Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
6-2020
Publication Title
ISLS Proceedings
Publisher
International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS)
DOI
https://doi.dx.org/10.22318/icls2020.1990
Abstract
The study of teacher identity has gained prominence in English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching. However, the construction of EFL teacher identity is underresearched, particularly how teachers navigate dominant discourses around native non-native speakers. This paper presents a qualitative study examining four pre-service teachers in an EFL education program. Grounded in the community of practice identity negotiation framework, results suggest that EFL pre-service teachers’ processes of identity negotiation mainly resided somewhere between adoption and rejection of legitimate practices in the EFL teacher community, in what we call a zone of tension. The findings of this research indicate that pre-service teachers’ identity negotiation processes centered on three main notions: (1) the native speaker as a standard, (2) reflections on accents, and (3) reflections on language practices. These findings contribute to the extant conversation challenging the NS-NNS dichotomy and understanding identity as a dynamic social construct in teacher learning.
Recommended Citation
Vega, H. & Irgens, G. A. (2020). Identity Negotiation of Pre-service Teachers of English as a Foreign Language. In Gresalfi, M. and Horn, I. S. (Eds.), The Interdisciplinarity of the Learning Sciences, 14th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) 2020, Volume 4 (pp. 1990-1997). Nashville, Tennessee: International Society of the Learning Sciences.