Language teacher identity (Re)construction of EFL early-career teachers – A longitudinal case study

Abstract

Relying on sociocultural and post-structural views on identity formation (Wenger, 1998; Norton, 2010), this study, based on my doctoral research (Tokoz Goktepe, 2020), reports on findings from a longitudinal case study exploring the language teacher identity (LTI) construction of five early-career English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Turkey, who fulfilled their pre-service teacher education and commenced teaching in public schools. This study draws data from reflective teaching narratives, semi-structured interviews and teaching diaries to illustrate how several factors related to the dynamic relations in the community of practice and personal commitment may influence LTI (re)construction of beginning EFL teachers. The study also indicates that EFL teachers might envision a teacher identity in line with their prior learning experiences and aspirations. However, this imagined identity begins to give way to practised identity when they begin in the profession, concerned about gaining acceptance from others within their community of practice or adapting themselves to the community’s challenges (Xu, 2013; Tokoz Goktepe & Kunt, 2021a). In this study, the factors that cause this (re)construction are also investigated, from pre-service teacher education to the first year of in-service teaching. The implications from this study can contribute to the growing body of research on LTI, specifically in EFL contexts in which long-term studies on LTI construction are still lacking (Tokoz Goktepe & Kunt, 2021b; Yazan, 2018).