertaken this study at a time when foreign language education policy in Indonesia, like many education policies across the world, has increasingly emphasised the cultural and intercultural dimensions of language learning. At the higher education level, the ‘shift of paradigm’ from English language education premised on linguistic competence to communicative competence has been accompanied by the introduction of more theoretical subjects where students are expected to develop a deeper understanding of the interconnections between language and culture. Within the framework of this ‘new paradigm’, English language teachers are expected to assume the responsibility of facilitating intercultural learning and promoting intercultural understanding. In this study, I examine the notion of interculturality in terms of broader, inclusive notions of pedagogy (cf. Giroux, 1988, 1991, 1997), rather than as a single approach to teaching English. Much research into teacher professional identity has revealed that teacher identity and teachers’ work are dynamically and inextricably interconnected with the broader social structures—their biographies, histories and experiences—in which they are situated (e.g., Duff & Uchida, 1997; Tsui, 2007; Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, & Johnson, 2005). Through the lens of sociocultural perspectives of identity, my study seeks to generate in-depth insights into how teacher identity work is mediated by and intertwines with various personal, professional, institutional and cultural factors. In connecting together these various dimensions, I have utilised a case study research design, with a particular focus on “critical incidents” (Goodson, 2003, p. 61) in the work and experiences of the teachers. This has allowed me space to delve into the complex social, cultural, linguistic and identity issues associated with that work and those experiences. In line with the sociocultural perspectives of identity that underpin the study, I have drawn on James Gee’s (1999, 2011a, 2011b) approach to discourse analysis to understand and unravel the complexity of identity work. Gee’s concepts of ‘big D’ Discourse, situated identities and cultural models were employed to highlight the connection between ‘micro’ (i.e., specific texts and specific details of language) and ‘macro’ (context) levels of analysis. This has allowed me to articulate fine-grained interpretive perspectives and to construct multi-faceted and nuanced accounts of the teachers’ realities and contextualised understandings. Data for the study comes from three main sources: in-depth semi-structured interviews with six teachers in two different universities in Indonesia, classroom observation of these teachers’ classroom practice and documentation (e.g., curriculum and policy documents). The interviews were conducted in three stages: before, during, and after the period during which I was observing the teachers’ classroom teaching, which was undertaken over a period of one semester. The focus of my interviews shuttled between ‘the personal’, ‘the professional’, ‘the institutional’ and ‘the cultural’. Analysis of data involved two major approaches: thematic theory-driven and case-based data-driven analyses. The former approach, drawing primarily on existing theories of ELT pedagogy, interculturalism and interculturality, was utilised in the analysis of the teachers’ perceptions of the English language and their ELT classroom practices as well as in the interpretation of their conceptualisations of culture. The latter approach was used in the exploration of the teachers’ individual beliefs, identity work and their subject-specific instructional practices. This approach has enabled me to discuss and analyse the data in a more reflexive way, allowing me not only to generate personalised accounts (including occasional references to my own experiences as an English language teacher in Indonesia) but also to present bigger picture understandings of the teachers’ individual and collective experiences. The study overall demonstrates the complex and dynamic nature of English language teachers’ identity work, pointing to the significant role the institution plays in mediating and shaping the teachers’ “enacted professionalism” (Hilferty, 2008, p. 162). By unravelling this complexity and illustrating the everyday challenges and dilemmas of teaching interculturalism in Indonesian higher education institutions, I call for a fundamental rethinking of language, culture and intercultural pedagogy and for policy-makers and curriculum planners to be better engaged with teachers’ voices and experiences.

Assessing the professional identity of primary student teachers: Design and validation of the Teacher Identity Measurement Scale

There have been some researches on the way teacher identities are (re)constructed; however, the study which investigatesthe improvement of the identity through the shift in language teaching has not been conducted. Thus the present qualitative study set out to investigate Iranian EFL teachers’ professional development who had been teaching either Arabic or Persian languages for more than six years prior to entering the English language teaching profession. Eleven Iranian in-service teachers took part in the study through purposeful sampling. For the purpose of the data collection, in-depth interviews, teachers’ narratives, and focus group interviews were used. The thematic analysis of the data through the Identity Theory (Burke & Stets, 2009) perspective revealedthree main themes: identity shift,identity development, and productive identity. The results indicate that teachers' professional learning requires rebuilding identity perception, and constructing a new identity will lead, in turn, to the professional development of teachers and their constructive learning. The present study contributes to the existing knowledge of teachers’ professional identity in that changes in the languages teachers teach will lead to reconstructing their professional identity in a positive wayand happen as a result of opportunities for professional development. The results have a number of implications for policymakers, teacher educators, and language teachers.

The article analyses the main models and theories on the study of the concept of "professional identity" and the main factors influencing the formation of students' professional identity during their studies in higher education institutions. The article studies and compares the Erikson model of identity development, the theory of social identity, and the theory of career choice. The main provisions of professional identity in the works of world and national scientists are considered. Novelty of the work includes the study of domestic and international experience of educational work aimed at the formation of a positive professional identity of students. The authors propose forms and methods of work that will contribute to the formation of the professional identity of medical students, in particular, it is proposed to introduce comprehensive educational programmes and include certain topics, courses, etc. in the curriculum that would contribute to the formation of professional competence and identity of students of professional higher education. Relevance of the topic is due to the fact that the problem of professional adaptation and identification of students in higher education institutions after they have chosen a speciality, and the effectiveness of their work requires a detailed study. The authors investigated the content of the concept of "professional identity". The authors reviewed the influencing factors on the formation of professional identity, in particular, the role of educational work and the role of the teacher in the process of forming students' professional identity. The problems of professional identity formation at the university stage in Ukrainian higher education institutions are studied. The emphasis is placed on the modernisation of teaching and educational work in the higher education system of Ukraine. It is emphasised that practical training, which universities should provide through internships, cooperative programmes, research projects and practices, is of great importance in the formation of professional identity in students.

Amidst the recent surge in English language teacher identity research, this article systematically reviews existing research studies (n=30) conducted on English language teacher identity across English as a foreign language (EFL), English as a second language (ESL), and native English-speaking contexts that employed narrative inquiry as its methodology. Employing Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework, the systematic review identifies major themes on teacher professional identity classifying articles on three broad stages of professional development from student teachers’ identity negotiation to novice teachers’ identity development and experienced teachers’ and teacher educators’ identity construction. It reveals that English language teachers’ identity is influenced by their practice in learning communities in varying contexts, macro factors like gender, race, ideology and discourse, critical incidents and agency, conflicting emotions, teacher education programs, and imagined identity and investing. In addition, the article offers a critical assessment of narrative inquiry in language teacher identity and gives suggestions for future research. Finally, it proposes a preliminary framework on the trajectory of identity construction and its implications for English language curriculum and teacher development.

Despite the surge of interest in language teachers’ professional identity (TPI) as an integral component of their professional growth (Barkhuizen, 2017; Clarke, 2018) and the increasing interest in the field of computer assisted language learning (CALL) (Nami et al., 2015), there is still a paucity of research on the professional identity of language teachers who integrate technology with language instruction (CALL teachers). To bridge this gap, the present study explored the components that construct CALL teachers’ professional identity (CALLTPI). The data were collected from a set of in-depth, semi-structured interviews investigating perceptions of 24 CALL informants (educators, experts, professors, and teachers) from different contexts and countries about CALL teachers’ roles in technology integration in English language teaching (ELT). Fifteen sub-components were inferred from the thematic analysis of the interview transcripts as compared against the available literature on CALL teacher education and language teachers’ professional identity. These sub-components corresponded to three major components, namely, CALL teachers’ individual identity, classroom-based identity, and agentive identity. The results can provide CALL teacher educators with implications for designing professional development programs with the aim of developing teachers’ professional identity and enhancing the effectiveness of technology integration in ELT.

This qualitative case study investigates factors that (re)shape the professional identities of Saudi female English language teachers and examines how the length of their teaching experience influences their pedagogical approach. This study used a triangulation approach to collect data from five Saudi female EFL teachers and applied thematic analysis for data analysis. Results indicate that each Saudi female EFL teacher had unique factors that contributed to shaping and developing their professional identities, such as their professional background, learning experience, institutional influence, and professional development opportunities. Additionally, the length of teaching experience played a significant role in constructing their professional identities. Finally, a relationship existed between the micro and macro factors that contributed to the formation of their professional identities and pedagogical approaches. The study's findings contribute to the ongoing local and global dialogue on the role of identity in language teacher education as it expands on Norton’s idea that identity construction is a fundamental aspect of professionally becoming a teacher. It offers practical insights for students, educators, administrators, and policymakers in developing the professional identities of English language teachers.

Drawing teacher identity: Perspectives of students in a teacher education program

In this 21st century, engineering employers seek professional engineers who have excellent scientific knowledge and are able to demonstrate good communication and problem solving skills. With this focus on job demands, engineering education has been restructured, balancing the emphasis between scientific knowledge and soft skills. This shift in focus has not only affected the teaching and learning in engineering education, but also English Language (EL) educators who are involved in teaching non-technical components within an engineering education curriculum. This shift in focus has raised the demand for ESP which include teaching communication skills in English language discourse used in engineering, and teaching problem solving skills in English language teaching. With this demand, challenges are inevitable among EL educators who are generally prepared for teaching English for generic purposes in school settings and who bring with them pedagogical knowledge and beliefs in English language teaching, as well as identities they have developed from their previous to their new workplace. This shift also raises questions about the ways in which English language teaching is positioned, the role of English language courses within an engineering-specific context and the implications of this positioning on the design of the English language courses. The main aim of this study was to investigate how EL educators managed the complexities in teaching English at one technical university in Malaysia. In addressing the research questions, a case study design was developed to highlight the complexities within that context and the ways in which EL educators managed these complexities. The data for this study were collected through qualitative and quantitative methods to unpack the complex process of teaching English for engineering which included teaching problem solving and communication skills. These methods obtained insights into the ways in which EL educators conceptualised English language teaching, positioned themselves and framed their teaching in an engineering context. The quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire involving 12 EL educators. The data from the questionnaire were used to profile the EL educators at the English Language Department of this university. Based on the profiling, four EL educators teaching undergraduate engineering students were selected for the main study. The qualitative data were collected through document study, individual semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, video recording of classroom observations and stimulated recall protocols. This study found that there were disconnections between English language teaching and the engineering discipline at this university. These disconnections were due to the dissemination process of the engineering accreditation requirements whereby these requirements went through multiple layers of interpretation, adaptation and translation before they reached the EL educators, causing ambiguities in positioning English language teaching and misalignments in the role of the English language courses within the engineering academic curriculum. As a result, tensions occurred in determining the emphasis of English language teaching. The ambiguities in positioning English language teaching and the misalignments of the English language courses presented the EL educators with challenges in managing their pedagogies and framing their teaching within the context of an engineering university. The study found that the strategies that the EL educators exercised in their agency resulted from the interplay between how they positioned English language teaching and the professional identities they developed in their university context. The demand for ESP required these EL educators to teach beyond their expertise, creating challenges for them to establish their professional identities. Complexities emerged when English language teaching involved integration among English language, communication skills, engineering knowledge, and problem solving skills. This study contributed to the field of English language teaching, specifically to English for Specific Purposes (ESP) by providing knowledge and understanding of the complexities of teaching English for the engineering discipline in higher education. It also contributed to research on professional identities by highlighting the tensions, struggles and negotiations that EL educators faced in positioning themselves within this context to determine their professional identities. The findings of this study deepen our knowledge and understanding of professional identities and agency among EL educators in the Malaysian context, particularly in the discipline-specific context of engineering.