Abstract
Researchers in the field of foreign
language teaching and learning have for a long time conducted studies of
teacher identity. This paper analyzed and interpreted the attitudes of three in
service English teachers in Turkey about teacher identity. Adopting qualitative
research approach, the study involved three in service English teachers who are
teachers at secondary school and primary school. Data for this study was
collected through online interviews and analyzed.
Key Words: defining,
developing, identity, teacher.
Introduction
It is stated that while learning people shape
the identity that they have into new forms. Forming a new identity is a process
of social interactions. For this reason, in a
classroom to change the identity of teacher, there should be a communication
between students and teacher or teacher and students. Beside interaction with
people, culture, families, friends, digital world are all influence the
identity. Many studies have been conducted to search teacher identity.
Accordingly, developing teacher identity is as important as language teaching.
Purpose
of the Study
The purpose of this paper is to explore in
detail the attitude of three foreign language teachers toward teacher identity.
Brief
Description of the Study
I present findings of this paper conducted
online with 3 in service English language teachers in average 15 minutes via
Zoom. Interviews conducted as semi
structured with in service English language teachers.
Literature
Review
Language teacher identity research has
been contextualized by many researchers in recent decades. Bonny Norton (1995,
2013) has been telling us for years that investing in a language is also
investing in identity. While learning a new language or anything we also
contribute to our identity. To develop identity, as a people we need to have an
interaction. Both language learning and developing the identity is a social
process. As Tracy and Robles (2013) say, “The identities a person brings to an
interaction influence how that person communicates. At the same time, the
specific discursive practices a person chooses will shape who he or she is
taken to be, and who the partner is taken to be” (pp. 25-26). According to one
study context plays an important role in the
formation of teacher identities. The
studies included in the article show that university teachers develop a
teacher identity after a few years of being a teacher. This teacher identity is
built on other identities, including those of a professional, academic,
researcher, or intellectual. In a study, it is stated that the
uniqueness of every teacher's approach to teaching, shaped by personal teacher
identity, is what makes every classroom ‘look’ different. For this reason, each
mentoring relationship with a pre‐service teacher is unique and has learning
opportunities for both parties. It is not a one‐way transfer of skills and
knowledge from expert to novice, but an opportunity for challenging those
things that create personal philosophies and modes of operation. To acknowledge
the differences that make up teacher identity is to be aware of the potential
for enhancement. Everybody has an identity, but the teachers who inspire
their students has a developing identity. The more teacher develop herself\himself;
the better identity teacher will have. Accordingly, teacher will inspire the
students in a good way. According to the article to develop identity, first
teachers need to understand of the self. Understanding
of self is a key component of teacher development, and therefore of the shaping
of identity. Lauriala and Kukkonen (2005) recognize identity and
self‐concept as the same, explaining that the term identity has been more
commonly used with respect to teachers, and the term self‐concept with respect
to students. According to the article, there are many factors that
influence identity of both teacher and students. The school environment, the
nature of the learner population, the impact of colleagues and of school
administrators can all be influential in shaping a student or teacher identity,
as of course are their own experiences as learners in schools. The idea of
teacher identity and developing are integrated with lifelong learning. In the
article it is stated that ongoing development of a teacher identity that has
been shaped and will continue to be shaped over a long period of time. According
to another article the concept ‘teacher professional identity’ is used to
refer to the way that teachers, both individually and collectively, view and
understand themselves as teachers. For this reason, it is important for the
teacher to communicate and interact with other teachers and students to shape
their own identity. To inspire and named as good teacher, teachers should have
a good identity. It is emphasized in the article teacher identity is teacher
emotion. How we imagine ourselves and our experiences in the future
influences what we do. This is to say if we are idealistic as a teacher, we try
to develop ourselves and research for developing contributes to our identity. According
to the Parker J. Palmer good teaching cannot be reduced to
technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. When
we talk about good teacher with students or think about our own good teachers,
they do not use same techniques to teach or we do not remember what they teach
to us. Because the way they behave and teach to students impress us, so we call
and remember them as good teachers.
Method
Research
Design
In this study, qualitative research design
was adopted in order to gain deeper knowledge and a clear attitude of the
participants. As the participants’ own reflections, experiences, and views were
chosen as a guiding for this paper.
Research
Context
The participants consisted of three
in-service teachers who are graduated from faculty of Education and department
of English Language Teaching. Participants are from Turkey. Gender of the
teachers are female. One of the participants is teacher at İstanbul İTÜ Geliştirme
Vakfı Okulları, she has been teaching for three years. One of the participants
is teacher at İstanbul Beykoz Anadolu Hisarı Ortaokulu, she has been teaching
for 12 years. One of the participants is teacher at Sakarya Hendek İmam Hatip
Ortaokulu she has been teaching for 19 years.
Data
Collection
The data in this study were gathered by
speaking about the teacher identity and semi-structured online interviews via
Zoom. With three in service teachers, I have asked questions about the targeted
topic and interviews were recorded. Each of the participants was interviewed in
a semi structured format for 15 minutes. Participants have an opportunity to
speak freely on a targeted topic and make an additional comments and interpretations.
Results
With three in service English Language
teachers’ interviews were conducted about teacher identity. After interviews,
data were collected, coded, and categorized. During interviews 4 questions were
asked. These questions are “How do you define your
own teacher identity in general?”, “How do you help yourself to develop your
teacher identity?”, “What is the role of students on teacher to develop teacher
identity and what is the role of teachers on students to develop student’s
identity?”. Data analysis revealed
two main category and 9 codes.
Table 1
In Service Teachers Reported
Attitudes
|
Category |
Code |
Sample Statements |
|
Teacher Identity |
Interaction
with students Interaction
with parents Lifelong
learner Mentor
teacher Differentiation |
I can describe my own teacher identity as I care about my
one-to-one relation with my students, this is the first step of my own
teacher identity. When you interact with parents, it is easier to interact with
students. I think that a teacher should not lose her interest and curiosity
to learning. Because a teacher can work with the same level, but students
change, times change, and students’ interest change. I can define my teacher identity as a teacher who loves her
profession, and who makes students feel successful and valuable. Pay attention to each student’s individual differences is very
important part of my own teacher identity. while doing group work activity,
some students have a very dominant character and try to suppress group work,
on the other hand, some students are very passive and cannot participate in
group work as much as they want. This affects both the academic and emotional
development of the student. My identity as a teacher is based on balancing
these individual differences, the student being at the center of the
classroom and using their communicative skills to feel a member of the class. |
|
Developing Teacher Identity |
Interaction
with colleagues Interacting
with students Observing Being
open mind |
I love talking to the
teachers anywhere I meet about their own teaching experience, also I watch tv
programs to hear teachers’ different experiences about teaching. All students have
different contributions to my identity. First, the children have different
characters. Especially if the students are successful, they approach the
teacher with a more pure and affectionate feeling. You are starting to look
from their point of view. I have been trying to
follow sources in English, such as Novel books, news sources, seminars. I am
trying to keep the English alive., I try to participate in what I think will
improve me. During online education
student guides me in terms of technology and this makes me happy. There are
things that they teach to me, learning from students contributes to my
identity and I love learning from students very much. |
A
key theme “defining teacher identity” was related to the understand the 3
in-service English teachers’ attitude toward their own identity. Even 3
teachers have different years of experience in their teaching profession, they
have same thoughts and explanation in teacher identity. In the light of
qualitative analysis 5 codes emerged regarding the participants define their
teacher identity. In terms of interacting with students and interacting with
parents, they help teachers to define their own identity. Because student’s
behavior, attitude, words help teachers to see their own teaching style,
teachers teach who they are. During the interview 2 teacher said that “My
students are my fuel.” and “Students are the best inspector.” these two
sentences show me that while defining your teacher identity it is important to
understand and learn what your student and their parents think about you.
Secondly, being lifelong learner is an important code while defining teacher
identity because we cannot stay same over the years. For this reason, it is an
important factor for the teacher to continue learning throughout the years
while teaching. Teacher identity should constantly change because identity is
developing yourself and being dynamic. As a teacher we need to keep up with
students no matter how old we are. Additionally, the code differentiation is
important for a teacher while defining her own identity. As a teacher to inspire
our students with teacher identity to impact student’s identity, we need to
interact with all students. Differentiation helps teacher to take into
consideration individual differences in a classroom. In terms of mentor teacher
is important while defining teacher identity. Because mentoring help teachers
to be role model to the students. Also, mentoring help students to be
successful. Mentor teachers help students to explore their own interest and
curiosity.
The
second key theme “developing teacher identity” was related to 3 in-service
English teachers’ attitude toward developing their own teacher identity. In the
light of qualitative analysis 4 coded emerged regarding the participants own
opinion about developing teacher identity. In terms of interacting with
students and interacting with colleagues, they help teachers to develop their
own identity. It is important for the teachers to interact and communicate with
the students and colleagues to develop yourself. While observing or talking
with a colleague you can see positive and negative side of her teaching style.
This helps you to improve your bad or good side of teaching. Additionally,
interacting with a colleague about developing an identity shows that the
teacher opens to new ideas. Being open to new ideas or in other words being an
open mind teacher help to develop identity. Because as a teacher learning to
address students needs and expectation is important to inspire students. The
code observing try to be developing yourself and find way to develop teacher
identity. All of the participants that I have interviews believe that it is
important for a teacher to observe students and colleagues to develop yourself.
Because observing help them to get feedback about their own teaching.
Conclusion
To
conclude, the findings of this paper indicated that defining teacher identity
and developing teacher identity are interdependent. Interaction with students,
parents and colleagues have an important affect while defining teacher
identity. Everyone has an identity, developing the identity is a process of
interaction. For this reason, to have an impressed identity, as a teacher we
need to interact with our students, their parents, and our colleagues. While
defining our teacher identity, it is important to change or add something to
your identity over time. This means we need to be a lifelong learner to be dynamic
and change ourselves in a good way. Also, to impress our students with our
identity, we need to be a mentor to our students and take care of individual
differences. In addition, being open
mind help teacher to be aware of the differences and observation. Interacting
with students, parents, and colleagues help teachers to develop the identity.
Because while interacting with parents, students, and colleagues, teachers have
chance to observe and get feedback. Observing and getting feedback help
teachers to develop and change their identity in a good way.
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