Professional Identity Construction Issues in Becoming an English Teacher

Abstract

Teachers’ professional identity construction (TPI) is how teachers define their professional roles and integrate them with personal roles while becoming and being a teacher. TPI is influenced by various factors and conditions both inside and outside the classroom. The present paper reports a study of TPI in relation to prospective English teachers currently learning English at Iranian tertiary level of education. The study attempted to summarize the main findings of recent studies of teachers’ professional identity. These findings were classified under three categories: a) the construction of TPI, b) the characteristics of TPI, and c) practicing teachers’ narration of TPI., the major factors affecting TPI were also summarized in four categories, based on the related literature: 1) historical factors, 2) sociological factors, 3) psychological factors, and 4) cultural factors related to perceptions and notions of professional community. Informed by these ideas, the study presents findings of a survey of TPI issues reported by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) student teachers. 47 randomly selected student teachers in their senior undergraduate or graduate studies in EFL in a major university in central Iran responded to a five-point, Likert-scale, researcher-made questionnaire on TPI. The initial analyses of their responses, strengthened by follow-up focus-group interviews with eight of these participants, revealed that student teachers expected more support given from the authorities, sought for more cultural knowledge of English-speaking countries, expected a lax attitude toward the use of the Internet, audio-visual materials, and multicultural reading and writing materials. They would like to be equipped with more communicative teaching techniques and more power to develop up-to-date materials. This study have some implications for teacher education programs in Iran.