A Study On EFL Student Teachers’ Identity During The Practicum Period

In recent years,with the development and popularization of English curriculum reform conducted in primary and secondary schools,studies on English teachers’ education have gradually become a hot point.English teacher identity plays a vital role in teachers’ professional development.At present,the domestic studies on English teacher identity have made some achievements,but most of them focus on the studies of in-service English teachers.There are few researches of EFL(English as a Foreign Language)student teachers.The activities of independent teaching and class management under the guidance of mentors and cooperative teachers after student teachers enter the practice school is the key step to cultivate EFL teacher’s teaching ability and sense of identity.Therefore,the research on EFL student teachers’ identity during practicum period is of great importance to teacher education.Drawing on sociocultural theory,positive discourse analysis and appraisal theory,and applying quantitative and qualitative methods,the research adopts Xun Yang’s questionnaire in Teacher Identity Inventory for EFL Teachers(2014)among 40 EFL teachers during the practicum period,semi-structure interviews and the analysis of teaching journals of 4 EFL student teachers from Qingdao University.This study attempts to answer the following three questions about EFL student teachers’ identity during the practicum period: 1)What is the current situation of EFL student teachers’ identity during the practicum period?2)What are the related factors that influence EFL student teachers’ identity during the practicum period? 3)What are the effective means to construct EFL student teachers’ positive identity during the practicum period?The research found that the current situation of EFL student teachers’ identity is relatively good through analyzing the data of EFL student teachers’ identity,composed of four dimensions with eight influential factors with the help of SPSS.The degree of career identity is the highest while that of situated identity is the lowest.The level of professional values is high while the level of perceived organizational support is low.It also indicates there are some differences in identity among EFL student teachers with different birth places,and the grades they have been teaching.The positive discourse analysis of 4 EFL student teachers’ teaching journals and interviews based on Appraisal Theory shows that EFL student teachers’ identity is influenced by both objective factors and subjective factors during the practicum period.The objective factors mainly include students,mentors,school leaders and campus material condition.The subjective factors mainly include EFL student teachers’ personality and emotion.Furthermore,referring to the learning strategies used by EFL student teachers in interviews,this paper presents corresponding means to construct EFL student teachers’ positive identity based on four dimensions of EFL student teachers’ identity and gives some suggestions for EFL student teachers and the school administrative department.The major findings of this study,limitations of the research and further directions are explained in the last.