Learning, teaching, and constructing identities: ESL pre-service teacher experiences during a short-term international experience programme

Abstract

Short-term international experience programmes are a common element of English second language (ESL) teacher education in many countries. This study problematizes the belief that such programmes necessarily result in beneficial changes in pre-service teachers thinking about themselves as teachers -their beliefs, habits, and values -by exploring the experiences of eight pre-service ESL teachers from Hong Kong as they undertook a short-term international experience programme in Australia. Drawing on a theory of identity construction, the findings suggest that identity conflicts impacted how the student teachers experienced this programme as they struggled to reconcile past, present, and future trajectories of teacher identity. In particular, the student teachers constructed rigid divisions between different types of teachers and teaching they experienced at home and abroad. These divisions were reflected in antagonistic relations between the types of English language teachers and teaching they aligned their own teaching activities and practices with and the teacher identities that they perceived to be available to them within the Hong Kong education system. Implications for addressing such identity conflicts throughout international experience programmes are considered and implications for future research are discussed.

Uma sequência narrativa: experiências de desenvolvimento profissional de professoras mexicanas de inglês no Canadá

“…Em todas as quatro histórias, a identidade profissional em relação ao contexto de imersão ou, mais precisamente, as formas como elas são recebidas pelos anfitriões, desempenha um papel fundamental na construção de significados das variadas experiências das participantes (JACKSON, 2010;KINGINGER 2004KINGINGER , 2009PITTS, 2009;TRENT, 2011). A Princesa, uma professora estabelecida, e a Cinderella, uma professora iniciante, se esforçaram, respeitosamente, em um nível psicológicoprofissional para sustentar ou desenvolver suas identidades profissionais em resposta a determinadas circunstâncias exteriores que não eram estrangeiras, mas profissionais, ou melhor, inapropriadas (PLEWS et al, 2010).…”

“…Cachinhos supera as dificuldades práticas de uma burocracia estranha e, também, chega a um acordo com sua supervigilante família anfitriã transformando a situação em um exercício de enriquecimento cultural (IINO, 2006). Enquanto ela está, inicialmente, desconfortável com seu senso de autoridade diminuída em sala de aula e "direitos" dos professores canadenses, ela integra suas observações e compreensão do comportamento da sala de aula canadense em sua prática e ajusta parte de sua identidade docente, pelo menos enquanto ela está no Canadá (BARKHUIZEN;FERYOK, 2006;LEE, 2009;MARX;MOSS, 2011;TRENT, 2011;WILLARD-HOLT, 2001).…”

“…Os papéis das participantes, seus deveres e os objetivos do programa, quer seja para seus ganhos pessoais e profissionais ou linguísticos-culturais dos estudantes canadenses e colegas, não foram claramente articuladas em reuniões antes da partida delas. Isso contrasta com o programa bem-sucedido discutido por Brindley et al (2009), que incluiu seminários antes da partida, estruturação de expectativas, orientação formal, supervisão e instruções pós-permanência (BARKHUIZEN;FERYOK, 2006;BRIERLEY;COLEMAN, 1997;CHIEFFO;ZIPSER, 2001;FREED, 1995;GINSBERG;MILLER, 2000;GORKA;NIESENBAUM, 2001;JACKSON, 2004;TRENT, 2011;WILKINSON, 2001).…”

The Influence of Study-Abroad Experiences On Chinese College EFL Teacher’s Identity

“…The studies discovered that teachers' perceptions mainly changed in the following categories: language proficiency (Barhuizen & Feryok, 2006;Gleeson & Tait, 2012;Lee, 2009;Trent, 2011;Wang, 2014), teaching ideology (Wang, 2014), cultural awareness (Barhuizen & Feryok, 2006;Gleeson & Tait, 2012;Lee, 2009;Trent, 2011), Non-native English-speaking teachers-Native English speaking teachers (NNEST-NEST) dichotomy (Wang, 2014), personal growth (Barhuizen & Feryok, 2006;Lee, 2009), and pedagogical understanding (Barhuizen & Feryok, 2006;Lee, 2009), all of which can be connected with teachers' identity transformation.…”

Short-Term Study Abroad: The Storied Experiences of Teacher Candidates From Japan

“…Finally, there have been studies showing that a short-term study abroad program may even have the opposite of the desired effect. Trent (2011) found that, for some preservice teachers from Hong Kong, short-term study abroad experiences could lead to identity conflicts and antagonistic feelings between how teaching was conceived at home versus the short-term study abroad context. In fact, it may have even led to preservice teachers reconsidering whether they still wanted to become teachers in their home countries.…”