A Study Of Middle School Pre-service English Teachers' Professional Identity

With more importance attached to education,the group of middle school pre-service English teachers have gradually begun to receive social attention.Most of the previous research on English teacher identity is about in-service teachers,and most of those studies are qualitative research such as narrative research and case study,and few are quantitative.Middle school pre-service English teachers have both student and teacher status which makes them special.Therefore,this study discusses the professional identity of pre-service English teachers in middle schools with a focus on the following two issues.(1)What is the status quo of professional identity construction of middle school pre-service English teachers?(2)What are the factors affecting the professional identity of middle school pre-service English teachers?This study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.Qualitative research is conducted through questionnaires,and Excel is used to analyze the recovered questionnaires.Then the qualitative research participants are selected based on the results of questionnaires.Finally,data are collected through educational narrative research and semi-structured interview.The research takes 50 normal graduating students from L University in Shandong province as participants.Based on sociocultural theory,the status quo of middle school pre-service English teachers' professional identity has been analyzed from eight aspects:professional knowledge,professional attitude,professional emotion,professional roles,social status,professional expectations,self-evaluation,and discipline culture.Based on the analysis of the data,the author draws the following conclusions:(1)The overall level of professional identity construction of middle school pre-service English teachers is relatively high.(2)Middle school pre-service English teachers have a very high level of professional roles.They can realize the diversity oftheir roles in their work.(3)In terms of professional identity of middle school pre-service English teachers,the level of social status is low.They do not feel enough respect.(4)The general level of self-evaluation of middle school pre-service English teachers still needs to be improved,and many pre-service teachers are not confident about their English proficiency.This research also interviewed six graduating students from L University to gain an in-depth understanding of the status quo and influencing factors of middle school pre-service English teachers' professional identity.Based on the results of the questionnaires and semi-structured interviews,the factors that affecting the professional identity of middle school pre-service English teachers are found as follows:(1)Internship experience has a profound influence on the construction of middle school pre-service English teachers' professional identity.It mainly manifested in three aspects: English teacher team,campus culture and environment and mentor teacher.At the same time,mentor teachers as a dominant factor play a vital role that affects the construction of middle school pre-service English teachers' professional identity during the internship stage.The personal teaching philosophy and teaching style of the mentor teachers could affect the construction of professional identity of the pre-service English teachers in different aspects such as professional emotions,professional expectations,professional quality,teaching style,and self-evaluation etc.(2)Besides the influence of internship,the professional identity of middle school pre-service English teachers is also affected by the following three aspects: individuals(growth experience,self-career planning,English proficiency),normal schools(curriculum settings,practical opportunities),and society(social status,education policy).Finally,this research makes some suggestions to promote the construction of pre-service English teachers' professional identity from the perspective of individuals(strengthening professional knowledge and ability,developing good reflection habits,establishing correct professional values,and attaching importance to educational internship opportunities),practice schools(selecting the mentor teachers carefully,creating practical opportunities for pre-service teachers,building a good teaching team,and strengthening the construction of teachers' campus culture),normal schools(strengthening communication with practice schools,creating learning opportunities for pre-service teachers)and society(enhancing middle school teachers' social status,improving the salary of middle school teachers).