From pre-service to in-service teachers: A longitudinal investigation of the professional development of English language teachers in secondary schools

From pre-service to in-service teachers: A longitudinal investigation of the professional development of English language teachers in secondary schools

• Gu, Michelle Ming Yue Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Educational Studies, 39(5), 503-521, 2013

Abingdon, Great Britain

Routledge

2013

• M Teachers & Education for Teachers
  • MG Identities, Attitudes & Opinion of Educational Workers
• M Teachers & Education for Teachers
  • MI Teachers from Mainland China, Teacher from Foreign Countries, Expatriate English Language Teacher Pilot Scheme

Teacher Identity Professional Development Cross-border Teachers

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Post-Secondary Education

This study reports on a longitudinal inquiry into professional identity construction among six novice cross-border English language teachers from mainland China, who completed their pre-service teacher education in Hong Kong (HK) and began their teaching practice in local HK schools. The findings indicate that the participants navigated obstacles in teaching by deploying their own multiple languages as a cultural and linguistic repertoire. The findings also show that the teachers experienced difficulty legitimising their professional identity in the teaching community, where contextual issues and power interplays mediated the process. Furthermore, it is found that the participants' commitment to teaching was negatively influenced by their non-legitimate position in the teaching community and the discordance between their teaching beliefs and the norms and values of their workplace. This study suggests that complex inter-relationships between marginal status in and legitimate membership of the community, between historical and cultural background, present practice, and future expectations, between social discourse and personal location, are involved in the process of identity construction. Measures to legitimate these teachers' position and to transform the linguistic and cultural repertories of these teachers into valuable resources of the local schools are suggested. Implications for future research are outlined.
[Copyright of Educational Studies is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2013.801769]

• English

Journal Articles

• 03055698

• 10.1080/03055698.2013.801769

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/cc1ccd05

2014-05-29