Understanding Teacher Identity In Teacher Development: A Case Study Of Two EFL Teachers' Professional Lives

The field of teacher professional development is a growing and challenging area that has received increasing attention over the past decades. Compared with other aspects of teacher profession, identity is considered to be very essential in teaching. Palmer(1998) argues that the essence of teaching is not the particular method that one uses, but the extent to which one incorporates his/her sense of identity into the teaching. The last few years have witnessed a great number of researches devoted to the topic of language teacher identity. The development of a teacher's identity is a continuing and dynamic process. Teacher identity construction is thus a journey walking through teacher development, where coherence is gradually achieved in the process of coping with everyday paradoxes. Only from multiple perspectives of teacher's life world can a teacher's identity be understood. This thesis concentrates on EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers' identity and its facilitation in teacher development. The study addressed the following three questions:(1) How do the two teachers perceive their professional identity in the different stages of development? (2)What are the factors that impact on their professional identity formation? (3) How is teacher identity relevant to a teacher's professional development?In order to explore the three questions, an interpretative, qualitative perspective case study was conducted to investigate teachers'identity. Two EFL teachers in a key senior high school participated in the study. I conducted interviews with the two teachers and observed their teaching and also their mentoring for the student teachers: taking field notes, audio-taping and transcribing the observed lessons. More data were collected through e-mails with the teachers and their students after the teaching practicum. The research methods adopted in the study were narrative study, case study, interview, conversation, field notes, observation, etc.This paper investigates two EFL teachers'life experiences and illuminates how the identity is relevant to the professional development of middle school teachers. The results indicate that teacher's identity formation plays an important role in the process of teacher's professional development. First of all, teacher's personal practical knowledge frames teacher's understanding of classroom reality and their development of pedagogy. The second issue is that teacher's identity is related to the contexts where teachers work together, bounded by similar compelling visions and commitments. From reflecting on two teachers'stories, we can find that the teaching contexts and life experience exert a magnificent impact on teachers' identities. The last conclusion comes to the ways of promoting teacher development. As teachers, we should know self first. Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one's inwardness for better or worse (Palmer,1998). And teachers with undivided identity will develop faster in the process of their teaching practice.Understanding a teacher's development involves understanding what kind of person he is and what kind of knowledge he should acquire. Drawing on the data from the two EFL teachers'life-stories, this thesis has illuminated the influencing factors on building a framework for a teacher's personal development. The research also provides an insight into how a teacher constructs the identity and has profound implication for teachers to pursue professional development. The findings may shed a light on the innovation of teacher education and development.