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Situating affect, ethics, and policy in LTI research
... The spectrum of issues violating research ethics can be large including cheating, plagiarism, sabotage, deception, fabrication, colluding, impersonation/imposter behavior, bribing, misrepresentation/inflating credentials, dual publication, etc. (Thomas, 2009). Adding to these are problems with study design, methodology, theoretical framework, participants, procedures, etc. (De Costa, 2016). Consequently, researchers should get acquainted with various ethical dilemmas they may face and should enhance their capacity to scrutinize problematic situations and behaviors, follow ethical behaviors in general, and approach their academic work and academic relationships with integrity (Hughes & Gallant, 2016). ...
The present study used quantitative and qualitative measures to examine Iranian applied linguists’ (mis-) conceptions of ethical issues in research. For this purpose, one hundred and twelve applied linguists completed a research ethics questionnaire constructed and validated by the researchers. In the follow-up qualitative phase, 15 applied linguists who were faculty members participated in semi-instructed interviews. Data were analyzed using exploratory factors analyses for the first phase and theme analyses for the second phase. Quantitative results showed that the most important misconceptions among Iranian applied linguists lingered on working with data (data collection and data analyses). For example, removing an outlier was a prevalent act conducted by applied linguists in the present study. Teachers using their students as participants of their own research as well as how they treated those students after a study were other controversial issues. The qualitative results revealed several themes including lack of knowledge, conflict with real-world practices, a product-oriented approach to education and a publish or perish mentality as the reasons for misconceptions of ethics in applied linguistics among Iranian researchers. On general terms, there was an implicit agreement regarding the lack of training on research ethics among Iranian applied linguists.
... One methodology that has gained much traction over the past decade is narratives, with teacher narratives becoming the primary focus of a burgeoning body of LTI work ( Barkhuizen, 2017). Because narratives allow us to analyze spatial and temporal scenarios that go beyond the here and now, more LTI researchers have also used narratives creatively in conjunction with a range of theoretical constructs that include affect (e.g., De Costa, 2017), positioning theory (e.g., Barkhuizen, 2010), translingualism (e.g., Motha, Jain, & Tecle, 2012), and investment (e.g., Norton, 2017). Barkhuizen (2010), for example, examined how an immigrant teacher to New Zealand positioned herself in relation to her teaching surroundings, Motha et al. (2012) stressed the importance of considering the translingual histories of teachers beyond native/non-native speaking divides, and Norton (2017) examined the relationship between learner investment and language teacher identity. ...
What constitutes a “good teacher” and “good teaching” has come under much scrutiny in an age of globalization, transnationalism, and increased demands for accountability. It is against this evolving landscape and the pathbreaking work of the Douglas Fir Group (DFG, 2016) that this special issue engages the following two broad questions: (a) In what ways is language teaching “identity work”? and (b) To what extent does a transdisciplinary approach to language learning and teaching offer insight into language teacher identity? We begin this Introduction with a discussion on identity research in second language acquisition and applied linguistics, and then address innovations in language teacher identity research, exploring how this work has been advanced methodologically through narratives, discourse analysis, and an ethical consideration of research practices. We then consider how the transdisciplinary framework of the DFG, and its focus on macro, meso, and micro dimensions of language learning at the ideological, institutional, and classroom levels, respectively, might contribute to our understanding of language teacher identity. In the final section, we argue that the host of complementary theories adopted by the six contributors supports the view that a transdisciplinary approach to language teacher identity is both productive and desirable. Further, the contributors advance the language teacher identity research agenda by taking into consideration (a) how teacher identity intersects with the multilingual (Higgins and Ponte) and translingual (Zheng) realities of contemporary classrooms, (b) the investment of teachers in developing the semiotic repertoires of learners (Stranger–Johannessen and Norton) and a socially inclusive learning environment (Barkhuizen), and (c) the emotions (Wolff and De Costa) and ethical practices (Miller, Morgan, and Medina) of teachers. Central to all articles in this special issue is the need to recognize the rich linguistic and personal histories that language teachers bring into the classroom in order to promote effective language learning.
Although identity is something that every language teacher has, language teacher identity (LTI) has been established and researched as a concept recently, in the past two decades. Language teacher identity has a critical role in language teachers’ professional and personal lives as it portrays how they position themselves and how others (i.e., colleagues, students, and other professionals) perceive them within the field and the work they do. Thus, LTI has the potential to drive the language teachers’ transformation into the teaching professional they want to become. Language Teacher Identity in TESOL, Teacher Education and Practice as Identity Work, edited by Bedrettin Yazan, Associate Professor of Educational Linguistics at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Kristen Lindahl, Associate Professor of TESOL/Applied Linguistics at the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA, is a much-needed book that showcases ways of using language teacher identity to inform language teacher education practices.
There are currently over 15 million refugees and asylum seekers living in urban sites of protracted transitory displacement throughout the world. People in this situation, including children, are often denied access to formal education, which has led to the establishment of informal Alternative Learning Centres (ALCs) by refugees themselves. English is commonly adopted as the medium of instruction at ALCs, with teachers drawn from the refugee community based on their relative levels of English proficiency. How these spontaneous teachers negotiate their language teacher identities (LTIs) given their lack of teacher education and precarious social positioning is yet to be considered by applied linguistics and refugee education scholars despite the educational ramifications teachers’ LTIs have on the provision of quality education for countless refugee students. Through a critical identity theoretical and pedagogic frame, this study attends to this voluminous gap in the literature by reporting on a 12 month participatory action research (PAR) inquiry aimed at facilitating the desired LTIs of thirteen spontaneous English language teachers practicing at an ALC in Indonesia.
The research reports that the transitory displacement context gives rise to theoretical and practical deviations from identity studies situated in formal non-displacement education contexts. Drawing on key constructs from Darvin and Norton’s (2015) critical identities framework, the participants’ LTI negotiations, although situated and temporary, are shown to be structured across time and space through the ongoing interplay between primary and secondary habitus values, beliefs, feelings, and attitudes; their own and their students’ English-related future desires; and their present micro, meso and macro-fields of practice. For the participants, these multidimensional negotiations enabled them to move from inhabiting tentative language teacher identities to inhabiting and being ascribed their desired LTIs.
The lessons learned from our PAR collaboration extends the scope of LTI and critical identity studies into the extreme anti-belonging context of transitory displacement. Further, as English-medium ALCs provide the sole source of education for tens of thousands of refugees around the world, this first study on spontaneous teacher development from an LTI perspective serves to shine the spotlight on spontaneous English teachers’ knowledge bases, desires, teaching strengths, and teaching challenges and, in doing so, informs the growing need for language teacher development in displacement contexts. Lastly, as a longitudinal PAR inquiry with refugee participants, our collaboration has substantive methodological implications for researchers wishing to engage with, and in the service of, marginalised communities.
The literature on language teacher identity describes teacher identity as dynamic, shaped through professional and personal experiences and mediated by peer interaction, the effects of pedagogical strategies and professional discourses (Barkhuizen, 2017). This article reports on key findings from a study that investigated the perceptions of Chilean teachers of English about their work and their identity as language teachers. Data were collected through an online questionnaire with 716 respondents from teachers of English across Chile. The questionnaire included specific questions on teachers’ motivation, the nature of effective teaching practices, types of professional development and factors that contribute to their professional learning. The analysis of two critical open-ended questions related to levels of teacher satisfaction and valorization revealed that although teachers feel generally satisfied with their jobs, at the same time they feel essentially undervalued and somewhat illegitimate. Factors such as standards frameworks which compel teachers to validate their knowledge of the language, constraints in relation to working conditions and modest salary levels directly contributed to the perceptions of satisfaction and valorization. A significant implication of this study is the need for a more complex understanding of the motivations that drive the development of English language teacher identity.
The literature on language teacher identity describes teacher identity as dynamic, shaped through professional and personal experiences and mediated by peer interaction, the effects of pedagogical strategies and professional discourses (Barkhuizen, 2017). This article reports on key findings from a study that investigated the perceptions of Chilean teachers of English about their work and their identity as language teachers. Data were collected through an online questionnaire with 716 respondents from teachers of English across Chile. The questionnaire included specific questions on teachers’ motivation, the nature of effective teaching practices, types of professional development and factors that contribute to their professional learning. The analysis of two critical open-ended questions related to levels of teacher satisfaction and valorization revealed that although teachers feel generally satisfied with their jobs, at the same time they feel essentially undervalued and somewhat illegitimate. Factors such as standards frameworks which compel teachers to validate their knowledge of the language, constraints in relation to working conditions and modest salary levels directly contributed to the perceptions of satisfaction and valorization. A significant implication of this study is the need for a more complex understanding of the motivations that drive the development of English language teacher identity.
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