English language teacher identity
English teacher identity refers to a dynamic, multi-faceted, ever-changing, and non-linear construct that is (re)shaped by various contextual factors that include the English teaching environment, teaching knowledge, school policies, language use, students’ attitudes, lived and teaching experiences, professional membership, social biases, expectations, power relations, and so forth.[1] Similarly, Wenger (1998) suggests that identities are shaped among the “tension between our investment in the various forms of belonging and our ability to negotiate the meanings that matter in those contexts[2]. Herein, identity formation happens in two levels: forming a sense of belonging and meaning-making process within a context. For instance, an English language teacher that is assigned to perform certain tasks in a particular context and develop a repertoire connects herself/himself to related professional communities and feels a sense of belonging to different groups, hereafter. As a result of such investment, she/he starts gearing toward various socio-cultural interactions to negotiate meaning about her/his job, field, and lived experiences, and ultimately shapes her/his identity.
Background Research
ELT identity has been crucially explored and discussed in four main areas: First, ELT Identity formation has been a focal point of many inquiries to understand the ways English language teachers (re)shape their identities[3]. Second, the area of investigation focuses on the nature of EL teacher identity as it is defined as multi-faceted, dynamic, ever-changing, and dialogical[4]. Third, embedded associations between individual and social aspects of identity have been explored and such studies pinpoint how EL teachers reflect her/his personal and professional identity through classroom practices. Last, but not least, many researches put emphasis to investigate the relationship between social structure and sense of agency. Since critical pedagogy was suggested by Paulo Freire's “The Pedagogy of the Oppressed” (1968), the concept of social agency has come to be known. It echoes the fact that teachers need to help students think critically over different discourses embedded either apparent or hidden in printed texts; find power relations and work to achieve social justice and equity. The notion of agency plays a more important role than social structure so that identity as a teacher is relatively set and relatively attained by active positioning in a social environment; however, teacher identity formation, related associations, and shaping agency have been the center of struggle that sets limits and constraints for teachers[5].
Limits and Constraints
Aligned with four areas of ELT identity inquiry, researchers discussed limits and constraints that English language teachers may encounter to form their professional identity. Such constraints create tension and struggle that need to be addressed. They include NNE/NNES dichotomy, institutional and educational policies, peer pressure, language use, and the like. The NES/NNES binary is problematized and it is claimed that linguistic identity are dynamic, non-linear, dialogical, and extremely complex[6]. The dichotomy is investigated and invalidated by pinpointing and analyzing different linguistic features of Native English speakers and then concluding that division within native speakerism is more intense than NNS/NNES division[7]
References
- ↑ Pennington, M.C.; Richards, J. C. (2016). "Teacher identity in language teaching: Integrating personal, contextual, and professional factors". RELC. 47: 5–23.
- ↑ Wenger, E (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 188. Search this book on
- ↑ Park, G. P; Lee, H. W. (2006). "The characteristics of effective English teachers as perceived by high school teachers and students in Korea". Asia Pacific Education Review. 7 (2): 236–248.
- ↑ Brutt-Griffler, J; Samimy, K (1999). "Revisiting the colonial in the postcolonial: Critical praxis for nonnative-English-speaking teachers in a TESOL program". TESOL Quarterly. 33 (3): 413–431. doi:10.2307/3587672.
- ↑ Coldron, J; Smith, R (1999). "Active location in teachers' construction of their professional identities". Journal of Curriculum Studies. 31 (6): 711–726.
- ↑ Feza, F (2011). "Are you a native speaker of English? Moving beyond a simplistic dichotomy". Critical Inquiry in Language Studies. 8 (4): 378.
- ↑ Maduranga,, N.K. "Rethinking the 'native speaker'/'nonnative speaker' dichotomy."". Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities,. 39 (1–2): 37.
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