Teacher Identity Research and Development

Abstract

Many studies and publications have been devoted to the analysis and development of teacher identity from different points of view, using diverse instruments and methodologies and analyzing different dimensions of identity. Despite the scrutiny, it is still a challenge to understand and define an issue as complex as professional identity. Although there is no clear unanimity on the concept of identity itself, several characteristics have been identified from different approaches. Thus, aspects such as personal unity, stability over time, and across situations and contexts contrast with such features as multiplicity, discontinuity, and a social nature. Faced with this dichotomy, the dialogic perspective explains the complexity of the construct by proposing that the aforementioned features are linked respectively and dialectically. In other words, the various dimensions of identity, along with their variability through time and the influence exerted by social and contextual aspects, are combined with personal unity, with stability over time, and across situations and contexts. This can, occasionally, lead to conflict and contradictions that the individual strives to manage through self-dialogue. Focusing in the dialogic conceptualization, several implications for research are identified. Firstly, it disallows static categorizations of teachers and places the focus on grasping the self-dialogue that allows teachers to maintain a certain degree of stability and coherence in their identity over time. Secondly, it showcases the effect that dialogue and participation-focused research can have on professional development. Additionally, the study of identity in all its complexity and mutability advocates the integrated study of two levels of analysis: On the one hand, there is the position and actions of teachers in different contexts and situations; and, on the other, there is their professional story, past, present and future, along with the sociocultural factors that have impacted it. According to this dialogic approach, both the research on the professional identity and the teacher training should incorporate strategies that promote dialogue on actual performance and on professional careers. To this effect, longitudinal designs help capture the dialogue between stability and change. Still, transversal studies can be undeniably useful to identify current conflicts that might arise between personal and professional roles, as well as how such conflicts are managed. Furthermore, qualitative methodologies have a great potential to generate self-dialogues that provide insight into how teachers live, perceive, and manage such conflicts. Finally, research should be participative in nature so that teachers abandon their role as objects of research and become, instead, its subjects, in collaboration with researchers. In this manner, research on identity leads to changes in the professional identity of participants, in addition to furthering the knowledge available on the subject. Action research follows these guidelines, and it is therefore especially suited to this endeavor. Based on this characterization of the research on professional identity, some techniques are suggested for the collection of information because they foster reflection and consequently also promote development of identity. Some of these techniques are: life stories, narrative of teaching, diaries, case studies, critical events analysis, professional dilemmas, teacher or teaching metaphors, and inquiry-based learning.

Teacher Identity and Hierarchy: Narrative Inquiry of Primary Teachers in Nepal’s Public Schools

“…Literature informs about the power relation in the identity formation of teachers. For example, language itself could be the power, and the power of language plays a role in acquiring cultural values and developing professional identity (Cummins, 2009;Martínez-de-la-Hidalga & Villardón-Gallego, 2019). This denotes the unequal power relation "this signals the often conflictual nature of identity negotiation in situations where unequal power relations are evident" (Barkhuizen, 2016, p. 26).…”

“…Professional identity has personal and professional dimensions in teachers' careers (Beauchamp, 2019), and it is strongly related to teachers' intrinsic motivation for enhancing their student learning (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011;Martínez-de-la-Hidalga & Villardón-Gallego, 2019). So, undermining professional identity can undermine teachers' intrinsic motivation and, thereby, their performance.…”

A poetic inquiry into an EFL learner’s identity and study abroad experience in a non-English speaking country

“…As such, identity studies can be conducted on either teachers or learners. Some studies of language teachers' identity have unveiled the construction of language teachers' professional identity and their identity as a student affect the way they teach (Hidalga & Villardón, 2019;Iida, 2016c). As for language learners, numerous identity studies have provided empirical evidence of the idiosyncratic ways language learners perceive, resist and invest in their language learning (Iida, 2016a(Iida, , 2016b(Iida, , 2016cKaldina, 2018;Kim, 2018;Wu, 2017).…”