Reconciling Tensions In Teacher Identity Development During Teaching Practicum

The shaping of student teacher identity emerges as a paramount issue in teacher education.However,student teachers often encounter identity tensions in teaching practicum,leading to identity crisis.From another perspective,tensions are also regarded as learning assets to trigger ongoing negotiation between personal and professional identities.Recent years have witnessed a considerable amount of research concerning student teacher identity formation during teaching practicum.Nevertheless,only a few studies have focused on emerging identity tensions and reconciling process,among which,the impact of tensions on identity development has been scarcely investigated.An in-depth exploration of identity tensions,reconciling process and its influence on student teacher identity is rather necessary.It will be helpful to understand the functions of tensions on teacher identity change.It will also help student teachers as well as school-university partnership system to recognize and resolve tensions in the process of teacher identity development.With this purpose,the study takes one EFL student teacher in M.Ed.program of a national normal University as the participant,addressing her identity tensions during teaching practicum.Adopting narrative inquiry,the author collected data for almost two months from multiple sources:vignette-driven questionnaire,interview,observation as well as documents.Referring to theory of community practice(Wenger,1998),an analytical framework was established to resolve the following research questions:1.What identity tensions did Mona experience during teaching practicum?What caused them?2.How did Mona reconcile the identity tensions during the teaching practicum?3.What effects did Mona’s tension reconciliation make on her identity change?The major findings are summarized as follows.1.Tensions such as conflicting identities,conflicting beliefs and practice and conflicting orientations on learning to teach emerged in teaching practicum.They were caused by multiple communities in boundary space,dissonance between Mona’s imagination and alignment as well as marginalization of personal experiences in professional community.They could further trigger reconciling behavior.2.Mona adopted both avoidance and approach coping strategies to reconcile tensions.Tensions were resolved through using approach coping strategies under open and tolerant conditions which encouraged reflection,interaction,engagement and collaboration.In contrast,avoidance coping strategies in this study could not help resolve tensions.3.Successful reconciliation exerted a positive impact on teacher identity change.Mona strengthened self-image as a teacher,enriched visions of being a teacher and enhanced a sense of self-agency after resolving tensions.Unresolved identity tensions were detrimental to teacher identity development.A possible mechanism for tensions as generative force was achieved,namely,when student teachers adopt approach coping strategies against supportive contexts to resolve tensions,their professional identity may be positively shaped.In the process,negative emotions and reflections are key factors to trigger active reconciling process.Implications were provided for student teachers,school-university partnership system and researchers in order to address identity tensions during the practicum and facilitate student teachers’ teacher identity development.