Social Interactions and Teachers' Identity Change in the Context of Professional Development: A Conversation Analysis

• In Event: Teacher Identity and Motivation: Concepts, Research Designs, and Empirical Examples

Abstract

Objectives
Research has demonstrated the contribution of social interactions among participants in teacher professional development (PD) to teachers’ sense of belonging to a community of practice and to higher self-efficacy in teaching (Bümen, 2009; Butler & Schnellert, 2012). However, little is known about the mechanism and role of social interaction in teacher motivation for change of practice in the context of PD. The objective of the current study was to investigate the processes involved in teachers’ social interaction in the context of PD, and how they related to teachers’ intentions to implement knowledge and strategies in practice.

Theoretical Perspective
The study utilized the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI) as the theoretical framework. This model suggests that a teacher’s motivation for implementing particular instructional strategies requires that these strategies are perceived as action possibilities and are in alignment with his or her personal epistemology, sense of purpose, and self-perceptions. Social interactions and negotiations are central to the construction of meanings of context, self, and the actions that are normative and possible in different situations (Penuel & Wertsch, 1995). This study focused on teachers’ perceived actions possibilities of specific pedagogical strategies as they are negotiated in social interactions with peer-participants in the context of PD.

Methods
Participants were 22 high school science teachers (representing four science domains) from one district who participated in a summer institute PD that aimed to promote adoption of reform-oriented instructional strategies. Data included recordings of peer conversations of teacher teams who collaborated on PD tasks such as designing a lesson plan. Speech acts in each conversation were coded according to the DSMRI components and assumptions, reflecting interactions among each of the teacher’s identity system. In addition, the analysis identified meaning units within conversations, and participants’ informal social roles (e.g., persuader, skeptic).

Findings
The findings highlighted how the perceived viability of particular instructional strategies (e.g., a cross-discipline instructional strategy for teaching a formula) was socially negotiated among the team-participants. Statements illustrated the salient components within each participating teacher’s role-identity system (e.g., low self-efficacy; beliefs about low students’ ability). The analysis highlighted the contextual, dynamic and multi-dimensional manner by which this social interaction involved establishment of informal roles and authority within the group, and discursive strategies of persuasion, support, and solicitation of help. Strategies were mapped onto each component of the model, most notably to self-perceptions and action possibilities.

Scholarly Significance
The findings reveal a potentially central role of social interactions among teacher-peers in promoting or hindering the adoption of practices as viable action possibilities. The findings point to potential reasons for failure to adopt practices if the PD does not allow for social negotiation, reflection, and exploration of the compatibility of practices with components in the teachers’ professional identity. The findings and model can provide guides for PD designers and facilitators to design and scaffold peer interactions that support participants in exploring components of their professional identity and in negotiating alignment of practice with their identity system.

Author

• Yonaton S. Davidson, Temple University