A Study Of The Influence Of Teaching Practicum On Pre-service English Teachers' Identity Construction

Teachers' professional identity is acknowledged as a crucial element in teachers' professional development.Especially for pre-service teachers,who are still at the initial stage of their professional development,their understanding of who they are and what they should do as teachers largely determine their intention of retention and attrition in teaching profession.As the National medium-and long-term framework for educational reform and development from 2010 to 2020 proposed the goal of cultivating a team of highly-qualified teachers.In order to achieve this goal,the cultivation of preservice teachers and the construction of their teacher identities are particularly important because pre-service teachers are the major potential teachers in the future.By reviewing the literature,it is found that most of the previous studies at home focus on pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and teaching ability in the teaching practicum,while their teacher identities in the teaching practicum are less explored.This thesis aims to reveal the process of pre-service teachers' professional identity construction in the teaching practicum.Therefore,the thesis attempts to answering the following three questions: 1)What is pre-service teacher's identity construction process in teaching practicum? 2)What are major personal or contextual factors that influence the development of pre-service teachers' identity during teaching practicum? 3)How do pre-service teachers address the identity challenges in teaching practicum?Drawing upon the approach of narrative inquiry,this study probes into how three pre-service teachers shaped and reshaped their professional identities through learning to teach in teaching practicum.Based on the Kelchtermans' research framework of professional self,this thesis designed the interview protocol.Three rounds of interviews were conducted with three pre-service teachers respectively before the teaching practicum,during the teaching practicum,and after the teaching practicum.Through carefully coding and analyzing of participants' narratives,three storylines of participants' dynamic identity construction are presented in detail.The findings firstly show that pre-service teachers' identity is not fixed and predetermined,and it evolves during one's whole professional career.Secondly,some major personal and contextual factors are found to be powerful in influencing preservice teachers' identity construction.For instance,past influences like prior learning and teaching experience well determine participants' entry teacher identity.Also,the mentoring relationship influences participants' identities positively and negatively,especially mentors' support and feedback are regarded as key elements for good mentoring relationship.Furthermore,pre-service teachers' identities are strengthened or destabilized by the powerful mediating contextual factors derived from placement school's policy,culture and structure(e.g.supportive/unsupportive working environment,the autonomy and professional agency and teachers' assessment).Thirdly,the description of how pre-service teachers encountered and approached the difficulties and confusion in professional identity construction further confirms the complexity of pre-service teachers' professional identity construction and the importance of teaching practicum.This study enriches the existing research and illustrates the personal and contextual factors influencing pre-service teachers' professional identities,which is the theoretical contribution of this thesis.Additionally,some practical implications are proposed by this study for stakeholders such as teacher educators,pre-service teachers',mentors and schools on how to facilitate pre-service teachers' identity construction and improve their professional competence.It is hoped that this study can shed some light on researchers' further exploration on pre-service teachers' identity construction and improve people's awareness of the importance of teaching practicum on pre-service teachers' identity formation.