Multiple Identities, Negotiations, and Agency Across Time and Space: A Narrative Inquiry of a Foreign Language Teacher Candidate

Abstract

Drawing on the post-structural views and the literature on teacher identity and agency, and using narrative inquiry, this paper describes how one teacher candidate majoring in Spanish negotiated her identities across time and space and how her identity negotiations interacted with her agency. The recursive analysis of qualitative data sources demonstrates how this particular teacher candidate gave up teaching Spanish, after years of investment and preparation, and switched her focus to teaching English as a second language. By describing and discussing the identity transformation she underwent and negotiations she engaged in, this study adds to the limited literature on foreign language teacher identity and agency, and provides implications for teacher educators in foreign language teacher education programs.