Emily Is an Egg: An Example of a Narrative Analysis Approach to Identifying the Antecedents of Critical Language Teacher Cognition

Abstract

This article presents a theoretically grounded methodological approach to investigate the interplay between language teacher cognition and critical language teacher identity development. To answer the question as to what social, cultural, historical, and political aspects lead teachers to position themselves as language teachers for social justice, positioning analysis (Bamberg, 1997) is used to identify the antecedents of a critical language teacher’s cognition in discourses vis-a-vis their development of critical consciousness. Positioning analysis can help us better understand critical language teacher cognition, their processes of becoming critical language teachers, and their development of critical language teacher identity and social positionings because it comprises not only the analysis of the content of a narrative, but also the interaction, as well as the social, cultural, political, and economic context in which such a narrative is constructed. To account for the long-term aspects of critical language teacher cognition, the analysis focuses on the narratives from the period before formal teacher training and how teachers position themselves and others within the story world, the storytelling world, and amidst dominant discourses. Followed by its report, I address a key pedagogical implication for the development of critical language teachers.