ERIC Number: EJ1436529
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Sep
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1056-7941
EISSN: EISSN-1949-3533
Language Teacher Identities and Identity Tensions of Early Career English Teachers
Hanife Tasdemir; Gölge Seferoglu
TESOL Journal, v15 n3 e794 2024
In this article, we explore the tensions early career English teachers experience in their language teacher identities (LTIs). To this effect, we conducted semi-structured interviews with three early career English teachers at Turkish public schools. The findings showed that the teachers experienced tensions with their roles as teachers, language competency, and structural and relational aspects in their contexts. Devising and employing coping strategies in navigating challenges, the teachers developed their own ways to deal with various identity tensions. The findings of this study conclude that (i) maintaining LTIs is emotionally complex, (ii) LTIs happen in social practice, and (iii) meso and macro contexts supersede ideals causing dilemmas, conflicts, and tensions in LTIs. Drawing on the findings, we argue that teachers' emotional needs and identity tensions should be provided for through institutional and interrelational support systems so that teachers can manage tensions and emotionality as potential in their identities.
Descriptors: Language Teachers, Professional Identity, Public Schools, Foreign Countries, Beginning Teachers, English Instruction, Teaching Experience, English (Second Language), Teacher Attitudes, Second Language Instruction
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Turkey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A