Conceptualizing Language Teacher Education Centered on Language Teacher Identity Development: A Competencies‐Based Approach and Practical Applications

Abstract

Language teacher identity (LTI) has become an increasingly central focus in language teaching recently, perhaps because identity is now defined as multiple, complex, shifting, socially constructed, and a site of struggle (Norton, 2013; Song, 2016)—and thus a construct that can and should be intentionally influenced (Varghese, Motha, Park, Reeves, & Trent, 2016). With greater understanding that social justice and a critical orientation to education are not only important but also the duty of educators to enact (Kubota & Miller, 2017), some advocate the placement of LTI development at the center of language teacher education (LTE; De Costa & Norton, 2017a; Varghese et al., 2016). However, the conceptualization of such intentional models of LTE needs development (Varghese et al., 2016). This article begins to conceptualize such an LTE program. The author theorizes LTI and the need for adopting an LTI that is transformative, agentive, and advocacy (TAA)‐oriented, and proposes a competencies‐based approach as a foundation for developing an LTE program centered on the development of a TAA‐oriented LTI, suggesting key competencies to include in such an approach. She presents practical affordances and activities that could be helpful in developing these competencies. The article ends with questions aimed at furthering this emerging scholarly conversation in the field.

Challenges of second language teachers’ professional identity construction: Voices from Afghanistan

“…Teacher identity has often been described as multifaceted, fluid, and bound to multiple internal and external factors (e.g., Fairley, 2020;Yazan, 2018). Various sociocultural, personal, institutional, pedagogical, and political factors are considered to influence language teachers' identities and, in turn, be influenced by them.…”

“…She emphasizes the multiplicity of external tensions and holds that they involve "student expectations, administrative mandates, national educational policies, societal norms, political and economic agendas, parental expectations, curriculum constraints, and resource constraints" (p. 7). Such issues contribute to teachers' personal sense making of their professional practice, how they interpret their role as professionals, and how they broadly perceive language teaching as embedded within its socio-politico-educational landscape (Fairley, 2020;Pennington & Richards, 2016;Yazan, 2018).…”

“…Moreover, in the same context, Karimi and Mofidi (2019) examined the identity development of two teachers and found that they faced challenges in negotiating their multiple identities as influenced by the existing power relations. Thus, challenges are likely to sanction various dimensions of teachers' professional practice, including their emotions (Yazan, 2018), agency (Kayi-Aydar, 2015), beliefs and knowledge (Pennington & Richards, 2016), and sense of community membership (Fairley, 2020). In this sense, as Miller (2009) argues, "the identity resources of the teachers may be tested against conditions that challenge and conflict with their backgrounds, skills, social memberships, use of language, beliefs, values, knowledge, attitudes, and so on" (p. 175).…”

“…In this regard, scenarios could effectively help us obtain an understanding of the way teachers make sense of their professionalism (Kim & Klassen, 2018). Additionally, scenarios have been used rarely in studies of TESOL teacher education (Nazari, 2020) and could provide useful information about the complex nature of teachers' identity sense making (Fairley, 2020) as a function of their real-time, immediate articulations. To design the scenarios (see the Appendix), we initially embarked on brainstorming the possible challenges that Afghan teachers might face in their work.…”

Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Probing Current Issues for Student Teachers in EFL Teacher Education Program in Iran

“…Schepens et al, 2009). Recent research in TE recognizes the importance of exploring teachers' cognition and beliefs to better understand the act of teaching and the way teacher identity is shaped or developed during TE programs (Fairley, 2020;Korthagen, 2004;Walkington, 2005;). However, the existing literature, to the present researchers' knowledge, has not paid enough attention to STs' beliefs regarding the TE programs they participate in.…”