خلاصة:
Professional development and professional identity of English language teachers have usually been explored separately in the research agenda. However, there might be a nexus of relationships between professional identity and professional development in the context of English language teaching. This study, therefore, explored how professional identity might contribute to professional development of English language teachers. To this end, 60 English language teachers from inner, 60 from outer, and 60 from expanding circle of language use were sampled to fill in a questionnaire which was constructed and validated by the researchers. The study concluded that language teachers’ professional development could be theorized on a development of past-present-aspirational identity. It was also found that language teachers’ professional identity could be improved through development of interpersonal relations, system of knowledge and belief, and intrapersonal identity that would be considered as sub-identities of English language teachers’ professional identity.
ملخص الجهاز:
Examining Teachers’ Development through Past-Present- Aspirational Continuum of English Language Teachers’ Professional Identity Esmaeel Ali Salimi Assistant Professor Allameh Tabataba’i University Easalimi@atu.
English Language Teachers’ Professional Identity (ELTPI) implies that language teachers should have an active role in their own PD (Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004).
Therefore, what could develop professionalism in English language teaching community of practice might be the ideas from professional identity because it encompasses numerous intrapersonal, interpersonal, and discursive factors which shape language teachers working-self status (Sarani & Najjar, 2013).
The rationale for conducting this study was that through exploring shifts in professional identity formation form past to the future, it was possible to examine how English language teachers might develop professionally.
While focusing on situated learning theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991) as a framework of analysis, remove for peer-review (2013) explored the features of professional identity of English and Arabic language teachers.
6. Results Is there a change in English language teachers’ professional identity status across past, present, and aspirational identity in the inner circle (US/UK)?
Results of the study showed that there was a statistically significant difference in language teachers’ intrapersonal identity over past-present- aspirational ELTPI continuum (x2 (2, n=60) = 49.
63 MR= Mean Rank; Mdn= Median Results also indicated that intrapersonal identity of language teachers from outer circle established a statistically significant difference over past-present- aspirational ELTPI continuum (x2 (2, n=60) =47.
Results also indicated that intrapersonal identity of language teachers form outer circle established a statistically significant difference over past-present- aspirational ELTPI continuum (x2 (2, n=60)=13.