| Teacher identity construction is a complex process that involves how a teacher’s personal attributes and past experiences interact with the surrounding context.This qualitative study explored two non-English-Education student teachers’ identity construction experiences as well as influencing factors in a practicum.Data sources include semi-structured interviews,case documents and observations.Based on data analysis,three major findings are summarized as follows:Firstly,both participants experienced a continuous,uneasy process of teacher identity construction from learning as a student teacher,then to striving to be a real teacher,and finally to learning as a prospective teacher.At the beginning of the practicum,they learned as a student teacher by acquiring conceptions about being a teacher and struggling for deep learning opportunities.Then,they strived to be a real teacher by practicing their conceptions about being a teacher and reflecting on themselves as a teacher.By the end of the practicum,they learned as a prospective teacher by resetting goals for new actions and making plans for further learning to teach with new conceptions.Secondly,both participants constructed four categories of teacher identities in the practicum.The most frequently constructed is the ideal identity,followed by the ought identity,actual identity,and feared identity.For the ideal identity,although they constantly want to be an effective teacher and a care provider,it is their desired learner of teaching that had a little more function on their learning and practice in the practicum.For the ought identity,those derived from basic requirements of a teacher and the responsibilities of a real teacher guided their actions in the practicum,while those expected roles of a student teacher hindered the participants’learning to teach.The participants also constructed some actual identities as a NEE student teacher and a learner with limited learning-to-teach opportunities,which served as references for their learning and practice.As for the feared identity,the participants’ fear to become an unprofessional teacher and a fruitless student teacher functioned like ’a doubleedged sword’,which led to their negative emotions but meanwhile stimulated them to make changes.This study also confirmed the literature about the identities in ongoing alignment or contradiction with each other,which facilitated or restrained the participants’ identity construction.The most outstanding alignment is between their ought identity derived from basic requirements as a teacher and their actual identity as a NEE student teacher,which made them feel happy and satisfied,and further enhanced their teaching motivation.The most obvious contradiction is between the ideal identity as an effective teacher and the actual identity as a NEE student teacher,which brought them much frustration and weak teaching confidence.Thirdly,this study found that various personal and contextual factors exerted influences on both participants’ teacher identity construction.Of all the personal factors,the non-teacher-education background had the strongest negative impact on their identity construction.In addition,the participants’ prior traditional learning experiences and failed tutoring experiences also hindered their teacher identity construction.The data also show that various contextual factors impacted their perception of themselves as a teacher.In particular,various teacher training and classroom observation opportunities helped them gain a new understanding of what makes a good teacher,but insufficient opportunities for deeper learning restrained their growth.Besides,the interactions with the mentor and the students played either facilitating or inhibiting role in their identity construction experiences.In light of the above findings,some implications are drawn for non-EnglishEducation student teachers and school administrators in similar contexts.Limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are also discussed. |
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