A Narrative Inquiry Of Student Teachers' Professional Identity Construction Process

We are always involved in becoming a certain person. The dreams we have about the type of person we want to become influence all dimensions of our lives:the job we look for, the place we settle in, the people we interact with and even our subsequent dreams. But, knowing what we want and who we dream to become impinges on knowing who we are and where we are at the moment. In other words, it is our identity that helps us with setting goals and shows us the route to take. Without making sense of our identities, we are not able to achieve what we want effectively as we are not clear as to where we are headed. Much recent literature on teacher education highlights the importance of identity in teacher development. It can be used as a frame or an analytic lens through which to examine aspects of teaching. It can also be seen as an organizing element in teachers'professional lives, even a resource that people use to explain, justify and make sense of themselves in relation to others, and to the world at large. In our own efforts to understand the growing literature on teacher identity, we note that identity in teaching has been explored in a variety of very different ways. Reaching a full understanding of the important aspects of identity and the ways in which they are related can be challenging. At a basic level, teacher's professional identity is the teacher's conception of herself as a teacher. Therefore, To be a teacher can be nothing but a choice of profession. However, a person can be molded into a professional teacher only though everyday teaching. Teacher professional identity toward the teaching profession can decide the profile and image of teachers. The questions "Who am I?" and "What kind of teacher do I want to be?" have been addressed by teachers for many years, but only in more recent years have researchers recognized the importance of these questions to the teaching profession as a whole. Researchers have emphasized the role that the teacher education plays in the shaping and forming of student teachers'professional identities. However, facing the conflicts and confusions in the interaction of educational practice, student teachers have to challenge their existed knowledge and concepts. Some of them may be uncertain about their commitments to teaching career in the future, and some may be locked in a seesaw struggle between ideal and reality. Few empirical studies have been conducted to investigate how student teachers construct and develop their professional identities. We think their mental processes and experiences are worthy of further discussion. This study aims to explore student teachers'professional identity construction process and further define professional identity and factors affecting it. It is hoped that the effects of teacher education on student teachers'professional construction can be reflected on the one hand, and the possible pathways to develop student teachers' professional identity can be constructed on the other hand through discussion of the research findings.This study aims to explore how five student teachers learn to be a teacher through a series of key life experience and experiencing different stages of teacher professional identity through his narrative accounts. The study lasts nine months and data are mainly collected through interviews, with compilation and analysis of observational information and reflection journals. From their stories, the study explores the professional identity that five student teachers obtained regarding the meaning of their professional identity so as to understand the five student teachers' process of pursuing for professional identity and factors affecting the construction of professional identity.It is found that five student teachers' process of recognizing the teacher professional identity and re-identity was roughly along the lines of the following themes, according their narratives:(1)the enrollment motivation, (2)pre-identity,(3) stepping on the way to becoming a teacher, (4)teaching practices, and (5)future prospects. The narratives brim with "quests" and "transformation", "dialogue" and "negotiation" related to the acquired identity. By analyzing the narratives, the personal and social factors that formed and changed teacher's professional identity could be understood. The process of "prefiguration-figuration-refiguration" could be revealed. The construction process is also shows the characteristics of periodic, initiative, dynamic and difference.Upon on these findings, the study pointed out that student teacher professional identity has constructed by previous experience in learning and context. Identity construction is a dialogue between internal self and external world. Narrative is a suitable method to assist student teacher reflects their previous life experiences, also promote teacher personal and professional growth. Therefore, an implication of this study is the critical importance of engaging student teachers in discussions that support them in constructing their professional identities. In-post teaching practice plays a vital role in teacher professional identity construction process.Finally, this study proposes suggestions in four aspects, including normal university, student teachers, Primary and secondary schools and the administrative departments of education.