The Influence Of Teaching Practice On The Construction Of Professional Identities Of Pre-service English Teachers

Since the 21 st century,more and more scholars have thought that the professional identity of teachers should be the goal of teacher education.Most of the subjects of the research on the construction of teachers' professional identities have been in-service teachers,but there are few studies about the pre-service English teachers.In addition,teaching practice is an important stage for pre-service English teachers to participate in real and effective teaching activities.Therefore,this study is designed to do research into the influence of teaching practice on the construction of professional identities of pre-service English teachers.Research subjects are seven post-graduate students major in education in English from Anqing Normal University.The research aims to answer the following questions:1.What changes happen to pre-service English teachers' professional identity construction after teaching practice?2.What factors affect the pre-service English teachers' professional identity construction during teaching practice?3.Are there any significant events throughout their teaching practice affecting their identity construction? If so,what are the significant events?This study combined quantitative research with qualitative research.Through the quantitative research,the author investigated the change of pre-service English teacher's identity construction by means of questionnaires.The qualitative research was based on interviews,classroom observation and seven subjects' journals in teaching practice.The research shows that:1.After teaching practice,the pre-service English teacher's identity construction changed significantly in the aspects of behavior tendency,self-efficacy and teaching commitment;2.The factors affecting the change of the identity construction were: the influence of classroom teaching practice,the influence of instructors,the influence of students,the influence of personal reflection and the last,the influence of teaching practice schools.3.The personal major difficulties,frustrating events,heuristic events and successful events in teaching practice all had impact on the change of pre-service English teacher's identity construction.