EXPLORING HOW ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CONSTRUCT THEIR PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES (original) (raw)
Education Research International
It is crucial for teachers to become aware of and understand their professional identity as this has implications for their day-to-day professional practices. Teachers who are more aware of their professional identities are more willing to endure thwarting contextual conditions by adjusting their identities. However, presently most teachers seem to overlook their professional identity while they often tend to associate the poor quality education with a lack of external resources alone. The aim of this study was thus to create this awareness in teachers by unveiling how the perceived personal and contextual conditions constitute the professional identities of experienced EFL teachers working in secondary schools. In this study, teacher professional identity is conceptualized and understood within the theory of symbolic interactionism. Data were generated through a one-on-one semi-structured in-depth interview with two EFL teachers (Fazi and Tare). Thematic analysis was used across pa...
ESL Teacher's Professional Identity in English Language Teaching
Canadian Center of Science and Education, English Language Teaching , 2023
The current paper is a small-scale study on the core elements of professional identity (PI) issues among English as a second language (ESL) teachers. The study highlights the significance of professional identity, and the compromise and transformation ESL teachers undergo during their careers. Qualitative exploratory research methodology is applied in the investigation involving five ESL teachers. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted to explore the potential factors that have impacted English teachers' professional identity. The study revealed the impact of top-down policy implementation, the significance of professionalism, unstructured overseas educational setup, and workplace challenges on the professional identity of English teachers. The findings of the study highlighted several key areas that had a positive as well as a negative impact on the PI of ESL teachers. ESL teachers' adherence to their individuality and teaching philosophy in spite of facing different challenges, time and teaching experience of ESL teachers, culturally diverse working environment, and teachers' evaluation system emerged as positive factors in PI development. However, the study also drew special attention to ESL teachers' PI primarily getting affected by the imposition of a central policy system on ESL teachers, ignoring ESL teachers' voices without taking their feedback into consideration, lack of awareness to foster positive professional relationships among peers and working in the overseas broken educational system. The study concluded that ESL teachers need their independent professional space to utilize their teaching capabilities and share their experiences to have an influential professional identity. However, due to the small number of participants a larger study would be better in unfolding in detail the causes behind the professional identity crises of ESL teachers.
An English Teacher's Professional Identity Development: The Effect of Educational Policies
Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies, 2018
A fundamental aspect of teacher socialization and development is the construction and maintenance of vivid and strong professional identity. As a multi-layered and dynamic phenomenon, teacher identity is affected by diverse range of social and institutional factors. Aiming to add to the growing literature on teacher identity, the current study examined the effects of language teaching policies on an English teacher"s identity development. Following narrative approach which is the dominant paradigm in identity research, the stories of an English teacher obtained through semi-structured interview were examined. The teacher"s narratives and accounts of his teaching experiences were analyzed through constant comparative approach which produced five main themes including lack of teacher autonomy, the effect of macro political concerns on language teaching, movement towards communicative language teaching, lack of resources, and inappropriate student placement strategies. The results indicated that every single language teaching policy shaped and reshaped the teacher"s understanding of himself.
Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies, 2016
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 a...
Pre-Service English Teachers’ Professional Identity Development: A Case Study
Metathesis: Journal of English Language, Literature, and Teaching
The present study was conducted to investigate the development of the professional identity of Indonesian pre-service teachers of English as they served as lecturer assistants through a qualitative case study. The participants of the study were five lecturer assistants and five students taught by the lecturer assistants at an English Education major in the first semester of the 2020/2021 academic year. The method employed was conducting online semi-structured interviews. Through Thematic Analysis, the study found that the lecturer assistant participants trained their communication skills with their students by experiencing teaching firsthand. It was also found that the experience of being lecturer assistants facilitated the assistant participants to realise the importance of building rapport with their students and have more insights into the teaching profession. In a similar vein, the student participants also agreed that their lecturer assistant had successfully, albeit gradually,...
2020
Each pre-service English teacher is required to be professional as they will teach English subject, moral values, motivate and engage their students in the teaching and learning activities. The purpose of this study was to determine pre-service English teachers' professional identity viewed from their language proficiency and motivation in entering teacher education program. This research employed survey method and data were gathered through questionnaire. The questionnaire used open-ended and close-ended questions. The stages of analysis consisted of categorizing the responses, numbering them, and analyzing them using content analysis. Utilizing convenience sampling, there were 54 third-year college students getting involved in this study. The results of the study show that there are two cohorts of participants who had not yet taken (53.70%) and had already taken English proficiency test (46.30%) in the university before they conducted school teaching practice. From 25 pre-service teachers having taken EPT, it is found that 52% participants are included in the category of elementary proficiency, 44% participants are included in the category of low intermediate proficiency, and 4% participant is included in the category of high intermediate proficiency. The score range of their EPT classified them into elementary English users. Out of three types of motivation, the dominant motivation to be a teacher is altruistic motivation (62%). These results indicate that pre-service English teachers should empower themselves by acquiring higher English proficiency level since they are expected to teach English in varied school level and increase their motivation so it will implicate on their teaching performance during school teaching practice and post-degree sustainably.
The construction and reconstruction of ESL student teachers’ professional identity
Studies in English Language and Education
This study explores the construction and reconstruction of ESL student teachers’ professional identity at a teacher education university in Malaysia. A number of 23 student teachers were required to upload a journal entry in the e-portfolio to reflect upon themselves as prospective teachers when they were doing a pedagogical course in semester 5. Upon completing their teaching practice in semester 7 and while doing seminar reflective as a course in their final semester, the student teachers were asked to revisit their journal entry on their identity and to compare and contrast if their views have changed or remained the same after their teaching practice experiences. A content analysis was used to study the transformation of identity through journal entries. The study reveals that the student teachers were more realistic and practical as opposed to being idealistic in forming their professional identities after the teaching practice. There were many situational factors which have af...
Journal of English Language and Literature, 2023
This study aims to explore the influence of teachers' professional identity construction on their professional development needs. Interviews were conducted to gather the data for the study. This qualitative study has been adopted throughout the research. To gather the relevant, eight English language teachers were selected purposely. Charmaz's Grounded Theory was used as a possible framework to analyse the data. The results of the study reveal that teacher's knowledge of the subject matter, like grammar items, vocabulary, and effective communication skills are essential factors in the teachers' professional development. The data further reveals that teachers' professional development pertains to their involvement in the development of subject matter knowledge and teaching skills which are essential constructs in their professional identity construction. The interview data also reveals that there are dynamic connections between teachers' professional identity and their professional development needs. The data further indicates that teachers' subject matter knowledge and their pedagogic skills are key elements in which their influence and connections are noted. It can be noted from the data that English teachers honored their linguistic knowledge and pedagogic skills to shape and construct their professional identities as teachers. The result of the study may help MoE and researchers who want to conduct on similar studies. Based on the findings of the study, it was suggested that English language teachers want further development programs.
The Implementation of an English Teacher’s Identity
2021
In recent years, identity has become a critical factor in teacher training as this affects the teaching practice in the classroom. However, many teachers remain confused about their identity as teachers, as persons, and as professionals who may lead to an identity crisis. This narrative study aims to discover how teachers implement their identity as a teacher in a classroom. It is employed in one of the Islamic schools in Indonesia. Interview data revealed that the teacher constructed three facets of the teacher’s identity: teacher-student relation, professionalism, and religious beliefs based on Johnston's framework. It showed that a teacher's identity is undoubtedly influenced by teachers' religious beliefs and social values, which affects the way the teacher teaches. Due to the teaching experience, there is no identity crisis and difficulties in implementing the identity. The teacher can distinguish his role as a teacher and as an individual. Findings also showed that...
Cogent Education
This study investigated the dynamism of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' professional identity with respect to their commitment and job satisfaction. A mixed-methods design integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches was used. To conduct the quantitative part of the study, 198 EFL teachers were selected from different private language institutes in Mashhad, a city in northeastern Iran. They were requested to complete a battery of three questionnaires. For the qualitative part of the study, four EFL teachers were chosen to be interviewed. Teacher professional identity measured six factors: Self-expectation (SE), Teachers' duties (TD), External influential factors (EF), Pedagogy (PE), Instructional skill and knowledge (SK), Teachers' citizenship behavior (CB). The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that job satisfaction played a positive and significant role in SE and TD. Job satisfaction was in turn influenced by EF. Job satisfaction predicted teacher commitment both directly and indirectly via its effect on TD and CB. Teacher commitment, on the other hand, impacted on PE, CB, and SK. The results of the qualitative part demonstrated the ABOUT THE AUTHORS