The construction and reconstruction of ESL student teachers professional identity

Raja Nor Safinas Raja Harun

Abstract

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 affected such changes. This study implicates the need for teacher education programs to provide platforms and learning to teach experience that would assist the student teachers formation of professional identity as prospective teachers.

References

Beijaard, D., Meijer, P. C., & Verloop, N. (2004). Reconsidering research on teachers' professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 107-128.

Bengstton, M. (2016). How to plan and perform a qualitative study using content analysis. NursingPlus Open, 2, 8-14.

Chong, S., Low, E. L., & Goh, K. C. (2011). Developing student teachers’ professional identities – An exploratory study. International Education Studies, 4(1), 30-38.

Grow, L. P. (2011). The identity development of preservice teachers of literacy in field experiences considering their prior knowledge. (Doctor), University of Kentucky, Lexington.

Haggarty, L., & Postlethwaite, K. (2012). An exploration of changes in thinking in the transition from student teacher to newly qualified teacher. Research Papers in Education, 27(2), 241-262.

Harlow, A., & Cobb, D. J. (2014). Planting the seed of teacher identity: Nurturing early growth through a collaborative learning community. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(7), 70-88.

Jurkunas, L. (2015). Discovering aspects of teacher identity through volunteering in the noncredit ESL classroom. The CaTESOL Journal, 27(2), 221-227.

Kanno, Y., & Stuart, C. (2011). Learning to become a second language teacher: Identities in Practice. The Modern Language Journal, 95(2), 236-252.

Komba, W. L. M., Anangisye, W. A. L., & Katabaro, J. (2013). The development of teacher professional identity at the University of Dar es Salaam: perceptions and influencing factors. Journal of International Cooperation in Education, 15(3), 187-204.

Kubota, R. (2001). Discursive construction of the images of U.S. classrooms. TESOL Quarterly, 35(1), 9–38

Liu, Y., & Fisher, L. (2006). The development patterns of modern foreign language student teachers’ conceptions of self and their explanations about change: Three cases. Teacher Development, 10(3), 343–360.

Noonan, J. (2018). An affinity for learning: Teacher identity and powerful professional development. Journal of Teacher Education, 00(0), 1-12.

Pennington, M. C., & Richards, J. C. (2016). Teacher identity in language teaching: integrating personal, contextual and professional factors. RELC Journal, 47(1), 5-23.

Simon, R. I. (1995). Face to face with alterity: Postmodern Jewish identity and the eros of pedagogy. In J. Gallop (Ed.), Pedagogy: The question of impersonation (pp. 90–105). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Tsui, A. B. M. (2007). identity formation: A narrative inquiry of an EFL teacher.TESOL Quarterly, 41(4), 657–680.

Varghese, M., Morgan, B., Johnston, B., & Johnson, K. A. (2005). Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond. Journal of Language Identity and Education, 4(1), 21-44.

Vasquez, C. (2011). TESOL, teacher identity, and the need for “Small Story” research. TESOL Quarterly, 45(3), 535-546.

Wenger, É. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

White, B. E., & Lemieux, A. (2015). Reflecting selves: Pre-service teacher identity development explored through material culture. LEARNing Landscapes, 9(1), 267-283